Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda at Carnegie Hall
December 3rd, 2012“On Wednesday at Carnegie Hall, some of America’s most talented young singers — including soprano Angela Meade and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton — delivered vocal splendor with technical fireworks in Vincenzo Bellini’s ‘Beatrice di Tenda.’ They followed in the musical footsteps of the late Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, who wowed a Carnegie audience in the same 19th-century Italian opera in 1961. Meade and Barton produced a stream of thrilling, seductive sounds. And they drew a standing ovation from an audience that included top agents, publicists and casting directors in the music business. … The soprano’s full-throttle voice is exhilarating. And her rise to stardom at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere is well deserved; she’s won more than 50 vocal competitions.”
— Associated Press, Verena Dobnik (December 2012)
“As Beatrice, Ms. Meade again proved herself a singer of uncommon gifts. Her sound is plush and penetrating. During climactic phrases her voice soared over the orchestra. She floated pianissimo high notes, shaped melodic lines with suppleness and dispatched coloratura runs so that they emerged as elaborations of lyrical lines, not just showy passagework.”
— The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (December 2012)
“But the brightest star in this galaxy was that of Angela Meade. I have never heard a voice so technically perfect, so rich and full, and effortless. It was like a hot knife through melted butter. With the slightest pianissimo, she could draw the entire house into her arms; and we were hers from the taking.”
— Examiner.com, Jake Johansen (December 2012)