When opera singer Joyce DiDonato walked past a group of prisoners during her first visit to the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining NY, she kept telling herself: “Don’t make eye contact. Don’t make eye contact.”But little did she know, she told NBC Interviewer Cynthia McFadden, that less than an hour later, she was “staring into the eyes of a hardened criminal while they sang to one another.”
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The celebrated Soprano started working with inmates at the notorious prison as a special guest of Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program. The program pair celebrated musicians with prison inmates, to whom they teach classical music theory and technique.
DiDonato worked with dozens of inmates in 2015 and wrote several original works with them. The music they created was stunningly sad, though inspiring and hopeful at the same time.
DiDonato has been working with inmates in Sing Sing since 2015 and often returns to share her love of music. The visits are a “lifeline” for many men in the Correctional Facility and the music gives them a measure of dignity they lost after being locked up.
Giving an inmate a measure of their old life back can make all the difference. The writing helps them process though what they’ve done and what they will do once released to go “home”.
Check out the amazing work in the video below!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBBuFeCEjE?start=154
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