Soprano Angela Meade to Return to Metropolitan Opera for NORMA & FALSTAFF

Angela Meade, the soprano whose 57 competition wins include the Metropolitan Opera's 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award, returns to the company in two prominent productions this fall. She launches the new season with her first Met performances in the title role of Norma (Oct 24 & 28), having demonstrated "her nearly mind-blowing mastery of Bellini's most challenging music" (Washington Times) in the same part earlier this year. Then, under the baton of James Levine, she makes her role debut as Alice Ford in a new-to-the-Met production of Falstaff (Dec 6-Jan 11) that will be beamed to movie theaters worldwide in the Met: Live in HD series (Dec 14). Meade's abundant honors include the 2011 Richard Tucker Award, and she graces a special gala concert to celebrate the legendary tenor's centennial at Avery Fisher Hall (Nov 17). She also looks forward to making two important European debuts this season: in Italy, where she gives her first performances as Mathilde in Rossini's William Tell at the Teatro Regio di Torino (May 7-18), and at the Frankfurt Opera, where she sings her first Fidelia in concert performances of Puccini's Edgar (Feb 16 & 18).

For her company role debut headlining Bellini's Norma at the Met, Meade will be joined by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko in a production by veteran British director John Copley. Riccardo Frizza, who impressed the New York Times with his "crisp, lithe, and elegantly shaped rendition" of the opera, will conduct (Oct 24 & 28). Meade recently scored a resounding success in her first staged performances as Norma at Washington National Opera. The company honored her as "Artist of the Year," and the reviews were glowing and heartfelt; Anne Midgette declared: "Of the four Normas I've heard live in the last ten years, Angela Meade is by far the best" (Washington Post).

Meade returns to the Met this winter for her role debut as Alice Ford in Robert Carsen's original treatment of Falstaff - the company's first new take on Verdi's Shakespearean comedy in almost 50 years (Dec 6-Jan 11). When Carsen's staging bowed at Covent Garden, Opera News called it "witty, charming, and human from start to finish," and concluded: "Verdi's masterpiece has rarely seemed so rich or life-affirming." BaritoneAmbrogio Maestri, who sang the title role in London, will reprise it opposite Meade under the leadership of James Levine, whose hotly-anticipated Met comeback last month was agreed to be "a triumph" (Chicago Tribune). The December 14 performance of Falstaff will be transmitted to movie theaters worldwide as part of the Met: Live in HD series.

In another high-profile New York engagement, Meade helps celebrate the centenary of tenor Richard Tucker at a special Richard Tucker Music Foundation gala concert at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. The 2011 recipient of the Richard Tucker Award will be joined by other past winners of the foundation's biggest prize, including Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Matthew Polenzani, Ailyn Pérez, and Stephen Costello (Nov 17). The performance will be recorded for a future Live From Lincoln Center broadcast on PBS.

Dubbed "the next great Verdian soprano" (Baltimore Sun), Meade looks forward to collaborating with the Jacksonville Symphony and Chorus on the Italian composer's Requiem (Feb 27, 28 & March 1), in which she recently gave "a flawless and electrifying performance" (American Record Guide) with the Philadelphia Orchestra under its music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. As guest DJ on a special Verdi centennial edition of NPR'sDeceptive Cadence, she introduced favorite moments from his operas and fielded questions about her own career; the episode is available for streaming at nprmusic.org.

Meade rounds out the season with two milestone debuts in Europe. For her first appearances in Italy, she makes her role debut as Mathilde in Rossini's William Tell, opposite Carlos Álvarez in the title role, with Gianandrea Noseda conducting the new Graham Vick production at the Teatro Regio di Torino (May 7, 11 & 18). And another role debut marks her first performances at Germany's Frankfurt Opera, where she sings Fidelia inPuccini's Edgar opposite fellow Beverly Sills Award-winner and Academy of Vocal Arts alum Bryan Hymel in the title role. Marc Soustrot will conduct both concert performances of this rarely heard example of Puccini's early work (Feb 16 & 18).

More information about Angela Meade's upcoming engagements can be found below, and further details are available on her web site:www.angelameade.com.

Photo Courtesy of Meade's Official Facebook Page

To post a comment, you must register and login.