Joyce DiDonato is keenly aware of music’s power to bring comfort and relief—something she honours in this deeply personal playlist. “Music has always been that source of respite for me, and almost without fail—whenever I had nowhere else to turn—music was the consistent companion pulling me through the painful times,” the US mezzo-soprano tells Apple Music. “This list is almost exclusively pieces I have either sung or played in times of sorrow in my life, finding comfort and healing in real time.” The playlist brings together music that mirrors the three ways DiDonato has weathered difficulty: “reaching out to ask for help” (represented by the “Kyrie Eleison” from Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor), “turning to nature to restore my perspective and serenity” (the opening of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata) and “arriving at a deeper understanding and knowing that leads me out of the shadows”. “My hope is that this playlist might find you where you are, recognise your troubles or sorrows, and valiantly lift you out of them,” she says. “Even if just for a moment to help you catch your breath.”