“engaging stage presence and expressive lyric voice”
Born shines in the pivotal role of the Secretary, who’s more human than she initially seems.
- Mary Wisniewski with Newcity Stage, 2023
Beowulf by Han Lash, Photography by Clint Funk
“Both Beowulf and his mother, portrayed by Noah Gartner and Angela Born, respectively, hone in on their tortured characters through their emotional acting….Well-decorated opera singers, Gartner and Born prove mastery over their craft with their rich, clear voices, geared towards storytelling.”
-Cori Lang with Chicagoland Musical Theatre, 2022
“Born is easy to listen to and watch, she has natural stage gifts.”
-M.L. Rantala with Hyde Park Herald, 2022
“Soprano Angela Born sang the role of Elisabeth Woodbridge…bringing an engaging stage presence and expressive lyric voice to the role”
-Katherine Buzard with Chicago Classical Review, 2021
“Soprano Angela Born makes easy vocal and emotional work of Woodbridge, giving us such a highly-charged character that she cannot be still, bounding through life one discovery after the next.”
-Aaron Hunt with Chicago Theatre and Concert Reviews, 2021
“ …the all-female team of composer Isaac, soprano Angela Born and pianist Jordan Crice left no doubt what they would say to a contemporary Mr. Webb, and how they’d say it. Besides impeccable musicianship, Born offered facial expressions as changeable as South Carolina weather, while Crice commented bitingly in snatches of boogie-woogie and stride piano.”
-David Wright for Chicago Classical Review, 2021
Angela Born in virtual 2020 production of Stitch. Art and Photography by Tamzin Ritchie.
“…the worker in her closet {Born} was engrossed in a large ball of thick thread that slowly enveloped her in a web, offering powerful symbolism of the confinement her work requires. Angela Born, Mary Lutz Govertsen, and Rena Ahmed were the three workers, differentiated in the score only by number. Demonstrating their existence as mere cogs in a large machine. Their parts, entirely pre-recorded, were sung with conviction and great skill.”
-M.L. Rantala with Hyde Park Herald, 2020
“Laboring in a tattered environment closer to Wozzeck's than to Carmen's, there's no reprieve for these factory workers….Kudos to Angela Born, Mary Lutz Govertsen, and Rena Ahmed for pulling off the high-wire act of sustained, metaphorically naked (i.e., without instrumental accompaniment) vocal performance.”
— Deanna Isaacs with Chicago Reader, 2019
“…inexplicably, a murderous cat (soprano Angela Born)”
- Hannah Edgar with Chicago Classical Review, 2019
Angela Born as Maria Luisa in With Blood, With Ink, Photography by Clint Funk
“I also appreciate that the female characters are the focus and that there is a positive and nurturing relationship depicted between Sor Juana and her Patroness Maria Luisa (beautifully sung and performed by Angela Born). The entire cast works well together to bring this refreshingly unique story to life with their exceptionally beautiful voices, buoyed by a thoughtful and complex score.”
—Sheri Flanders and Josh Flanders for Chicagoland Musical Theatre, 2017
“Oh my god, a gigantic shoutout to Angela Born who played Lucinda, the 15 year old daughter. Every time she opened her mouth, it was art. The singing was so good.”
—Matthan Black, Opera Box Score, 31 x 16, Show No. 46 - 2016
“Equally strong was Angela Born as Lucinda, Eliza’s 15-year-old daughter who resents being forced into marriage to a much older man but lacks the strength to leave the community with her mother. Born sang with a youthful, attractive soprano and brought dramatic conviction to her Act II aria.”
— Lawrence A. Johnson for Chicago Classical Review, 2016
New City's Top 5 of Everything 2016: Stage
December 15th, 2016 | Lucinda | Dark Sisters | Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
“Top 5 Operas of 2016
“Der Rosenkavalier,” Lyric Opera of Chicago
“Das Rheingold,” Lyric Opera of Chicago
“Dark Sisters,” Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
“Don Quichotte,” Lyric Opera of Chicago
“Les Troyens,” Lyric Opera of Chicago”
Third Eye Theatre provides a strong local premiere for Fairouz opera
November 1st, 2015 | Featured Artist | Concert of Mohammed Fairouz Music | Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
“Soprano Angela Born delivered an impassioned performance of the extended song, Refugee Blues.”
Third Eye Theatre makes outstanding debut with Menotti’s “The Medium
November 1st, 2014 | Monica | The Medium | Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
“Angela Born proved a terrific Monica. The young singer has a bright and lovely soprano and Born made the most of her vocal moments with an especially graceful rendition of her Act 2 Waltz. Yet she also brought fire and conviction to the play’s dramatic moments.”
Newcity's Top 5 of Everything 2014: Stage
December 24th, 2014 | Monica | The Medium | Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
“Top 5 Operas of 2014
“Porgy and Bess,” Lyric Opera of Chicago
“The Medium,” Third Eye Theatre Ensemble
“Rusalka,” Lyric Opera of Chicago
“The Emperor of Atlantis/The Clever One,” Chicago Opera Theater
“The Rape of Lucretia,” Chicago Fringe Opera”
Preview: A Time-bending opera decades in the making
June 14th, 2013 | Meg Murry | A Wrinkle in Time | CU New Opera Works
“From the opening, with Meg’s lyrical and nostalgic aria about her father’s teachings, the audience is transported into a starry-skied world of imagination and science. As Angela Born sings “you taught me pi is poetry,” we know this is not the average love-wrought soprano.”
CU Opera performs magnificent version of Mark Adamo's 'Little Women
April 25th, 2013 | Beth | Little Women | CU Opera Program
“In most opera reviews, the bulk of the ink is devoted to the cast’s performance, the director’s concept, the conductor’s interpretation. But there are times when performers and producers subordinate themselves so much to the music, to the vision of the composer, it is impossible to turn the focus away from the music itself. Whether this is conscious, the immersion is so complete that the reaction is less “What a great performance!” than “What a magnificent work of art!...Angela Born imbue[s] the doomed Beth with a palpable pathos, Born taking a slightly more fragile approach.”