I have two pieces in this week's issue of The New Yorker: a profile of Joyce DiDonato, in which, among other things, the almighty Kansan mezzo takes kickboxing lessons from a Breaking Bad extra; and a review of opening nights at the Met and at the seemingly now expiring New York City Opera. Even at seventy-five hundred words, my piece on Joyce leaves out much; she was tremendously generous in letting me observe so many aspects of her life and work, from a guided tour of her childhood in Prairie Village to her rehearsals last summer in Santa Fe.