Praised as “radiant” by the Boston Globe, Angela Yam is renowned for her impeccable musicianship and fierce stage presence. Her Boston Lyric Opera debut as Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate was hailed “a sweetly poisonous, scene-stealing schemer with a sultry sparkle in her voice,” and awarded the 2024 Best Breakout Performance in a Supporting Role by the Boston Globe. Her debut with Boston Baroque as Diana in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride was similarly praised for her “gleaming clarity” and “fitting rococo brilliance.”
Angela’s 2024-25 season included her Boston Lyric Opera debut as Ismene in Mozart’s Mitridate, Rebecca in Heartbeat Opera’s SLAYLEM: The Witch Trials, Liesgen in Bach’s Coffee Cantata (Boston Baroque, North Star Baroque), Horse and Rabbit in Meilina Tsui & Melisa Tien’s The Big Swim (Asia Society Texas with Houston Grand Opera), the world premiere of The Pigeon Keeper by David Hanlon & Stephanie Fleischmann as Orsia (Opera Parallèle), Heavenly Friend 1 and Carrie Pipperidge cover in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel (Boston Lyric Opera), and a return to the title role of Cavalli’s La Calisto (Opera Memphis).
Past projects include Josephine Young understudy in Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier (PAC NYC), the title role of Cavalli’s La Calisto (Opera Memphis), Johanna in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (Chautauqua Opera, Opera Saratoga), Diana in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (Boston Baroque), and Cobweb in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Santa Fe Opera).
World premieres include an “adorable and vocally excellent” Mumei in Kenji Oh’s The Emissary with Opera Parallèle (San Francisco Classical Voice), Siren 1 in Ellis Ludwig-Leone & Karen Russel’s The Night Falls (BalletCollective), Agave (cover) in John Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries (Santa Fe Opera) and the Bird in Jones & Tinley’s ICELAND (Overtone Industries), a role for which she was described as “stellar…a Puccini-esque soprano with incredible highs” (Poison Put to Sound).
Yam’s solo concert appearances include the New York City Ballet (Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Opera Saratoga (Rossini: Petite messe solennelle), and Music at Co-Cath (Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine). As an ensemble singer, Yam has sung with the New York Philharmonic Chorus, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, and Nightingale Vocal Ensemble.
Yam was a New York City District Winner in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and her self-directed Visual Recital was awarded 3rd place in the 2022 American Prize Competition. She composed for and directed Nightingale Vocal Ensemble’s award-winning 2023 choral opera ADRIFT. She has been an Apprentice Artist at Boston Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and Opera Saratoga, and received a Graduate Diploma from New England Conservatory.
As a performer and composer, I am inspired by the ways that each art form requires both attention to the history and traditions of a given medium, as well as individual artistic expression in putting a piece together. As a performer, I interpret the music and intention that a composer has scribed into a score; as a composer, I trust the performer(s) to expand upon the intention of a prescribed score. This collaborative process provides a ripe, fertile ground for artistic connection across mediums and between individual artists, in a process that I find builds collaborative connective tissue, fosters artistic community, and expands my understanding of humanity. Because of this, I am most drawn to themes of connection (family, feminist and LGBTQIA+ stories, liberation through self-expression, etc.) and the ways in which that connection is disrupted (generational and cultural differences, climate change, death, loss, etc.). As a composer, I take care in choosing my themes and collaborations to find projects that speak to me as an individual, in which I can expand a narrative of progress and individual/societal healing.
December 31, 2024 - January 1, 2025 | GBH Calderwood Studio, Boston, MA
Angela Yam returns to Boston Baroque for their New Year’s Celebration, performing as Liesgen in Bach’s Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be still, stop chattering), BWV 211, also known as the Coffee Cantata.
“Ring in the New Year with us at our annual celebration of music and new beginnings! Music Director Martin Pearlman leads Boston Baroque in a sparkling program featuring Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with Christina Day Martinson and Sarah Darling, his Coffee Cantata, Vivaldi’s Recorder Concerto in C major with Aldo Abreu, and much more.”
February 7-9, 2025 | Asia Society Texas Center & Houston Grand Opera, Houston, TX
Angela Yam makes her Texas debut, performing as Rabbit and Horse in a Lunar New Year children's opera, The Big Swim by composer Meilina Tsui and librettist Melisa Tien.
“The Big Swim, a chamber opera celebrating the Lunar New Year, returns for 3 performances at Asia Society Texas on February 7–9. The one-act children's opera is a contemporary retelling of a Chinese fable that explains how the order of the 12 animals in the zodiac calendar was determined by a race across a river held by the Jade Emperor. In this telling by composer Meilina Tsui and librettist Melisa Tien, the audience is the Emperor and the race does not go exactly how the animals expect it to.”
