About

Photo: Ahron Foster

American Opera Singer Angela Christine Smith recently appeared as Junon in Orphée aux enfers with Opera Company of Middlebury, and Duchess of Plaza- Toro in The Gondoliers with Winter Opera Saint Louis. Ms. Smith is a principal Contralto with the United States’ preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory company, the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP). Ms. Smith has performed on many of the country’s leading stages with NYGASP including New York City Center, Symphony Space, NJPAC, Wolf Trap Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Columbus, Sun Valley Opera, Minnesota Orchestra Hall, Opera Idaho, Newberry Opera, Geneva Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera New Hampshire, Opera Delaware, and Van Wezel Hall Sarasota. Ms. Smith was a principal artist at the Gettysburg Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. International tours include Harrogate and Buxton, England and Canada.

Recognized by the press for her work in operetta, Ms. Smith has completed the G&S canon, performing in 13 Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with NYGASP. Roles include The Queen of the Fairies (Iolanthe), Little Buttercup (HMS Pinafore), Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Katisha (The Mikado and NYGASP’s 2017 new production of The Mikado), Dame Hannah (Ruddigore), Dame Carruthers (The Yeomen of the Guard), The Duchess of Plaza-Toro (The Gondoliers), The Baroness von Krakenfeldt (The Grand Duke), Lady Blanche (Princess Ida), Mrs. Partlet (The Sorcerer). Ms. Smith first performed Gilbert & Sullivan at the College Light Opera Company where she played Little Buttercup (HMS Pinafore), The Queen of the Fairies (Iolanthe), Dame Carruthers (The Yeomen of the Guard), and Lady Jane (Patience) among other roles.

In 2019 Ms. Smith appeared as the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Maestro Christian Capocaccia and Symphoria in Syracuse, NY. Her other symphonic work includes performances with the Colorado Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Allentown Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Missouri Symphony and Williamsport Symphony with Maestro Albert Bergeret and NYGASP.

In 2016 Ms. Smith joined the cast of the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live! (VHRP LIVE!) in the title role of The Princess Pat where she “delivered...with assurance and style”, Operetta Research Center. She is also a proud member of the Bistro Award-winning cabaret show I've Got a Little Twist, appearing at 54 Below in New York City and on national tours as well as the Wand’ring Minstrels, where “Five of NYGASP’s top lead singers perform a condensed version of a Gilbert & Sullivan classic”.

Other credits include performances with Ardea Arts (Soloist in One Christmas Long Ago), New York Lyric Opera Theatre (La Contessa di Almaviva scenes in Le Nozze di Figaro and Cendrillon in Cendrillon), Opera Singers Initiative (Soloist), Belleayre Festival Opera (ensemble ringer in La Traviata, The G&S Society of NY (Rose Maybud in Ruddigore, The Countess of Newtown in The Emerald Isle and concert soloist), Light Opera of New York (LOONY) (Duchess Anastasia in The Student Prince, soloist in The Desert Song, The Vagabond King and concerts), Martha Cardona Theater (soloist – National Anthem at The Society of Old Brooklynites 102nd Rededication of the Fort Greene Monument), Vocal Arts Symposium in Colorado Springs (Marguerite scenes in Faust, Micaëla Act III Aria in Carmen, and Amalia scenes in I Masnadieri), Opera Avanti (Miss Jessel scenes in Turn of the Screw), Opera Saratoga (G&S soloist in Oh Joy, Oh Rapture), St. Bonaventure Quick Center for the Arts (soloist in The Three Hermits and Hester Prynne), Pine Mountain Music Festival, Opera Delaware (Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore), South Carolina Opera (Rosina in Topsy-Turvy in Love, a G&S review and Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore), Caramoor Opera, Liederkranz Opera Theatre (Zita in Gianni Schicci and Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief), Pacific Opera, and New York Vocal Artists as a guest artist at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Smith is a 2009-2010 recipient of the Isaac Asimov Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement and is featured on NYGASP’s G&S Highlights recording available on CD and iTunes. In 2011 she received the CDM Sound Studios Recording Award from the Opera Singers Initiative and was a Semi-Finalist for The American Prize Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Award.

Originally from Minnesota, Ms. Smith is a graduate of St. Olaf College and she is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association.