Angela Meade News

The Collegiate Chorale, led by music director James Bagwell, announces its 71st Season, which will include three Chorale-presented concerts, five collaborative concerts, and a summer tour to the Verbier Festival.

Less than five years after making her professional operatic debut, substituting for an ill colleague as Elvira in Verdi's Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera, Angela Meade is fast becoming one of the world's top-billed interpreters of Verdi and Bellini. The soprano-winner of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera-has a number of notable "firsts" during the 2012-13 season, including a house debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as Elena in I vespri siciliani (Sept 9-18), Leonora in her first staged Il trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera (Jan 16), and her first staged Norma-the role that catapulted her to prominence at the 2010 Caramoor Festival-at Washington National Opera in a new production directed by Anne Bogart (March 9-24). More Bellini is in the offing for Meade at Carnegie Hall this season: a concert performance of Beatrice di Tenda with the Collegiate Chorale (Dec 5). The soprano also sings Mozart's Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for her debuts at Los Angeles Opera (Oct 11-14) and Cincinnati Opera (June 13-15). Noteworthy concert engagements in 2012-13 include Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs with the Ontario Philharmonic in Toronto (Jan 29), Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck (April 26-28), and her recital debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (Nov 10).

Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2012-2013 season with Mozart's Don Giovanni, September 20 to October 13 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Powerhouse Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov stars in the title role for most performances, while Tony Award® winning Brazilian baritone Paulo Szot (South Pacific) sings the title role on October 9. This WNO production, last seen in 2007, is directed by John Pascoe and conducted by WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin.

Washington National Opera (WNO) opens its 2012-2013 season with Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena, September 15 to October 6 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Celebrated American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky returns to WNO to make her role debut as Anne Boleyn. This striking production, new to Washington, is directed by Stephen Lawless, and the WNO Orchestra will be led by Italian conductor Antonello Allemandi in his WNO debut.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Angela Meade starred in the company's recent production of Ernani. In May, the soprano tackles another Verdi heroine, making her Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as Lucrezia in two concert performances of I due Foscari. More high-profile firsts follow in August when Meade makes a trio of major U.S. music festival debuts, headlining "A Night at the Opera" with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival; "Italian Opera Night" with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nezet-Seguin at Saratoga, and Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" with Robert Spano in Aspen. In June - as a preview of next season's debut with Washington National Opera - she portrays the title role of Bellini's Norma in concert at Oregon's Astoria Music Festival, and in July she sings Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore at the Festival Castell de Peralada in Spain.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation today announced that lyric soprano Ailyn Pérez is the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award.

Staatsoperndirektor Dominique Meyer, Generalmusikdirektor Franz Welser-Möst, Ballettdirektor Manuel Legris und der Kaufmännische Geschäftsführer Thomas W. Platzer haben heute, Dienstag, 27. März 2012 den Spielplan der kommenden Saison 2012/2013 präsentiert.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the winners of the 2012 National Council Auditions. They are: Janai Brugger, soprano from Darien, IL; Anthony Clark Evans, baritone from Owensboro, KY; Matthew Grills, tenor from Newtown, CT; Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo-soprano from Euclid, OH; and Andrey Nemzer, countertenor from Moscow, Russia. The winners were selected from nine finalists who performed arias with the MET Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis. Each winner receives a cash prize of $15,000, as well as invaluable career exposure: the audience for the auditions includes influential opera executives, artist managers, and music critics, and some of the biggest stars in opera received their first major recognition as National Council Winners. The Grand Finals Concert was hosted by renowned bass-baritone Eric Owens, a 1996 National Council Auditions winner. During the judges' deliberations, he gave a special performance of "Ella giammai m'amo," King Philip's aria from Verdi's Don Carlo.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of nine finalists who will sing in the 2012 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on March 18 at 3:00 p.m. with the MET Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. The finalists are: Janai Brugger, soprano from Darien, IL;Anthony Clark Evans, baritone from Owensboro, KY; Matthew Grills, tenor from Newton, CT; Will Liverman, baritone from Virginia Beach, VA; Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo-soprano from Euclid, OH; Andrey Nemzer, countertenor from Moscow, Russia; Kevin Ray, baritone from Cornwall, NY; Lauren Snouffer, soprano from Austin, TX; and Michael Sumuel, bass-baritone from Odessa, TX.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of nine finalists who will sing in the 2012 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on March 18 at 3:00 p.m. with the MET Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. The finalists are: Janai Brugger, soprano from Darien, IL;Anthony Clark Evans, baritone from Owensboro, KY; Matthew Grills, tenor from Newton, CT; Will Liverman, baritone from Virginia Beach, VA; Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo-soprano from Euclid, OH; Andrey Nemzer, countertenor from Moscow, Russia; Kevin Ray, baritone from Cornwall, NY; Lauren Snouffer, soprano from Austin, TX; and Michael Sumuel, bass-baritone from Odessa, TX.

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced its 2012-2013 season-Anna Bolena, Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Norma, and Show Boat. WNO also expands its season to include a family production of Hansel and Gretel in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, extends its Celebrity Concert Series with performances by opera stars Nathan Gunn and Diana Damrau plus a recital by rising star Angela Meade, and continues its partnership with the Washington Nationals with a free Opera in the Outfield performance of Don Giovanni.

On Saturday, March 3 The Met: Live in HD series will continue with an encore performance of Verdi's Ernani at the Warner's Nancy Marine Studio Theatre at 1pm.

The New York Choral Society will celebrate its 53rd Anniversary with a Spring Gala on March 29 at The National Arts Club. Music DirectorJohn Daly Goodwin will be honored for his 25th anniversary and final season with the New York Choral Society with the Outstanding Leadership Award and joined by friends and patrons in honoring Laura R. Walker, who will be presented with the Distinguished Service to Music Award.

A Verdi classic returns to the Met with an excellent cast led by Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and rising star Angela Meade in her first Met leading role ERNANI will be broadcast at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater as part of the Met's "Live in HD" series.

Soprano Angela Meade, the 2011 Richard Tucker Award winner, returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Elvira in Verdi's Ernani, February 2-25, singing the role with which she made an unscheduled "star is born" professional debut at the Met in 2008 substituting for an ill colleague.

Soprano Angela Meade, recipient of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera, stars as Elvira in the live broadcast of Verdi's Ernani in the Met's Live in HD series, on Saturday, February 25.