Not since Astrid Varnay’s debut as Sieglinde in 1941 has someone stepped into such an exposed leading role to
make an unscheduled professional debut at the Metropolitan Opera, but Ms. Meade, as Elvira in Ernani, showed the
world that March evening that she was ready to be there. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press wrote that ”She showed
a vibrant voice with nice color and an assured technique and sang like an old pro from start to finish."
During her performances at the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where she was named a
Grand Winner, The New York Times hailed her as “an impressive soprano…certainly a deserving winner” who “powered
out a ‘Casta Diva’ from Bellini’s Norma that left everyone breathless.” Ms. Meade was also the winner of the XVI
International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in 2007, where she also captured the renowned competition’s
top prizes in Opera and Operetta, the first singer in the competitions long history to capture both first prizes, as well as
the Prize of the Teatro alla Scala Milan and the Prize of the International Media-Jury.
busy collecting top prizes from major competitions, including a Richard Tucker Award, the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s
Special First Prize, First Prize in the George London Foundation, First Prize from the William Mattheus Sullivan Musical
Foundation, First Prize in the Eleanor Lieber Competition, First Prize in the Marguerite McCammon Competition, First
Prize and the Audience Choice award from the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, as well as First Prize from both the Licia
Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, which led to her Alice Tully Hall debut, and the Liederkranz Foundation
Competition, which led to her Carnegie Hall debut. She has also been the first-prize winner of the Violetta Du Pont
Opera at Florham Competition and the James Parkinson Foundation Opera Competition. Ms. Meade’s long list of
awards and honors also includes Second Prize from the Loren L. Zachary Society, National Opera Association, Opera
Index, and Fritz & Lavinia Jensen Foundation competitions, she was also the Young Artist of the Year in the National
Association of Teachers of Singing (Los Angeles) Competition, and an international semi-finalist in Plácido Domingo’s
Operalia Competition.
Ms. Meade’s operatic credits include critically acclaimed performances of Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani at the Metropolitan
Opera, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Leonora in La forza del destino, all for the Academy of
Vocal Arts, as well as the title role in Handel’s Agrippina, Mme. Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor, Die Königin der Nacht in
Die Zauberflöte, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. She was soloist for the world première of Valery Kikta’s La Luce
delle tacite stelle at the World Harp Congress in Switzerland, and has been a soloist in Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the
Academy of Vocal Arts. She has also been a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 both with the Monmouth Civic
Chorus as well as with the Pasadena Symphony under the direction of Jorge Mester and has appeared as soloist in
Verdi’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah with the Pacific Lutheran University Symphony, and in Vivaldi’s Gloria with the
Santa Monica Chamber Orchestra.
Upcoming engagements include returning for her final season with the Academy of Vocal Arts where she will sing
the title roles in both Anna Bolena and Lucia di Lammermoor. She will also return to perform the Poulenc Gloria with the
Little Orchestra Society of New York in December and will make appearances with the Opera de Montreal Gala, the
Giulio Gari Gala and the Gerda Lissner Gala before making her debut at Dallas Opera as Elisabetta in Roberto
Devereux. In the spring she will make her debut with the Allentown Symphony in a concert of arias and with Symphony in
C singing Strauss’ Vier letzte lieder. Finally, she will make her debut at the Caramoor Music Festival in the title role of
the notoriously difficult and rarely performed Semiramide.
Ms. Meade is affiliated with Astral Artistic Services in Philadelphia.