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Critical Acclaim | Features
Kennedy Center recital debut
Soprano Angela Meade gives impressive recital for Washington National Opera
“One of the names that has most frequently popped up in next-big-star-in-the-making discussions over the past few years is soprano Angela Meade. No wonder. The singer has the one key element that cannot be faked by any amount of aggressive publicity — a voice. A real, honest-to-goodness, fully formed vocal instrument that has you sitting up to take notice from the first note. As Meade demonstrated locally in 2011 in a stellar performances of the Verdi Requiem with the Baltimore Symphony, and reconfirmed Saturday night at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in an impressive recital for Washington National Opera, that voice is backed by keen musicality. … 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. This flexibility, along with endearing phrasing, served Meade especially well in ‘Depuis le jour’ from Charpentier’s ‘Louise.’… She is already a remarkably satisfying vocal artist who has sent a welcome jolt through the opera-sphere.”
— Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith (November 2012)
I Vespri Siciliani at Wiener Staatsoper (Herzogin Elena)
“We can report on a fabulous revival at the Vienna State Opera, where since Sunday Giuseppe Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani is being presented again. It’s a masterful work that is all too seldom performed, mainly because of the difficulty of casting all the demanding principal parts. Now at the opera house on the Ring four years since its last appearance there, three first-class voices may be enjoyed. Angela Meade portrays the Duchess Elena with her generously endowed soprano, including elegant coloratura and a remarkable range in a memorable house debut.”
— Kurier (September 2012)
NPR Music
Opera News editor-in-chief F. Paul Driscoll on hearing Angela Meade for the first time at the Liederkranz competition:
“I refer to that moment as a ‘five pencil drop’ because all of us were poised to write something and the pencils all dropped and we sat there and just listened. Part of what she has — in addition to the beautiful voice and the beautiful technique — is something about her I find incredibly centered. It’s like I know that if she’s flying my plane, it’s not going to crash. I don’t have to worry about whether she’s going to make it to the end of a phrase. I don’t worry about whether or not she’s going to have enough stamina to make it to the end of the evening. She has a sense of self that reminds me of singers that I saw when I was first coming to the opera. I don’t think she sounds like anybody else; she sounds like herself. But that self knowledge and the confidence is something that is a big blessing for audiences.”
— NPR Music.org – “Future of Opera” discussion (August 2012)
Cleveland Orchestra debut at Blossom Music Festival
“Conductor Johannes Debus, soprano Angela Meade and tenor Michael Fabiano all made their Cleveland Orchestra debuts at this concert which was a triumph from beginning to end. These performers are on their way to major careers. … Ms. Meade poured out streams of richly produced and focused sound, full in the lower register and powerful in the upper part of her voice, but with the flexibility to float pianissimo high notes. Earlier in 2012 Ms. Meade won the prestigious Beverly Sills Award given by the Metropolitan Opera. In these performances, it is clear that the award was well deserved.”
— Cleveland Classical, Timothy Robson (August 2012)
Saratoga Performing Arts Center debut with Philadelphia Orchestra & Yannick Nézet-Seguin
“In Verdi’s ‘Pace, pace, mio Dio!’ soprano Meade fulfilled her considerable potential with voice, words, and meaning coming together in a fully realized operatic statement. During ‘Ecco: respire appena’ from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, she floated pianissimos worthy of Montserrat Caballé.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns (August 2012)
Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera (Elvira)
“Her voice is plush and penetrating, though the power comes effortlessly from the body and richness of her sound. Her top notes soared over the orchestra. Yet just as impressive were her finespun pianissimo phrases. She can be a cautious singer, and she started tentatively here. But as the evening progressed, she gained confidence and conveyed the pathos, anguish and torment of a young woman being pulled apart by three controlling men, one of whom she adores.”
“Ms. Meade’s Elvira showed what this uncommonly gifted rising artist is capable of.”
— The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (February 2012)
Verdi Requiem
“Could Meade be the next great Verdian soprano? I might take that bet.”
— Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun
Richard Tucker Foundation Gala 2011
“As gala concerts go, this one had enough star power for a whole galaxy. With such guests on hand as tenor Jonas Kaufmann, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and powerhouse mezzo-sopranos Stephanie Blythe and Dolora Zajick, the excitement level was up several notches Sunday night for this year’s benefit for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. It helped that the 2011 honoree (and $30,000 prize winner), soprano Angela Meade, is already an accomplished artist who can hold her own in such high-powered company. Meade’s opening number, an aria from Verdi’s ‘Attila,’ showed off her large voice, resplendent high notes and technical agility.”
— Associated Press, Mike Silverman (November 2011)
Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan Opera (Anna)
“The promising young American soprano rose to the challenge, putting her own stamp on the role and drawing prolonged cheers from the audience at Friday night’s final curtain … She has a strong, supple voice, a knack for floating soft high notes, and an unusual agility in the rapid-fire technique of bel canto singing so crucial to this 1830 masterpiece … Anna’s first aria and cabaletta was sung with impeccable phrasing and included a couple of high pianissimos that seemed to be spun out of finest silk. There were more of those in the final scene, and at one point Meade accompanied a hushed high note by extending a hand in the air as if reaching for a thread of the delicate fabric.”
— Associated Press, Mike Silverman (October 2011)
Il Trovatore in concert (Leonora)
“Last year’s operatic high point in Oregon was the pairing of Angela Meade and Richard Zeller in Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore’ at Washington Park. The soprano sensation from Centralia made her Portland debut singing into the sun amid chatting picnickers and wandering toddlers, and even in those less than ideal conditions she shone alongside her fellow Northwesterner and Metropolitan Opera colleague Zeller. She’d have raised the roof if there’d been one. This year’s high point was the same, with the added benefit of a room – Astoria’s handsome Liberty Theater – to display their sound to full effect … As Leonora, she combined bel canto finesse with power and profound musicality. She delivered fine filigrees of crisp coloratura and, especially in the fourth act, lingered on stratospheric pianissimos as the audience collectively held its breath.
— The Oregonian, James McQuillen (Astoria Music Festival, OR, July 2011)