From: Centralia, Washington. LA Opera: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2012, debut); title role of Norma (2015); Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux (2020); title role in Turandot (2024).

Photo: Faye Fox

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 and Mozart.

In the 2022/23 season, Angela Meade made her role debut as Leonora in La Forza del Destino and performed in a 70th anniversary gala with Amigos de la Ópera de A Coruña in A Coruña, Spain. She returned to Asociación Bilbaína de Amigos de la Ópera (“ABAO”) to perform the title role in the third act of Aida in concert. She made her role debut as the title role in Lucrezia Borgia in her house debut at Munich's Bavarian State Opera before returning to the Metropolitan Opera for Elisabeth de Valois in Sir David McVicar’s production of Don Carlo conducted by Carlo Rizzi. She returned to Teatro Regio di Torino for the Verdi Requiem before making her Teatro alla Scala debut, singing the role of Elena in I Vespri Siciliani conductd by Fabio Luisi. Following her debut at La Scala, her appearances include the title role in Aida in Torino, Lucrezia Contarini in The Two Foscari at Teatro Carlo Felice, and Elvira in Ernani at Palau De Les Arts Reina Sofia.

Meade began the 2021/22 season as Sieglinde in Die Walküre alongside Eric Owens and Brandon Jovanovich at Seattle Opera before singing the role of Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra at Teatro Regio di Parma. She sang the title role in Norma at Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti di Modena. She sang the title role in Anna Bolena at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova before returning to Teatro Regio di Parma for a reprise of Norma. She made a return to Bilbao to sing Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Nicola Luisotti and sang a recital with Myra Huang for the Wexford Festival Opera. She also returned to Teatro Massimo di Palermo for the Verdi Requiem and performed the role of Elvira in Ernani at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. She sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Toronto Symphony conducted by Gustavo Gimeno before debuting the role of Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Verbier Festival conducted by Gianandrea Nosdea.

In the 2020/21 season, Ms. Meade gave a recital at Seattle Opera alongside mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and then sang a concert featuring selections from Verdi operas with the Dallas Symphony and music director Fabio Luisi. She also returned to Bilbao for a gala concert featuring music from Aida, then reprising the title role in Aida at Arena di Verona. 

In the 2019/20 season, Ms. Meade sang Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux at LA Opera, the title role in Aida at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, the title roles in both Norma and Rossini’s Ermione at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Amigos de la Opera de la Coruña in Spain. In concert, she sang Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, conducted by Alan Gilbert. 

In the 2018/19 season, Ms. Meade joined forces with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain for a special performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in memory of Jacqueline Desmarais. Domestic opera engagements included a role debut as Margherita in the Robert Carsen production of Boito’s Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera, a house debut at Seattle Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore and a return to Dallas Opera as Alice Ford in Falstaff, while internationally, she reprised Leonora at Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla in Spain. In concert, Ms. Meade sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the Ravinia Festival with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, reprised the Messa da Requiem with the RTÉ National Symphony under the baton of Michele Mariotti, and appeared in a gala concert in her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival.

Operatic highlights of recent seasons include performances at the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in both Norma and Semiramide (broadcast Live in HD in theaters worldwide), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Leonora; at Washington National Opera as the title role in 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 The Two Foscari; at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Giselda in Verdi’s I Lombardi; and, stepping in as a last-minute replacement, at Deutsche Oper Berlin as Leonora.

Ms. Meade’s concert highlights of recent seasons include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, under the baton of music director Gustavo Dudamel; at Lincoln Center for the Metropolitan Opera’s 50th Anniversary celebration concert; with the Philadelphia Orchestra for their 2016 New Year’s Eve Gala; in the Messa da Requiem for her debut at Houston Grand Opera, under the baton of music director Patrick Summers; at the Grant Park Music Festival in Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh; at the Caramoor Music Festival for an opening night gala and in performances of Il Pirata; with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; with the Cincinatti Symphony Orchestra in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells; with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 for her Japanese debut; and as Ermione under the baton of the late Alberto Zedda with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, as well as with the Opéra de Lyon Orchestra in Lyon and in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She has also presented solo recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in Philadelphia, Santa Fe, and Waterford (VA).

Following her momentous Met debut, Ms. Meade’s numerous returns to the storied New York house included performances as the title role in Sir David McVicar’s new production of Anna Bolena, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Contessa Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Alice Ford in a new production of Falstaff under James Levine, as seen around the world in the Met’s Live in HD series and released on DVD by Decca Classics. She also reprised Elvira in a production seen both in the Met’s Live in HD series and on a Great Performances at the Met presentation on PBS. Elsewhere in New York City, she has performed at Carnegie Hall as both the title role in Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda and Amaltea in Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon, and at Lincoln Center as Giselda in Verdi’s I Lombardi with the Opera Orchestra of New York. Career operatic highlights also include house debuts at the Vienna State Opera as Elena in Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani, the Teatro Regio di Torino in Italy as Mathilde in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell, both LA Opera and Cincinnati Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and her first fully-staged portrayal of Norma at Washington National Opera, where as she was subsequently honored as the “2013 Artist of the Year.”

On the concert stage, Ms. Meade has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, among others. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Roberto Abbado, Marin Alsop, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Will Crutchfield, Thomas Dausgaard, 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.

Learn more at AngelaMeade.com.