Smucker

ANGELA_YOUNG_SMUCKER

mezzo-soprano

Angela Young Smucker is a critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano who has been praised for her “show-stopping” voice (The St. Paul Pioneer Press), as well as her “touching simplicity and molten tone” (The Santa Fe New Mexican). She has performed such operatic roles as Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Augusta (The Ballad of Baby Doe), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Queen of the Fairies (Iolanthe), and made her European debut in 2007 as alto soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra and Valparaiso University Chorale. While in Germany with the VU Chorale, she presented a “profoundly expressive” performance (Thüringer Allgemeine – Mülhausen, Germany) of Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning, which will soon be released on the VU Chorale’s newest recording, Amazing Day. Other concert appearances for Angela have included Vivaldi’s Gloria, as well as Bach’s Magnificat, Passions, and cantatas. As a previous member of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, she was a featured soloist in William Bolcom’s Song’s of Innocence and of Experience, on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and sang the role of Herod in VocalEssence’s world premiere performance of Francis Grier’s The Passion of Jesus Christ. Angela holds a Master of Music degree in voice from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Valparaiso University.