November 5, 2026

In celebration of 35 years of preserving Black music and culture at the Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC), internationally acclaimed soprano and IU Jacobs School of Music alumna Angela Brown will be in concert on November 5, 2026, 6pm-7:30pm at Bloomington’s FAR Center for Contemporary Arts. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited; doors will open at 5:30pm.

After her 2004 Metropolitan Opera debut performing the title role of Verdi’s Aida, Angela Brown has graced the stages of major national and international opera houses, such as the National Opera of Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, The Atlanta Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, to name a few. While known for her various operatic roles, Angela’s beginning can be traced back to Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the pastor, Reverend F. H. Moore (also her grandfather), tapped her to sing the church’s offertory song when she was only five years old! From that moment she embarked upon an early musical path traversing gospel, jazz, rhythm & blues, and soul, notably serving as the vocal coach for the IU Soul Revue in the late 1990s while studying voice with the late professor Virginia Zeani in the Jacobs School of Music. While immersed in a full spectrum of artistic expressions, Angela was supported by a diverse community at every stage, ensuring that she fulfilled a promise of excellence as a dynamic vocalist—a promise that was projected long before the world knew her name.

Who is Angela Brown? She will tell her story in concert through diverse musical styles, textures, historiography, and purpose. The performance will also shed light on materials in the Angela Brown Collection at the AAAMC, encompassing personal papers, photographs, recordings, industry contracts, and sheet music among other items. Essentially, this concert will be an archive in and of itself, as Angela’s dynamic lived and artistic experiences are catalogued and accessed in song, thus uniquely bringing AAAMC collections alive, celebrating and affirming 35 years of preserving Black music and culture.

The music director and guitarist for this event will be Dr. Tyron Cooper, Director of AAAMC. Cooper will be joined by Indianapolis-based musicians Kelleen Strutz (piano), Billy Myers (bass) and Cassius Goens (percussion), along with Louisville, Kentucky-based and Jacobs School of Music alum Ansyn Banks (trumpet). For more information, contact aaamc@iu.edu.