Angela Meade, a former Centralia College student, is the winner of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera.
Angela Meade joined an elite group of history's singers when she made her professional operatic debut on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera as Verdi's "Elvira in Ernani," substituting for an ill colleague in March 2008.
Local opera fans or those who have followed Angela Meade's rise to stardom will have a chance to hear her sing during a performance this summer at the Astoria Music Festival in northwest Oregon.
She will showcase a role that has tested the greatest opera singers of all time.
In June 2010, the soprano wowed festival audiences in a production of Verdi's "Il Trovatore." This summer, when the festival marks its 10th year, she will appear in the title role of a concert version of Vincento Bellini's opera "Norma."
Last summer in Astoria, she played Leonora in "Il Trovatore" (The Troubadour), which earned a wild standing ovation.
"It was really well attended and all my colleagues and myself thought it went spectacularly," Meade said.
Musical Director Keith Clark and Astoria Music Festival President Leena Riker are delighted to have her return for the 10th annual event, especially in a role that they know will entertain theatergoers.
"We are absolutely overjoyed - she really is a spectacular soprano. She sings so effortlessly and has an incredible voice," said Riker, who is completing her third year as president of the Music Festival. "She has just risen very fast to the level that she is considered one of the best sopranos in the country. Her reviews from New York are incredible. We are excited to have her back."
"Norma" was written in 1831 and tells the story of a Druid priestess who secretly gives birth to two children of the Roman governor. When her lover becomes enchanted by Norma's innocent best friend, she considers killing the children, before having a change of heart and sacrificing her life.
The 10th annual Astoria Music Festival will feature an expanded program of concerts spread for the first time over three weekends, running June 15 to July 1. The tentative schedule includes a fully staged production of "The Magic Flute" and the return of Russian cellist Sergey Antonov, plus some dance pieces inspired by "Norma."
Visit www.astoriamusicfestival.org/ for more information.
Centralia Opera Star Reaches New Heights
After Making a Name in New York and Around the World, Angela Meade Named Centralia College Distinguished Alum
By Bianca Fortis
bfortis@chronline.com
Angela Meade, the Centralia native who reached international stardom as an opera singer, has achieved new heights in her career. This week she was awarded the Beverly Sills Artist Award.
The annual award comes with a $50,000 prize and is given to singers between the ages of 25 and 40.
In November she received the Richard Tucker Award, which carries a cash prize of $30,000.
Meade said winning the two most recent awards has been surreal.
"It's a little unbelievable," she told The Chronicle. "I have a long history of competing, but these last two I didn't compete for them to be bestowed upon me. They were decided upon by a committee."
Soon Meade, 34, can add one more distinction to the long list of accolades she has already received: she has been selected to receive Centralia College's 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"It was totally unexpected," she said. "I was so excited when I got the email about it. It's just absolutely wonderful and I'm so honored and happy to accept."
She'll return to Centralia in June to accept the honor and will be the youngest person to be named Distinguished Alumnus since the award's creation in 1978.
Centralia College Spokesperson Don Frey said there are two criteria the selection committee considers before choosing the recipient: the person must have attended Centralia College for approximately one year and have distinguished himself or herself in either their occupation, career or society in general.
Frey said the decision was a unanimous one by the committee.
"This young lady has accomplished a great deal. She's had an almost a meteoric rise to the national stage, if not the international stage," he said. "She is a very accomplished professional woman who has risen to the top by her own abilities, skills and talents. We're exceedingly proud to have chosen her to be our distinguished alumnus award recipient."
Meade skyrocketed to fame when she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Elvira in Ernani in March of 2008. Meade was the lead soprano's understudy. When the lead fell ill, Meade performed in her place.
Critics have consistently praised her performances. In one recent review, the New York Times wrote in November of last year: "Her sound was enormous, rich and unforced; her coloratura runs and passagework were dispatched with aplomb and precision."
Meade said she sang while she was growing up, but never classically.
"I sang a lot in church, in school. I played in band, that sort of stuff," she said. "I didn't discover opera until I was at Centralia College."
Meade's parents, Deborah and Rod Meade, still live in Centralia and work for Weyerhaeuser.
Rod Meade said he takes trips to New York to see his daughter perform.
"She's doing exceptionally well, and I'm very, very proud of her," he said. "She's working very hard. It goes to show you if you work hard, have big dreams and stay on task, anything is possible."
This week Meade will return to her role as Elvira. The show opens today at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
She said it's great to be returning to the role.
"I think I've grown a lot personally as well as artistically and vocally," she said. "It's great to be able to come back and put my teeth into it. I only got to do it one time last time, so it's a lot of fun to be able to work with my colleagues and get on the stage and be able to do it."
The final performance of Ernani, on Feb. 25, will be broadcast live in HD around the world. The Century Olympia movie theater at Westfield Capital Mall in Olympia will show the performance.
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Bianca Fortis: (360) 807-8245
