COLUMBUS, Ind. — A world-class Columbus Indiana Philharmonic audience favorite is returning for a virtual, smaller, chamber-style concert to be streamed Feb. 19 to 26.
Angela Brown, considered the top Verdi soprano who performed several times with the local ensemble more than 20 years ago when she was a rising star and Indiana University music student, will perform a concert titled “Freedom! The Philharmonic Celebrates Black History Month.”
The concert, to be recorded Saturday at First Christian Church with no audience because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, will be free to season subscribers and $10 for non-subscribers, according to a news release.
The performance will include music by African American composers and artists. It will feature “music that affirms the cry for freedom (‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’), that demonstrates the extraordinary impact that black composers have had on American music (William Grant Still, Florence Price, George Walker and Scott Joplin), and that honors Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy,” according to Philharmonic Artistic Director David Bowden.
Brown unites opera, pops, and gospel in one celebrated voice and has graced the leading opera and symphonic stages across six continents. A featured artist on the two-time Grammy Award-winning recording “Ask Your Mama,” Brown’s international reputation continues to grow.
Her highly successful Metropolitan Opera debut as a last-minute understudy with no dress rehearsal in the title role of Aida in 2004 captured instant attention from international print and broadcast media and catapulted Brown onto the world’s prestigious opera and symphonic stages. While opera is the main catalyst for her career, Brown’s performance experience includes everything from emcee to producer, recording artist, podcast host, and program creator.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.
