American soprano Angela Meade is the winner of both the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. In 2008 she joined an elite group of history’s singers when, as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, she made her professional operatic debut on the Met stage. Since then she has fast become recognized as one of today’s outstanding vocalists, excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi, recently also adding the operas of Strauss and Wagner to her repertoire.
This season, Angela Meade returns to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Turandot, in Franco Zeffirelli’s celebrated production conducted by Carlo Rizzi, later reprising the role in her house debut at Atlanta Opera. She also makes her debut with Opera National de Paris, reprising Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera, conducted by Speranza Scappucci. On the concert stage, Ms. Meade joins the Toledo Symphony in a concert of Beethoven, Strauss, and Wagner. Last season, she made notable returns to Teatro La Fenice, The Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Teatro Carlo Felice in celebrated role portrayals. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore in David McVicar’s critically acclaimed production, conducted by Daniele Callegari. She sang the title role in Lucrezia Borgia in Munich, and made her role debut in the title role of Die Liebe der Danae at Teatro Carlo Felice with Fabio Luisi. She also joined the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor Leon Botstein in concert at Carnegie Hall as Freihild in Strauss’s Guntram. Concert appearances included Mahler 8 with Nashville Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem with the Cincinnati Symphony, and Mahler 2 with San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare.
The season prior, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Carlo Rizzi. She sang the title role in Ermione with Washington Concert Opera alongside Lawrence Brownlee and David Portillo, followed by her role debut as Chrysothemis in Elektra at Dallas Opera. She sang the title role in Beatrice di Tenda at Teatro Carlo Felice and joined Teatro La Fenice for the Verdi Requiem. In the spring, she joined LA Opera for her role debut in the title role of Turandot conducted by James Conlon in the celebrated production by David Hockney, reprising the role later with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma at The Baths of Caracalla.
Recent season highlights include Angela Meade’s Teatro alla Scala debut singing Elena in I Vespri Siciliani conducted by Fabio Luisi; role debuts in the title role of Lucrezia Borgia in her house debut at Bayerische Staatsoper and as Leonora in La Forza del Destino with Amigos de la Ópera de A Coruña in A Coruña, Spain; and performances with Amigos de la Ópera de A Coruña for their 70th anniversary gala. She returned to Asociación Bilbaína de Amigos de la Ópera (“ABAO”) in Bilbao to perform the title role in Act III of Aida in concert, to the Metropolitan Opera for Elisabeth de Valois in Sir David McVicar’s production of Don Carlo conducted by Carlo Rizzi, and to Teatro Regio di Torino for the Verdi Requiem. Following her debut at La Scala, she sang the title role in Aida in Torino and at the Metropolitan Opera, the title role in Norma at the Metropolitan Opera, Lucrezia Contarini in I Due Foscari at Teatro Carlo Felice, and Elvira in Ernani at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. Additional engagements include Sieglinde in Die Walküre alongside Eric Owens and Brandon Jovanovich at Seattle Opera, Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra at Teatro Regio di Parma, the title role in Norma at Teatro Regio di Parma as well as in Piacenza and Modena, Elvira in Ernani at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Verbier Festival conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, and the title role in Anna Bolena at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova. Concert and recital highlights include a return to Bilbao to sing Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Nicola Luisotti, a recital with Myra Huang for the Wexford Festival Opera, Verdi Requiem at Teatro Massimo di Palermo, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Toronto Symphony conducted by Gustavo Gimeno. Covid cancellations in the 2020–2021 season include performances at the Metropolitan Opera as Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux and Imogene in Il pirata, as well as a concert with the Houston Symphony featuring Baroque holiday music under the baton of Nicholas McGegan. Cancellations in the 2019–2020 season include the title role in Anna Bolena in Bilbao, Imogene in Il pirata at Teatro Massimo di Palermo in Italy, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy.
Other operatic highlights of previous seasons include performances at the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in both Norma and Semiramide (broadcast Live in HD in theaters worldwide), a role debut as Margherita in the Robert Carsen production of Boito’s Mefistofele, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Leonora; at Washington National Opera as the title roles in Bellini’s Norma and Handel’s Alcina; at Oper Frankfurt as the title role in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur; at the Teatro Real in Madrid as both Norma and Lucrezia in Verdi’s I due Foscari, opposite Plácido Domingo and Michael Fabiano, and conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado; at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Giselda in Verdi’s I Lombardi and Mathilde in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell; Arena di Verona as the title role in Aida; Los Angeles Opera as Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni; Gran Teatro del Liceu as the title role in Aida; Deutsche Oper Berlin as Leonora in Il Trovatore; Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy as the title roles in Bellini’s Norma and Rossini’s Ermione; Amigos de la Opera de la Coruña in Spain as Elisabetta in Don Carlo; Seattle Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore; and Dallas Opera as Alice Ford in Falstaff. Career operatic highlights also include house debuts at the Wiener Staatsoper as Elena in Verdi’s I vespri siciliani, the Teatro Regio di Torino in Italy as Mathilde in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell and Cincinnati Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.
On the concert stage, Ms. Meade has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cincinatti Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, among others. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Roberto Abbado, Gustavo Dudamel, Marin Alsop, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Will Crutchfield, Thomas Dausgaard, Plácido Domingo, Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Frizza, Manfred Honeck, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Donald Runnicles, Gerard Schwarz, and Osmo Vänskä.
A native of Washington State and an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Meade has triumphed in an astounding number of vocal competitions: 57 in all, including many of the opera world’s most important prizes. In addition to being a winner at the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as documented in The Audition, a film subsequently released on DVD by Decca, she was also the first singer to take first prize in both the opera and operetta categories of the prestigious Belvedere Competition.