angela-brown

							Angela Brown: Amazing                        instead,” explained Brown. Although she
-David Gall                                  knew that she wanted to perform after

                                             competing in many tournaments and

                                             participating with community theaters,

                                             Brown did not love singing classical

                                             music; in fact, she did not want to sing at

                                             all when she was younger. It was only

                                             after she got a degree in liberal arts, a

                                             BA in both music and art, and decided

                                             that she wanted to be a bible instructor
       Eccentric and vivacious are the       that “Opera Bit Her.”
two words that can best describe Angela              Angela Brown found herself
Brown, who plays Aida in the opera,          learning the mechanics of opera singing
“Aida.” A very fortunate group of            very quickly and efficiently. “It just
students had the privilege of meeting this   clicked,” she said, “I was able to pick up
woman on Tuesday, October 30th, in           on it very quickly.” After meeting her,
Baruch College. They were absolutely         anybody could clearly see that her bold
stunned by her energy and enthusiasm as      personality was perfect for opera.
she talked about her path towards                    Learning opera may have been a
becoming a classical singer.                 natural thing for her, but Angela Brown
       Having a minister as a father and     explained that she faced what she
a mother who sang, Angela Brown grew         referred to as “an inner tug of war.” She
up around music. “My mother would            had to balance pleasing her family and
have been famous, but she got married
her peers with singing. It seemed odd to      my vision before I moved to New York

the people that she related with that an      to pursue it.” Angela Brown expressed

African-American woman would be               her belief that her greatest obstacle was

singing something so Eurocentric. “I had      herself. She had to overcome her own

to give myself permission to like singing     fears of failing and realize that classical

classical music.” This obstacle,              singing was her passion before she

specifically the pressure that was laid       committed herself to it.

upon her by her peers and relatives was

not strong enough to hinder this

woman’s approach towards her new

found desire; to sing.




                                                      After moving to the Big Apple,

                                              Angela Brown was eventually hired for

                                              12 covers and 2 performances for the

                                              2004-2005 Season in the Metropolitan.

                                              This achievement marked the moment in

        “I had a great vision that I didn’t   Brown’s life when she finally caught up

know I had.” Brown was unsure of              with her vision and commenced her

herself. She didn’t even know if singing      journey. “I am always studying and

classically was what she really wanted to     learning, and will forever be grateful for
do with her life. “I had to catch up with
the role I was given and for everything I

have learned so far.”

       Angela Brown began as a young

African-American girl who had

absolutely no interest in classical music,

but became one of the most popular and

most talked about opera singers in the

nation. It just goes to show that a

tremendous personality combined with

an energetic disposition creates a world

in which “the sky is the limit.”