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Angela Brown's 'Opera From A Sistah's Point Of View'

Angela Brown's career takes her across the country and around the world for opera, oratorio and solo recitals. She's garnered prestigious awards and enthusiastic reviews. One that she's especially proud of? Membership in the Indianapolis Public School Hall of Fame.

"Frankly, I'm not quite sure how they go about awarding this," she says. But she has some ideas: "I did attend all twelve grades and was very active in music."

One Part That Got Away, But Was Its Own Reward

Brown describes an early experience, a disappointment that shaped her approach to performing and life. "I was auditioning to perform 'I'm a Little Tea Pot.' The singing and the words were there, but I messed up the hand motions. Although I didn't get the part, I resolved right then that I was always going to try my best. And I have."

From a young age, Brown sang in school, community and local productions in Indianapolis."I really was pretty much focused on musical theater, both in school and with The Indianapolis Civic Theater. I set my sights pretty high. I even auditioned to cover one of the roles in Dream Girls on Broadway."

Like A Duck To Water

Though Brown didn't get the part on Broadway, it was that ambitious thinking that led her to go to college for music. "It was actually at Oakville College in Huntsville, Alabama that a teacher who worked with me convinced me that I had a classical voice. At first, I wasn't sure, but I did take to the technique like a duck to water. My studies continued at Indiana University with Virginia Zeani."

Angela Brown's "Opera from a Sistah's Point of View" offers music from classic  operatic composers Wagner, Puccini and Verdi, as well as a modern work by Danielpour and a few pieces from the pages of the great spiritual composers Undine Smith Moore and Moses Hogan.

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