Track by Track: Joyce DiDonato & Time for Three on Emily - No Prisoner Be

Track by Track is a dynamic way for an artist to guide you through one of their albums. Exclusive audio commentary features personal insights and invaluable context, bringing you closer than ever to the music. Composed by US composer Kevin Puts for mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and string trio Time for Three (double-bassist Ranaan Meyer and violinists Nicolas Kendall and Charles Yang), Emily — No Prisoner Be is one of the most thrilling song cycles to emerge in recent years. The music itself defies categorization, traversing opera, musical theatre, and rock in its quest to bring the sheer emotive power of Dickinson’s poems erupting to the surface. In this exclusive Track by Track, all four artists talk about their electrifying collaboration, and introduce each track in riveting detail, highlighting the moments in the poetry and musical effects that define this ground-breaking album. “It feels like Emily Dickinson’s words have always been waiting for Kevin’s music,” DiDonato told Apple Music Classical back in January 2026. Kendall agrees: “I felt like I didn’t really fully understand the nature of the effect that this piece would have, in the sense of when we performed it live, the tears, the puddles of tears from the audience. People ran to us with the emotions and the extremes that they felt from the performance. And we have that on the album.”