Angela Gooch has spent a great deal of her career as an operatic soprano. An avid performer, Ms. Gooch has appeared in many opera’s with Boston’s most innovative company , Opera Boston, dedicated to presenting innovative repertoire choices and important but rarely performed works. From Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito to Verdi’s Ernani, She has performed and covered a variety of roles in operas including Der Freischütz, Fidelio, The Nose, The Bartered Bride, Candide, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Le Grande Duchess of Gérolstein, the world premiere of Zhou Long’s Madame WhiteSnake and Robert Ward’s Pulitzer prize winning opera The Crucible. Other credits also include Gianni Schicchi, Don Pasquale, Der Rosenkavlier, Die Fledermaus, and The Telephone, Ms. Gooch performed as the Voice of the Fountain in Golijov’s Grammy award winning Ainadamar under the direction of Peter Sellars. She also created the role of Mary Lincoln in the world premiere of Eric Sawyer’s Our American Cousin with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and can be heard on the BMOP/sound label. Ms. Gooch recently recorded Barber’s Hand of Bridge and Rorem’s Our Town which received rave reviews from Opera News. “Angela Gooch’s lovely soprano has an attractive clarity which makes her eminently credible as Emily’s mother. Her heart-tugging aria projects very nicely over the chorus at the wedding”
Ms. Gooch has performed with various symphonies and festivals including the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival, Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra, The Florestan Project and most recently, at the Monadnock Festival. She has also appeared as a featured performer at international venues including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the United States Presidential Yacht, the U.S.S. Sequoia, and in Italy at the Casa Verdi.
Ms. Gooch has served on the faculties at Boston University, Boston Conservatory, and The Walnut Hill School for the Arts, for which she served ten years as the Head of the voice program. She has also served on the faculty at Boston University Tanglewood Young Artist Vocal Program, created a summer program tour in Italy, and has committed many years of her work to teaching young students the exciting, dramatic world of opera. She has been honored by the NFAA and named in the Who’s Who Among American Teachers as one the arts most distinguished teachers.
Ms. Gooch is also an accomplished pianist. She has served as music director/conductor for Birmingham Summerfest, Birmingham Children’s Theatre, The Walnut Hill School and the Opera Theatre of Weston, where she recently music directed the east coast premiere of Nolan Gasser’s opera, The Secret Garden.
Teaching Philosophy
I have committed most of my 20 year teaching career dedicated to the artistic development and vocal health of young singers. My passion lies with singers who are looking for technique, confidence, and the discovery of tools to create their own process. I love developing the young artist and watching them grow! While I am a very firm teacher, I have also been described as a nurturer. I never want a student to settle for less than their best, therefore I continue to explore options to make their better, their best.
I am a strong advocate of vocal health and have a done a great deal of work in Speech Pathology at Mass Eye and Ear at Mass General Hospital as well as some work in Pilates, Alexander Technique and Yoga. I teach technique based on that vocal health, knowledge of how the body works with freedom of tensions, and release in the body. I carefully choose repertoire that will challenge yet enhance each individual singer. It is through these processes that we create confidence in the student allowing them to explore more possibilities in communication through acting and physical movement on the stage. Each student processes differently, therefore, I try to teach each student individually by incorporating their goals and individual learning styles to help them become their best.
My students have been accepted in to the top universities and conservatories in the U.S. and abroad and have gone on to perform with The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera Lindemann Young Artist Program, Merola Program, Houston Grand Opera, and Broadway. I am a member of NATS, College Music Society and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Fraternity.