The Vision
Debbie Apsan
IDC- 9125
The Vision
Every person has a talent they want to pursue in life. Some dream of becoming great artists, while others think that they can discover a cure to the common cold. But unfortunately for many, those dreams rarely become a reality- but they did for Angela Brown. Since she was in college, Angela was taking steps that would ultimately lead her to accomplish her vision of becoming an opera performer. After listening to her story people might think that she has a good voice, and had some lucky breaks that led her to her present job. But Angela’s present life was not always perfect, and it was because of her perseverance and belief in god, that opened the path to her to her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House. She has now been there for three years, and she is still doing a wonderful job.
Angela, as she wanted the audience to call her, was born into an ordinary middle class family in Indianapolis. Her mom was a church singer, and her grandfather was a priest. She did not have grand dreams for the future; that is until she traveled down South to attend Oakland College, a small religious institution, with a specialty in music. There she spent her time divided between singing jazz for her music classes, and singing classical in her religious classes. Here, Angela stopped and explained her strong dislike of classical music: it was the one genre she never touched as a child. But in college she was forced to spend time learning the art of classical music, which didn’t improve her attitude towards that type of music.
This attitude continued until, one day, a friend said to Angela: “When you sing regular music, you sound good, but when you sing classical, you’re amazing”. Well, that day brought many changes to Angela’s life. She now had a vision in life that she needed to catch up with: she was going to be a big performer one day. She decided she would now give classical music another chance. From there she continued on to study at the Indianapolis Singing School, which Angela attended shortly after graduating Oakland. From this point on, Angela had many opportunities to sing in performances. She continued on to enter state singing competitions, which she won three times. Finally, in her last year competing, Angela won the regional and had the opportunity to go the Metropolitan Opera House for schooling. But she was older already and wanted to get a job, not go to school. Subsequently, Angela continued on to be an understudy, until she had the ultimate opportunity to sing Aida herself.
After hearing Ms. Brown speak, it is easy to understand the reasons for her being famous. She would sometimes release a few words that she would sing in opera, so we could understand her profession, at least a little. But in addition, she was a woman with a great personality. She felt comfortable the moment she walked through the door, and spoke to the audience in an ordinary manner, not even with a hint of arrogance in her voice. In addition, she attempted to try to answer every question posed at her. Angela was really a pleasure to listen to. She was awe-inspiring, and funny. I can’t wait to see Aida.