Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova

March 1st, 2022

“Angela Meade got a well-deserved personal success, great Bolena for temperament, voice, confidence in phrasing, intonation: the final scene was extraordinary.” La Repubblica – Roberto Iovino

“The Teatro Carlo Felice hadn’t offered Anna Boleyn since 1851, for which it is now pardoned by presenting a splendid edition to the public. It has been the protagonist Angela Meade, who faced with amazing ease the arduous, long and tiring task entrusted by Donizetti to the mythical Giuditta Pasta. This American soprano seems to know no limits: she has a full, homogeneous and well-pitched voice throughout her extension, with endless breath and precise and sure agility. She developed an impressive power in the moments of fury, as in the end of the first act and in the cabaletta “Coppia iniqua” and seduced with wonderful pianissimi, limpid and delicate in the painful and dreamy moments such as those exhibited in “Al dolce guidami castel natío ”. Few are the singers today capable of facing with this perfection some pages that demand vocality and expression in such different ways.” Opera Actual – Mauro Mariani

“What spearhead was the performance of soprano Angela Meade, an artist who in this last year is making herself strongly noticed on our stages, thanks to that rare mixture that combines in her voice a particular, very theatrical and characteristic color, a volume of considerable impact, excellent technique and a very refined sense of handing and phrasing. Her Bolena therefore imposed itself thanks to a careful and sensitive interpretation in which the various accents were well blended, transmitting a very complete and in-depth theatrical story of the queen’s drama.” I teatri dell’est – opera senza confini – Silvia Campana

“All this to say how amazing Angela Meade is. Timbre beauty is a must for such writing, as are purity of line, firmness of even very long legacies, very long pianissimi discolouring at dizzying heights, softness of a chromatic palette all chiaroscuro and half-tints, as well as – where needed – the pop of lightning bolts in the lightning stroke, as in the final cabaletta: an Anna with a superb style and phrasing.” Classical Voice – Elvio Giudici

“The proposition of a title like this is unthinkable without the presence of at least two exceptional performers who have the qualities other than to confront the creators of the characters – which is obviously impossible – at least to adapt to the demands of two such demanding roles, and here we have them. The Anna Bolena who was therefore Giuditta Pasta relives here with the American soprano Angela Meade in the repertoire most congenial to her: the sumptuous timbre, the exceptional projection of the voice, the interminable winds, the enchanting half voices, the fluid agility, the colors nuances make his performance a success acclaimed by the public who is enchanted by his dreamy “Al dolce guide me”, he is subjugated to his incisive cabaletta “Inequitable couple”, he is moved by his tragic end.”  L’opera oggi – Renato Verga