The Longfellow Chorus
Angela M. Brown and Robert Honeysucker Vocal Master Class
Photo by Roni Ely
February 26, 2010 4:30pm–6pm
in The First Parish in Portland, UUA, 425 Congress St., Portland, Maine
Open tuition-free to select college and high school students of voice in Maine.
OperaOnline.us interview with Robert HoneysuckerBiography of Robert Honeysucker
at New England Conservatory
HYPERLINK: APPLICATION AND AUDITION GUIDELINES
Angela Brown personifies the ideal American dramatic soprano: sheer vocal power; luxurious finesse; shimmering, high pianissimos; and a charming personality larger than life. Her highly successful Metropolitan Opera debut in 2004 sparked a media excitement with reviews from The New York Times: At last an Aida, the Associated Press: she combines a potent, dusky lower register with a striking ability to spin out soft high notes of shimmering beauty. There's no doubt her voice is powerful enough for Verdi, CBS Evening News: the future of opera has arrived, and features on the front page of The New York Times and in Oprah Magazine, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Classical Singer, Reader's Digest, and Psychology Today. In fall 2009, Angela will receive the Governor's Arts Award from the Governor of Indiana, a Spirit of the Prairie Award from Conner Prairie in Indiana, and will be inducted into the Indianapolis Public Schools Hall of Fame.
Miss Brown is a trail blazer on a mission to bring operatic and classical vocal performance to a diverse audience. Her witty and inspired recital program titled "Opera from a Sistah's Point of View" dispels the myths of opera through lively commentary on opera plots and characters, show-stopping arias, poignant art songs and moving spirituals. A noted interpreter of African-American spirituals, Miss Brown produced Mosaic, a collaborative recording featuring spirituals with guitar and piano, in October 2004 that is available from Albany Records. A live Christmas concert with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Indianapolis Opera Chorus was recorded by WFYI-PBS in 2005 and airs on PBS television stations throughout the United States each Christmas season. She guest starred on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor radio show in June 2009.
This season, Miss Brown has sung Aida for Cape Town Opera in South Africa and Aida for the Latvian National Symphony in Riga and Tallinn, Estonia. She performed a special program for Cincinnati Opera's annual gala in November and celebrated Christmas with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Alabama and the Southwest Michigan Symphony. In January 2009, she sang Aida at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in February she followed with performances of Leonora in Il Trovatore for The Atlanta Opera. Spring held performances at Carnegie Hall for Jessye Norman's HONOR! Festival and Un Ballo in Maschera for National Opera of Paris. This summer she sings Elisabetta in Don Carlo for Cincinnati Opera and appears with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras. She returns to her hometown for the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos with Indianapolis Opera in October and joins the Pittsburgh Symphony to sing the world premier of the song cycle, "A Woman's Life," written especially for her by American composer Richard Danielpour and celebrated author Dr. Maya Angelou. Angela makes her debut with Hamburg Opera and Vienna State Opera this fall. Miss Brown returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the 2007 season premiere and fall performances of Aida and the 2008 spring performances of Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. Other engagements last season included her first appearance in the role of Leonora in a concert version of La Forza del Destino with James Conlon for the Cincinnati May Festival. She was chosen by The Library of Congress as the featured soloist for the National Celebration of the Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln in February and by the NAACP for their annual conference in 2008.
Questions? Contact Longfellow Chorus director Charles Kaufmann
Mission Statement of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.:
"The Corporation shall organize and maintain a chorus to perform and record vocal and choral settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, written from 1840 to the present, shall inspire and commission new vocal and choral settings of Longfellow's poetry, and shall perform choral music of the Romantic and immediate post-Romantic eras, ca. 1825-1920."
Contact The Longfellow Chorus:
e-mail: The Longfellow Chorus
The Longfellow Chorus
c/o Charles Kaufmann
P. O. Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101
Back to The Longfellow Chorus Main Page
Miss Brown is a trail blazer on a mission to bring operatic and classical vocal performance to a diverse audience. Her witty and inspired recital program titled "Opera from a Sistah's Point of View" dispels the myths of opera through lively commentary on opera plots and characters, show-stopping arias, poignant art songs and moving spirituals. A noted interpreter of African-American spirituals, Miss Brown produced Mosaic, a collaborative recording featuring spirituals with guitar and piano, in October 2004 that is available from Albany Records. A live Christmas concert with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Indianapolis Opera Chorus was recorded by WFYI-PBS in 2005 and airs on PBS television stations throughout the United States each Christmas season. She guest starred on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor radio show in June 2009.
This season, Miss Brown has sung Aida for Cape Town Opera in South Africa and Aida for the Latvian National Symphony in Riga and Tallinn, Estonia. She performed a special program for Cincinnati Opera's annual gala in November and celebrated Christmas with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Alabama and the Southwest Michigan Symphony. In January 2009, she sang Aida at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in February she followed with performances of Leonora in Il Trovatore for The Atlanta Opera. Spring held performances at Carnegie Hall for Jessye Norman's HONOR! Festival and Un Ballo in Maschera for National Opera of Paris. This summer she sings Elisabetta in Don Carlo for Cincinnati Opera and appears with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras. She returns to her hometown for the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos with Indianapolis Opera in October and joins the Pittsburgh Symphony to sing the world premier of the song cycle, "A Woman's Life," written especially for her by American composer Richard Danielpour and celebrated author Dr. Maya Angelou. Angela makes her debut with Hamburg Opera and Vienna State Opera this fall. Miss Brown returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the 2007 season premiere and fall performances of Aida and the 2008 spring performances of Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. Other engagements last season included her first appearance in the role of Leonora in a concert version of La Forza del Destino with James Conlon for the Cincinnati May Festival. She was chosen by The Library of Congress as the featured soloist for the National Celebration of the Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln in February and by the NAACP for their annual conference in 2008.
Questions? Contact Longfellow Chorus director Charles Kaufmann
Mission Statement of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.:
"The Corporation shall organize and maintain a chorus to perform and record vocal and choral settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, written from 1840 to the present, shall inspire and commission new vocal and choral settings of Longfellow's poetry, and shall perform choral music of the Romantic and immediate post-Romantic eras, ca. 1825-1920."
Contact The Longfellow Chorus:
e-mail: The Longfellow Chorus
The Longfellow Chorus
c/o Charles Kaufmann
P. O. Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101
Back to The Longfellow Chorus Main Page