Angel Blue as Mimi in “La Bohème” | Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera
Placido Domingo has described her as “the next Leontyne Price”. She has conquered a mind-boggling range of roles and venues for a singer still in her early 30’s, from Violetta to Lulu, from Los Angeles Opera to the Edinburgh Festival, and from San Francisco Opera to Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Last fall she made a much-heralded Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimi in La Bohème.
No surprise if opera fans here in the Golden State beam with special pride at Angel Blue‘s achievements; she grew up in Southern California, attending the LA County High School for the Arts, the University of Redlands, and, for her master’s degree in music, UCLA.
But for all her career success and her glorious voice, Angel Blue stands out in the pressure cooker world of opera for another reason: she is the absolute anti-diva. Totally down-to-earth. A complete charmer. As a case in point, check out her recent conversation with a group of opera neophytes
Here’s Angel Blue’s rendition of “O Mio Babbino Caro”, the classic aria from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, in which Lauretta implores her father, who is dead set against the idea, to let her marry the man she loves. How could he resist? He can’t.
