One of the outstanding mezzos of her generation, DiDonato has been gathering awards, ovations and critical praise for the last decade. Among the prizes she has won are the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award (2002), New York City Opera's Richard Gold Debut Award (2003) and the Royal Philharmonic Society's Singer of the Year Award (2006); this past April she received the second annual Beverly Sills Artist Award, worth $50,000.

DiDonato is currently singing her first Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier at San Francisco Opera; Joshua Kosman of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that she achieved "the evening's signal triumph." Other portrayals for which she has received particular acclaim are Rosina in The Barber of Seville (the role for which she won the RPS award), Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella), and Dejanira in Luc Bondy's staging of Handel's Hercules with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants (for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award).

This fall DiDonato sings two of Handel's greatest roles. In September she performs and records the title part in Alcina (her first soprano role) with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco, and in November she makes her role debut as Ariodante in Geneva.