“Luscious mezzo…” (Chicago Tribune)
“Robust, burnished timbre…” (Chicago Classical Review)
“Powerful stage presence…” (The Plain Dealer)
When she’s not skating with her roller derby teammates or boxing a few rounds on the heavy bag, Angela Young Smucker (mezzo-soprano) brings her voice to the stage, arts administration, and education.
As a classical singer, Angela has been a featured soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, Oregon Bach Festival, Bach Collegium San Diego, Les Délices, Carmel Bach Festival, Newberry Consort, and Haymarket Opera Company. The joy of ensemble-singing has also brought her to stellar ensembles such as Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Conspirare, Seraphic Fire, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, and more. She has also appeared on A Prairie Home Campanion and Chicago’s WFMT and WTTW programming.
Working both on and off stage with Third Coast Baroque (TCB), Angela serves as the executive director and resident artist to “Chicago’s most accomplished period instrumentalists and singers.” (Chicago Tribune). Under the auspices of TCB, she works with her co-founders, Rubén Dubrovsky and Nathalie Colas, to use 17th and 18th century repertoire as a tool to explore our 21st century lives. Through the principles of collaboration, context, and community, Angela looks forward to exploring more of the entangled aspects of music history and their links to the present world.
With a deep rooted passion for education and life-long learning, Angela received her Bachelor of Music Education from Valparaiso University and Master of Music from University of Minnesota. She has also held faculty positions at Stetson University and Valparaiso University where she not only guided students in developing their vocal technique but also in the skills needed to be an entrepreneurial artist. Meanwhile, Angela has been pursuing her doctorate in voice at Northwestern University where she is currently working on a lecture-recital centered on Vivaldi’s rarely heard opera Orlando furioso.
Whether in her hometown of Chester, Illinois or her current dual home base of Deland, Florida and Chicago, Angela (or Smux, as she’s also known) is always delighted to make music with the stellar artists of Conspirare.