Operatunity Foundation for the Arts presents: Masterclass with Soprano Angela Renee Simpson

Join Operatunity Foundation for the Arts for this special event as part of our " AND STILL I RISE : A Celebration of African-American Artists " celebration, February 1-7, 2015.

Miss Angela Renee Simpson will give a free masterclass for the Columbia area.

Please contact OperatunitySC@gmail.com for information on how to be selected to perform in the class.

The event will be held in the Darla Moore School of Business,
1014 Greene Street Columbia, South Carolina 29208

5:30 in the Hootie Johnson Performance Hall

For more information, please check our website at
Opera-tunityFoundation.webs.com
or email us at
OperatunitySC@gmail.com

Critics the world over have proclaimed dramatic soprano Angela Renée Simpson's voice wonderfully powerful, fascinating, thrilling and extraordinary. Nicola Salmoiraghi, critic for L'Opera, said of Ms. Simpson that she possessed "one of the most extraordinary voices we've heard from the stage of La Scala in recent times."

In 2012, Ms. Simpson made her triumphant Chicago Lyric Opera debut as Queenie in their co-production of Kern and Hammerstein's classic Showboat. The soprano will be reprising the role with Washington National Opera and San Francisco Opera in 2013 and 2014, consecutively. She also made her concert debut at the Malta Arts Festival under the baton of Maestro Wayne Marshall this year.

The soprano made a number of concert debuts in 2011 with Teatro Maggio Musicale Florentino, in Florence, Italy; the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavik, Iceland; the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in Stockholm, Sweden.

In 2009, Ms. Simpson made her debut as Serena in Graz, Austria in a concert version of George Gershwin's much acclaimed opera Porgy and Bess at the Styriarte Festival, under the baton of Maestro Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The performance was recorded live and released under the RCA Red Seal label. In 2008, the soprano also starred in the same role in Opéra Comique's premiere production in Paris, France. In previous seasons, Ms. Simpson performed with Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, La Scala Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Miami Opera, and New York City Opera. In 2005, the soprano performed the role of Cilla in Michigan Opera Theatre's World Premiere production of Richard Danielpour's Margaret Garner, starring Denyce Graves. She repeated the role with Opera Carolina in 2006. In 2002, she performed with the New York City Opera in the televised "Live From Lincoln Center" as Serena in Porgy and Bess. Ms. Simpson "came close to stopping the show….brilliant!" said the New York Daily News, and Ms. Simpson was perhaps the "grandest moment!" said The New York Times.

In 2009, Ms. Simpson performed in Cagliari and Naples, Itlay with the Teatro Lirico, and with the Teatro San Carlo respectively. In 2008, she made her Carnegie Hall debut, with the New York Pops Orchestra in a Gershwin tribute under the baton of Maestro Andrew Litton, In the same year, she also made her debut with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Justin Brown and the with the Accademia di Santa Seceilia Orchestra with Maestro Wayne Marshall at the podium. The dramatic soprano has been heard with the Dallas Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony, the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Novaya Opera Theater in Russia and the Bravo Music Festival singing Mozart's Requiem and Grand Mass in c minor, Faure's Requiem, Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony, and Barbers's Knoxville 1915.