From LIVE ARTS TOLEDO
The Toledo Symphony, part of Live Arts Toledo, will present an evening of orchestral and vocal artistry on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m., at The Peristyle. Under the baton of Music Director Alain Trudel, the program will feature internationally celebrated soprano Angela Meade performing an array of works by Richard Strauss, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Richard Wagner.
The Music
The evening’s program brings together three voices of the Romantic era, each offering a different lens on longing, fate, and transcendence. Richard Strauss opens the concert with “Death and Transfiguration,” an expansive tone poem that traces a soul’s journey with music that moves from struggle to radiant release. Angela Meade then joins the orchestra for Strauss’s “Four Last Songs,” his farewell to life, sung with the intimacy the work demands. Beethoven’s “Ah! Perfido” follows a concert aria that pits heartbreak against orchestral gesture. The night concludes with the “Prelude” and “Liebestod” from Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde,” a meditation on desire and destiny.
This performance marks the third concert in the Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks Series for the 2025-26 season.
Soprano Angela Meade
Angela Meade stands among the most celebrated American sopranos of her generation, revered for her opulent tone, agility, and dramatic presence. Her career launched with a surprise Metropolitan Opera debut in 2008, stepping in as Elvira in Verdi’s “Ernani,” a breakthrough that marked her arrival as a major operatic voice.
A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Meade has earned more than 50 prestigious vocal competition prizes, including the Richard Tucker Award (2011) and the Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera (2012). She has since become a leading interpreter of the heroines of Strauss, Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti, and Wagner, praised for singing that is both “opulent and precise.”
Besides her Toledo Symphony debut, Meade’s 2025-26 season includes marquee engagements that underscore her stature on the world stage. She appears at the Opéra National de Paris in February 2026 as Amelia in Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera,” a signature Verdi role and a European highlight. Later in the season, she takes on the title role in Puccini’s “Turandot” with The Atlanta Opera, and as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s season-long “Turandot” performances in New York.
Meade’s artistry brings a combination of vocal brilliance, emotional depth, and dramatic intuition. Her appearance with the Toledo Symphony offers northwest Ohio audiences the chance to experience one of today’s sought-after sopranos performing at the height of her artistic powers.
About the program
“This is a program about transcendence,” said Trudel. “Strauss and Wagner speak to us about love, loss, longing, and ultimately, transformation. This is also a very special opportunity to hear one of the world’s leading singers in excerpts from Beethoven’s only opera. Angela Meade brings her exceptional voice and expressive artistry to this music, and together with our wonderful musicians, creates a moment of deep humanity. I believe people will walk away reminded that even in our most vulnerable moments, there is profound beauty and strength to be found.”
Performance details
- Date and time: Saturday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m.
- Location: The Peristyle, Toledo Museum of Art
- Box office: 419-246-8000
- Tickets: Available now at liveartstoledo.com/meade
About The Toledo Symphony Orchestra
The Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a community-supported organization of professional musicians and teachers who deliver quality performance and music education for all. Formed in 1943 as The Friends of Music and incorporated in 1951 as the Toledo Orchestra Association, Inc., the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has grown from a core group of 22 part-time musicians to a professional orchestra that employs 70 professional full-time musicians.
TSO reaches more than 260,000 individuals annually through performances and education programs. The series concerts, Masterworks, Pops, Chamber, and Family Series, are the underpinning of the orchestra’s artistic mission and draw people from 135 zip codes. Education programs, student performances, and community concerts are held in schools, neighborhood churches, performing arts centers, and community facilities throughout the region; many are offered at no charge or provided at a reduced fee to help expand participation.
About Live Arts Toledo
Live Arts Toledo, formerly the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), serves as a hub for the region’s live performance, cultural education, and community connection. Bringing together the Toledo Symphony, Toledo Ballet, Toledo Jazz Orchestra, Toledo Symphony School of Music, and Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestras, Live Arts Toledo presents more than 200 nights of programming each year, offering experiences that stir the senses and strengthen the cultural fabric of northwest Ohio.
