Angela Meade Rings in the New Year with a Trio of Concerts

Soprano Angela Meade, the youngest singer ever featured on the cover of the "Diva Issue" of Opera News (November 2014), launches 2015 with a trio of high-profile events in January. She makes her eagerly awaited debut with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert in three performances of Verdi's Requiem at Avery Fisher Hall (Jan 15-17). Later in the month audiences have the opportunity to hear her star turn in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert on aLive From Lincoln Center broadcast. "Richard Tucker Opera Gala: A New Century", which was taped last October, airs on PBS on Friday, January 23, 2015. This weekend Meade is performing in a more intimate New York setting at the Morgan Library (Jan 11) where she shares the bill of a George London Recital with baritone Nicholas Pallesen, a fellow winner of the George London prize.

For her first appearance with the New York Philharmonic, Meade joins mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, tenor Brandon Jovanovich, and bass-baritone Eric Owens under the baton of music director Alan Gilbert for Verdi's Requiem at Avery Fisher Hall (Jan 15-17). When she performed the work with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin last season, the American Record Guide pronounced hers "a flawless and electrifying performance," in a review that continued: "She made the ending of the 'Libera Me' passionate, sonic, and supple; and she was utterly one with the chorus. It was a moment of vocal gold." Meade is fast becoming renowned for her Verdi interpretations, and her performances have garnered exceptional reviews. The Baltimore Sun wrote of her recital at the Kennedy Center: "The soprano easily has what it takes to be a dramatic Verdi soprano - the Terrace Theater could barely contain the sound at full-throttle - but she can also scale back the tone beautifully, even in the upper reaches, where many a singer comes to grief. ... She is already a remarkably satisfying vocal artist who has sent a welcome jolt through the opera-sphere."

Indeed, Meade sang Verdi for her professional debut - onstage at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008, stepping in on 24 hours' notice in the role of Elvira in Ernani. Since then, the Washington State native has returned for numerous leading roles at the Met, including the title roles of Bellini's Norma and David McVicar's production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena; Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore; Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff, conducted by James Levine, and Mozart's Countess in Jonathan Miller's production of Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Fabio Luisi. She reprised her Elvira in Verdi's Ernaniopposite Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto, and will sing the role again this spring, this time opposite Francesco Meli and Plácido Domingo and conducted by Maestro Levine. Her performances in Ernani and Falstaff were broadcast worldwide in the Met's "Live in HD" series.

Among the astonishing 57 awards and competition wins that Meade accumulated in a short period of time before her professional breakthrough, including first prize in both the opera and operetta categories of Vienna's prestigious Belvedere Competition, the $50,000 first prize of the José Iturbi Competition and the $50,000 Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera, in 2011 she won the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, given to singers on the cusp of international stardom. She was honored at the 2011 Richard Tucker Gala and has appeared in the event several times since then, including the one that occurred last October. The recording of that event will be broadcast on PBS as part of Live from Lincoln Center's 40th anniversary season, on Friday, January 23, 2015 at 10:00 p.m., hosted by Audra McDonald. Meade appears alongside rising stars of the opera firmament such as Joseph Calleja, Zeljko Lucic, Ildar Abdrazakov, Pretty Yende, and the 2014 Richard Tucker Award winner Michael Fabiano. They perform solo and ensemble selections from works by Puccini, Mozart, Bellini, Massenet, Donizetti, Verdi, and Bernstein, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.

Another of Meade's January performances also comes as a result of a competition success, her winning of the 2008 George London Award. These awards have been given out to outstanding young singers for over 40 years as part of the bass-baritone's legacy, and since 1995 the George London Foundation has also held duo concerts in New York's Morgan Library. Meade will perform music by Mozart, Richard Strauss and Meyerbeer on January 11, sharing the bill with baritone Nicholas Pallesen, who won the award in 2013, and accompanied by pianist Danielle Orlando.

Meade ended 2014 on a high note with a North American tour as Mathilde in the concert version of Rossini's William Tell, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. The New York Times reviewed her Carnegie Hall performance, saying, "Ms. Meade brought her sumptuous, powerful voice to Mathilde. ... this was a deeply felt as well as exquisitely sung performance." The Chicago Tribune commented: "[The tenor's] voice was ideally matched in the Act 2 duet with Meade's voluminous sound, uncommon flexibility and crushed-velvet richness of timbre. Mathilde's romanza, known in English as 'Somber Forests,' was a model of bel canto singing at its finest, and the soprano's top notes gleamed like lasers." LA Splash declared, "Her talent is so remarkable her voice could convert non-opera lovers; she is a threat to blow almost any other soprano out of the water."

Further details of Angela Meade's upcoming engagements follow, and additional information may be found at her website: angelameade.com.

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