ABOUT ANGEL

Biography

Listed by Operavore as one of “40 Under 40: A New Generation of Superb Opera Singers,” young dramatic soprano Angel Azzarra is quickly becoming known for having “a warm voice that swells from staggering size to pianissimi as effortlessly as the ocean waves.” (Sybaritic Singer’s Ashley Emrick.) Her Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with dell’Arte Ensemble was praised by critic and author Fred Plotkin as “a standout performance… Angel Azzarra sang with quality and distinction.” Her reprisal of Anna came as an emerging artist with St. Petersburg Opera, which followed her 2018 professional operatic debut at Mobile Opera as Mimì (La Bohème.) Angel’s premiere with the Eureka Ensemble of Boston’s symphony Sheltering Voices went viral in a documentary by NowThis!News, and in review was admired “Azzarra’s expressive immediacy gave us an impassioned performance that flowed so organically it was as if each phrase was spontaneously created in that very moment.” (American Record Guide.) She has been nurtured as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, performing in Tobias Picker’s World Premiere of Awakenings, a filmed The Barber of Seville as Berta, and a cooperative product with PBS 9 as the lead in an original musical drama, Once Upon a Winter.

Angel has performed Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Magda (La Rondine), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro). In studies at the Manhattan School of Music, she performed leading and supporting roles in the New York premiere of Susa’s The Dangerous Liaisons and the American premiere of Ibert’s Persée et Andromède, led by Metropolitan Opera conductor Pierre Vallet and hailed by The New York Times as “one of 2016’s best performances in classical music.” She most recently performed at OTSL’s Center Stage concert and was reviewed: “Angel Azzarra singing Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos demonstrates simply astonishing power and pure beauty. I saw the rafters lift about an inch.” (Broadway World’s Steve Callahan)

The young dramatic is also in demand for her skills as a recitalist and chamber musician. Recent performances include Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5  with the Eastman School of Music, and multiple engagements singing Pierrot Lunaire, including the Caravanserai Ensemble, James Madison University, and Shenandoah Fringe Festival. She has held residencies with the Heifetz International Music Institute (VA), D.C. Strings, Música de Cámara (Lima, Peru), and the Schubert Institut (AUT).  When off the stage, Angel Azzarra runs a popular classical music YouTube channel, AngelOpera, where over 4 million viewers have learned about the world of opera and vocal production. Upcoming performances include Opera Festival of Chicago’s Il Corsaro and a concert of Die Fledermaus with Opera Edwardsville.

40 under 40: A superb new class of opera singers

Angel Azzarra, a soprano from Mississippi, was a standout as Donna Anna in Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s Don Giovanni in August. She has sung with quality and distinction in numerous venues. 

Nathan Farro (American Record Guide) Reviews Sheltering Voices

“Soprano Angel Azzarra gave an impassioned performance that flowed so organically that it was as if each phrase was spontaneously created in that very moment. She and Boyd both related to me their intense emotional reactions to the text, and the musical connection they experienced in the finished piece.”