Joyce DiDonato & Time For Three: Emily–No Prisoner Be

Joyce DiDonato and Time For Three bring Emily – No Prisoner Be to The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center on Thursday, October 8, at 7:30 PM. It's the San Diego premiere of a work that started at Austria's Bregenzer Festspiele, and it's a collaboration between DiDonato, the string trio, and Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts.

Emily – No Prisoner Be is a 24-part song cycle that sets Emily Dickinson's poetry to music. It's not a traditional song cycle, though; it's staged as an immersive theatrical ritual that blends voice, strings, and storytelling. The production uses theatrical haze and strobe lights, so it's more of a staged performance than a standard recital. DiDonato, a mezzo-soprano known for her work at the Metropolitan Opera, carries the vocal side of things across a two-and-a-half-octave range.

Time For Three handles the strings. The trio consists of violinists Charles Yang and Nick Kendall and double bassist Ranaan Meyer, and they play and sing at the same time. They describe their sound as sitting at the intersection of Americana, modern pop, and classical music, and NPR has called their technique and genre-crossing a force of contagious energy. That mix of voices and strings is a big part of how the piece is put together.

The performance takes place in The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, presented by the La Jolla Music Society at The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave in La Jolla. General admission is $45, and the show starts at 7:30 PM.