She watched her lover kill himself in Verdi's "Ernani" for her Met debut. She was beheaded for perceived adultery in Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" three years later. She then committed suicide as Leonora in Verdi's "Il Trovatore" in early 2013. And a few months ago she was ready to kill her children as the title character in Bellini's "Norma." All of this on the Metropolitan Opera no less.
Despite the tragic dimensions of most of her roles, Angela Meade feels extremely comfortable in the world of comic opera.
"It's just a really fun show. I've never done anything like this," said Meade during a recent conversation with Latinos Post about her performances as Alice Ford in the new Met production of Verdi's "Falstaff." "It's so different from everything that I do. I play tragic characters where I die all the time. It's nice to have fun and focus on the comedic side and enjoy working with my colleagues."
Latinos Post reviewed the opening night performance and had this to say about Meade's terrific turn as Alice: "Meade's voice, as usual, was in top form. She maintained a rather delicate quality in the singing during the early scenes, emphasizing Alice's refinement... Meade's other major highlight came in the first scene in Act 3 in which she narrates the mystery of Windsor Forest; Meade utilized the darkest hues in her voice to not only add mystery to the narration but to give authority to her delivery."
Meade, who has become a Met favorite since her debut in 2008 and her victory in the Met Council Auditions in 2007, noted that despite her limited experience in the comic realm, she feels very comfortable in the role of Alice because she is a character that closely resembles her own personality.
"I'm naturally sort of a silly person. I like to have fun and I'm laid back. It was easy to put myself into this role. I think that Alice is closest to my natural personality," she asserted.
She also noted that working with maestro James Levine added to the wondrous experience.
"I really enjoy working with him. He's such a great conductor and wonderful human being," she said about Levine, who is in the midst of making a comeback this season after a two-year absence due to injury. "He is so uplifting and helpful and he is so passionate about music; he wants everyone to succeed. He gives us a call before every show and it is very encouraging. It is a real delight to work with him."
She also noted that Levine was especially helpful with her because of his own love for the character of Alice Ford.
"He's told me that his favorite comedic role is Alice," she revealed. "He gave me some ideas of how he thought she should be portrayed not only musically but as a character as well."
Meade has had a highly acclaimed career that has included the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Award. As noted earlier, she was also one of the winners of the 2007 Met Council Auditions, a competition that was filmed and distributed in the documentary "The Audition."
Meade noted that her victory in the competition was a combination of preparation and maintaining the proper perspective on her work as an artist.
"At the time that I had done the competition, I had already done 45 competitions so I was sort of seasoned," she noted. "I am the type of person that is not affected in a huge way with nerves in high pressure situations, like my debut at the Met. I keep it on a calm level in realizing that if something happens, like you forget to sing or you mess up, it's not brain surgery. No one is going to die. I might want to [die] in the moment that it happens but our job is to entertain people. And if that is how we keep it in our minds then there is no real reason to be panicked if you know what you are doing.
"Being prepared and being ready to go is the most important thing and just be willing to give everything that you have and make music and do it because you love it.," she added. "That will come through."
Once the run of Falstaff comes to an end in January, Meade will sing a few concert performances of Puccini's "Edgar" before returning to the States to sing Verdi's Requiem in Jacksonville, Florida. Once those performances come to an end, Meade will cross the Atlantic once more to make her Italian debut in Turin. The role? Mathilde in Rossini's "Gugliemo Tell."
"Being the birthplace of opera I think that it's going to be an amazing experience because the opera audiences are so different from here," Meade said about her debut in Italy. "They have a different appreciation and it will be interesting to see how they are as an audience and how working in that country where opera was born will be."
Despite having some experience in the works by the "Swan of Pesaro" (She sang "Semiramide" and was also the cover at the Met in "Armida"), Meade noted that "Guglielmo Tell" was a very different challenge.
"There is not a lot of coloratura in it. When you listen to it, you hear a different style," she said. "I think it is kind of a different animal. You listen to it and don't immediately think of it as Rossini. If I had to compare it to something, I would equate it more with Verdi."
Speaking of Verdi, Meade noted that he was arguably the most important composer in her career to date and that she expected him to continue being a prominent figure in her repertoire.
"I definitely have a lot of stuff on the calendar heading in that direction. I love Verdi, I love how he writes," she stated. "If I had to choose my favorite composer it would probably be Verdi."
"I would love to sing '[Il] Corsaro,'" she added when asked about future Verdi roles that she sees in her future. "But I wait for the day, a few years from now, when I can do ['La Forza del Destino']. I absolutely love the score but its something that we kept on the backburner."
Meade will appear five more times at the Met in "Falstaff" this season with the final performance slated for Jan. 11, 2014.
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