Joyce DiDonato, the celebrated mezzo-soprano and opera star, addressed the 109th graduating class of The Juilliard School with an address that was both bracingly honest and deeply inspiring. Her first 'truth' was deliberately shocking: 'You will never make it.' But she immediately reframed this as 'fabulous, outstanding news' because for a true artist, there is no fixed 'it' to reach. DiDonato spoke from hard experience. She shared her old biography to make the point: she had been cast in an off-stage role with a single solitary line, was the only young artist in her class who failed to secure management until age 29, and her evaluation from the Houston Opera Studio simply declared her to possess 'not much talent.' She confessed she never could have gained admission to Juilliard herself. The message was that the outcome — that one note that could have soared more freely, that arabesque that could have been more extended — will always fall short of expectations. The glory lies in the striving itself, 'in the pursuit of something greater than yourself.' For Juilliard graduates accustomed to measuring success by performances and competitions, this was a radical reorientation.