Angela Brown
"At last an Aida." was the response of The New York Times to Angela M. Brown's Metropolitan Opera debut this season and Anne Midgette called the night "a major event." The Associated Press recognized her performance by saying: "At this still-early stage of her career, she combines a potent, dusky lower register with a striking ability to spin out soft high notes of shimmering beauty. There's no dout her voice is powerful enough for Verdi; she sailed loud and clear above even the massed choruses that crowd the Met stage during the Triumphal Scene in Act II."
Miss Brown brandishes pure vocal power and finesse and has won the acclaim of critics and audiences. The roles of Aida, Amelia, Tosca, Elisabetta, Leonora, Ariadne, and the like, are the perfect conduit for her musical abilities.
Miss Brown sings another performance in the title role of Aida this December 1 with the Metropolitan Opera and reprises the role in January 2005 for Opera Company of Philadelphia. She follows that with a stint at the Met to cover Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera), a concert of opera arias for Dayton Opera, and the role of Cilla in Margaret Garner, a new opera by Richard Danielpour and Toni Morrison, for Cincinnati Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia. A recording of African-American spirituals with piano and guitar is due out in late October from Albany Records. (Available through AlbanyRecords.com)
The 2003-2004 season marked a new high for Miss Brown’s career as it encompassed four highly successful role debuts, a Carnegie Hall debut, two glowing reviews each from The New York Times and Opera Now and word to the wise to keep a watch on her career from Opera News.
It all began in Spring 2003 as she stepped in for one performance of Ariadne in Philadelphia and received this review from Opera Now: "In one of those dramatic twists that are the stuff of opera, the soprano covering the title role in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS at the Metropolitan Opera got her chance to sing it -- at the Opera Company of Philadelphia. The young American soprano Angela Brown took over one performance…She (Ms. Brown) has a powerhouse of an instrument, shimmering with colour and imaginatively used, and she knows how to take centre-stage. "
Then, in the fall of 2004, Angela sang an unexpected performance and her debut of Leonora in Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Il Trovatore. In January of 2004, she made her role debut as Elisabetta in Don Carlo with Opera Company of Philadelphia receiving this praise from The New York Times: “Angela Brown, a soprano, brought dignity and shimmering pianos, and hit a bull's-eye with her final aria,” Opera News: “Angela Brown revealed herself as a soprano to watch. Brown displayed good command of Verdi style, imaginative phrasing and a warm, expressive voice,” and Opera Now: “"Angela Brown's beautiful lyric soprano voice was ideal for Elisabetta. She floated pianissimos that seemed to hang in space, shimmering, and she had plenty of power for her last big scene.”
March of 2004 had her singing Cassandra in Taneyev’s Agamemnon in Poland and she reprised it in June of 2004 for the American premiere of the work at Carnegie Hall as her debut in that revered space. The New York Times, again, honored her performance reporting that the role of Cassandra was: “performed by Angela Brown with an opulent soprano tone and a fine tragic sense.” Opera News reported: "Rising soprano Angela Brown made the most of it, singing with refulgent tone and deep feeling,...Her lovely, accomplished soft singing bodes well for her upcoming Met and Philadelphia Aidas."
Following the Carnegie success, Miss Brown was a featured guest soloist in a concert of opera arias and ensembles with Opera Pacific’s Opera Under the Stars and stepped in as Aida for Shaker Mountain Opera’s concert version of the opera. The critics spoke again: “Angela M. Brown, who stepped into the title role after original casting was announced, is a major discovery. Her soprano is one of those too rare instruments capable of spinning exquisitely beautiful legato lines, in phrasing that often is breathtaking in its security…We shall hear more from this fine singing actress.” (The Berkshire Eagle)
In addition to these accomplishments and engagements in the past year, she performed a concert of Strauss and Wagner arias with the Auckland Philharmonia, as soloist for the Verdi Requiem with Louisville Orchestra, and as soloist with The Gibraltar Philharmonic garnering critical praise for each performance. (See Reviews for additional information.)
A 1997 National Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions Winner, Ms. Brown’s previous solo appearances include: Teatro La Fenice, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Tulsa Philharmonic, Long Island Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Indianapolis Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Brevard Festival Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony, El Paso Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Hendersonville Symphony, Chautauqua Institution, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and the Kennedy Center's 25th Anniversary Celebration. Ms. Brown has performed in recital throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Africa.
Miss Brown is a student of Virginia Zeani, Distinguished Professor at Indiana University School of Music, and Ginger Beazley, voice professor at Oakwood College in Alabama. |
