“Make the words sound delicious, as if you are enjoying a piece of Godiva chocolate!” Angela Brown says with emphasis as she recalls the words of her graduate school voice teacher.
Brown’s teacher then and now is Romanian-born soprano Virginia Zeani. They first met at a masterclass at Indiana University when Brown was 24, and studying to be a singing evangelist at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala.
Angela Brown’s initial encounter with Zeani was memorable. “I’d never met anyone like her. She was a diva extraordinaire—gracious, kind, intense. She was very serious about the voice and how it should be used.”
In short, Virginia Zeani is a mentor to die for. Zeani enjoyed an operatic career that began in 1948 and spanned more than 30 years and 67 leading roles. Her early professional career included a series of Violettas, beginning in Bologna, where she debuted at the age of 22. All told, she sang 648 performances of that role alone. By the end of her stage career Zeani had also delved into some of the heavier soprano roles, such as Tosca and Aida.
Zeani was stunning in both voice and appearance, rivaling the beauty of any movie star. An early publicity poster reads, “Virginia Zeani: She sings like Melba and acts like Bernhardt.”
Conductor Richard Bonynge remembers Zeani’s voice well. In an Opera News feature of September 1999 he describes it as one of the greatest voices he’s ever heard. “Zeani, whom I heard in the early ’50s, had, at that time, a voice that was very beautiful all the way up to the E-flat, and the low register was phenomenal, Ponsellian in a way.”
Those early performances weren’t formally recorded, but Zeani has learned of at least 36 pirated recordings of her singing from that era. You can hear some of them on YouTube, including Violetta, Lucia, Mimi, and Desdemona, to name a few.
The mid-1950s were remarkable years for Zeani. She made her La Scala debut as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, signed her first record contract with Decca, and created the role of Blanche in the world premiere of Poulenc’s Les dialogues des Carmélites.
During that time the soprano also met and married Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. “Nicola was the best basso at La Scala,” says Zeani.
Zeani and Rossi-Lemeni shared a lifelong union and were both invited to teach at Indiana University in 1980. Zeani says that the invitation was unexpected, but timely. Her husband was ready to retire from the stage. It was during Zeani’s 24-year tenure at IU that Angela Brown arrived.
Brown sang one of the 24 Italian Songs and Arias for Zeani in that first masterclass, presenting herself as a mezzo. “Virginia told me that I wasn’t a mezzo, but a dramatic soprano, and instructed me to go back home and continue to work with Ginger [Beazley] for a while.”
Zeani gave Brown a list of Verdi arias to work on. “Come back to me in a year and you will see that I am right!” Zeani insisted.
Brown did return to Zeani and studied voice with her at Indiana University for several years. She was in good company. Zeani’s former students include Elizabeth Futral, Sylvia McNair, Stephen Mark Brown, Vivica Genaux, and more than 50 other opera singers performing on stages all over the world.
“I was impressed by the beauty of the voice,” Zeani remembers. “She had the temperament of a dramatic soprano—both vocal and personality. She had a vocal extension, easy top notes and easy low. In the beginning it was difficult because Verdi is different technique than spirituals. Spirituals are from the heart, but Angela needed a new impression of how to express Verdi.”
Zeani had a significant impact on Brown’s vocal technique and her approach to her career. That influence is still evident. Brown takes a lesson with her teacher from time to time at Zeani’s West Palm Beach studio.
What sort of technical issues does Zeani address with Brown these days?
“First we just do a check and Virginia wants to hear me sing,” says Brown. “She makes sure that my sound doesn’t go down and that I’m keeping the breath going through to the end of the phrase. We always touch on languages and she talks about the intention of the phrase, interpretation, and expression.”
Zeani encourages Brown to sing any Verdi role she wants and recommends some Mozart to keep Brown’s voice healthy—but she hasn’t always given Brown carte blanche. Zeani vetoed a potential Tosca for Brown during her first year at IU.
It appears that Zeani’s first words to Angela Brown—“The blood of Verdi courses through your veins”—were prophetic. Brown debuted the role of Aida at the Met in 2004 and has been performing the role of the ill-fated Ethiopian princess frequently ever since.
Spring 2008 brought Brown’s first Leonora in La forza del destino at the Cincinnati May Festival under the baton of James Conlon.
This season she’ll sing Aida at Cape Town Opera and with Deutsche Oper Berlin. She’ll sing Leonora in Il trovatore in Atlanta, Amelia in Paris, and Elisabetta in Cincinnati Opera’s production of Don Carlo.
This is repertoire that requires a powerful voice, dramatic climaxes, and a good command of high pianissimo singing.
So far, she seems to be getting hearty endorsements. “It is said that big voices win out at the Met,” wrote Bernard Holland in his New York Times review of her Aida. “Ms. Brown has one, but her real secret is a purity and presence that can send even the quietest passages floating out to the back of the house.”
Brown believes that singing Verdi keeps her voice fresh. “Verdi is healthy because there are so many things happening within a Verdi phrase. It’s not pressurized, sustained singing all the time. There is an ebb and flow to a Verdi phrase.”
As a busy dramatic soprano, Brown uses the technical tools she learned in Zeani’s studio. “Zeani taught me that everything should be sung in the [u] position, with forward placement, in the mask.”
Zeani taught Brown to keep her ribs raised, and the importance of using her intercostal muscles when singing. Zeani’s teaching includes a combination of imagery and demonstration to show what the ribs and abdomen should be like during inhalation and singing.
“Breathe in through the nostrils with the mouth in the humming position and teeth slightly parted so that there is space in the mouth,” Brown recounts. “Virginia told me to breathe in as if I were smelling something pleasant, like fresh bread.”
Brown also credits her teacher with schooling her in role preparation and characterization—but building a career in opera is constant, careful work and other singers have advised Brown along the journey as well. She cites baritone Gregg Baker as another significant mentor and friend.
Brown and Baker sang together in the Richard Danielpour-Toni Morrison opera Margaret Garner at Cincinnati Opera. Angela performed the role of Cilla, and learned by watching Baker and sharing in conversations about the business.
“Gregg guides me in the shark-infested waters of the industry. He helps me to avoid the pitfalls that can befall a young singer, [such as] not coming in prepared and learning how to address a colleague. There’s a fine line.”
Now 44, Angela Brown is establishing her career with the roles her teacher and mentor sang at the sunset of her own stage career.
The spectrum of the dramatic soprano Fach ranges from lyric roles such as Leonora in Il trovatore through heroic roles such as Turandot, Isolde, and Brünnhilde.
When asked about her interest in the heroic repertoire Brown replies, “No Wagner yet, but someday.”
In the meantime Brown will focus on Verdi’s two Leonoras. They will provide her with both dramatic and vocal fulfillment this year.
“I love Leonora in ‘Forza.’ I love the music and everything about her. And the Leonora in Trovatore, scheduled for February in Atlanta, is very florid and will be good for me.”