March 7-9, 2025 | Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco, CA
Angela Yam returns to Opera Parallèle for the world premiere of David Hanlon and Stephanie Fleischmann’s The Pigeon Keeper, originating the role of Orsia.
“In a seaside village, young Orsia seeks a home for a refugee boy. In her search she finds unexpected compassion through the outcast pigeon keeper. A magical-realism world premiere exploring otherness, belonging, and the meaning of family.”
April 4, 6, 11, 13, 2025 | Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, MA
Angela Yam performs the role of Heavenly Friend #1 and covers the role of Carrie Pipperidge in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, directed by Anne Bogart.
“Nearly a century after premiering at the Colonial Theatre, Carousel has become one of the most beloved American musicals of all time. In this landmark 80th anniversary production, creative visionary and BLO Artistic Associate Anne Bogart stages a stunning and evocative tribute to this Rodgers & Hammerstein gem. Featuring unforgettable songs like ‘If I Loved You’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ this timeless paean to the power of love and redemption is sure to sweep you off your feet.”
May 9, 2025 | Woodfords Church, Portland, ME
Angela Yam makes her North Star Baroque debut as Liesgen in Bach’s Coffee Cantata.
“North Star Baroque, Portland, Maine’s period-instrument orchestra dedicated to the vibrant and captivating world of Baroque music, presents its inaugural year of programming. Under the inspired direction of Anna Pearlman, a distinguished musician and daughter of the renowned Martin Pearlman of Boston Baroque, we bring our audiences historically informed performances and exciting interpretations of the music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and others. We invite you to join us as we celebrate the timeless beauty of this cherished repertoire.”
May 21, 23, 2025 | Playhouse on the Square, Memphis, TN
Angela Yam reprises the title role of Cavalli’s La Calisto in this encore performance with Opera Memphis, showcased at the Opera America National Conference.
“A jewel from the golden age of Venetian opera, this exuberant masterpiece mashes up multiple Roman myths, bending both gender and genre as it romps through eternal battles of love versus lust and responsibility versus desire.”
December 21, 2024 | Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, MA
Angela Yam’s original choral composition emPire premieres at Nightingale Vocal Ensemble’s Solstice concert.
“Nightingale Vocal Ensemble presents an immersive concert that blends old-world traditions, folklore, and the timeless magic of solstice rituals. Many solstice celebrations centered on sacred fires, calling the sun back to the earth—renewal, protection, and the promise of Spring. This concert explores night’s place in our lives: a time for sharing stories, singing songs, confronting fears, and encountering both the divine and the terrible. Expect diverse music—beautiful, folk, strange, and lovely—movement through the space, and a communal sing-along around the fire. Come keep warm around the fire with us on the longest night of the year. This project is produced by Nicholas Ford.”
January 18, 2025 | Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, Boston, MA
Angela Yam leads Sound Artists in fully improvised sound-making for Olivia Moon’s ACTivate Residency at the BCA Cyclorama.
“For her ACTivate residency, Olivia, along with the expertise and assistance of Jaina Cipriano, plans to decorate the Cyclorama with portable poles, pole dancers, projection, and other sculptural components. Throughout the week, the dancers will pull from experimental practices of contemporary dance to create improvisational structures within pole dance. The residency will culminate in an informal showing of this interdisciplinary pole dance investigation.”
January 29 - April 20, 2025 | SMFA at Tufts, Boston, MA
Angela Yam and Nathan Halbur’s 10 musical miniatures play as part of Kledia Spiro’s exhibition “Press and Sniff” in an archive and/or a repertoire at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University.
“an archive and/or a repertoire explores the liminal spaces that emerge between archives and ephemeral new media. Featuring the Mobius, Inc. Records —the administrative archive of the Boston-based Mobius Artists Group—this exhibition serves as a local laboratory, delving into materials from Mobius’ experimental performances, new media projects, sound works, dances, and installations.”
March 14-16, 2025 | Z Space, San Francisco, CA
Angela Yam and collaborators Yayoi Kambara, Loni Landon, and Janesta Edmonds create a world premiere dance piece, The Curse of Jezebel and Ascension, for Robert Moses’ Kin’s "New Legacies: One Acts" series. Angela Yam composes and records the music for this piece.
“RMK presents three original works choreographed by three guest artists. Each piece features a collaboration with both a composer and a writer, resulting in dynamic and multi-disciplined works. These triptychs are presented as part of RMK's ‘New Legacies: One Acts’ series, a platform for emerging and established voices in contemporary dance.”
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