Carnegie Hall

Angel Blue has emerged in recent seasons as one of the most influential sopranos today. The two-time Grammy Award winner, 2020 Beverly Sills Award recipient, and 2022 Richard Tucker Award winner is celebrated worldwide for her honeyed soprano and affecting deliveries of many of the most beloved roles in the operatic repertoire, such as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, Bess in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème, and Destiny/Loneliness/Greta in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones.

The 2024–2025 season is one of Ms. Blue’s most impressive to date, with a staggering itinerary of operatic title roles and concert programs on acclaimed stages worldwide. Beginning in London with the BBC’s hugely popular Last Night of the Proms, Ms. Blue returns to her home stage at the Metropolitan Opera, where she spends a major portion of the season. In the fall, she plays Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and in two separate stints over the winter and spring, she makes her long anticipated debut as Aida conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Mr. Nézet-Séguin also plays a vital role in Ms. Blue’s concert schedule, when she joins the conductor and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. She makes two company debuts, as Mimì in the Bavarian State Opera’s production of La bohème and as the titular role in Verdi’s Luisa Miller—also a role debut. She appears twice at Carnegie Hall, first in this evening’s recital with legendary pianist Lang Lang, and again with The Met Orchestra and Mr. Nézet-Séguin. Concert engagements include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Houston Symphony, a solo recital at LA Opera, and Aida in concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathon Heyward.

Ms. Blue has performed in more than 40 countries, including Hungary, Kazakhstan, India, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, South Korea, China, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. She was raised in California and completed her musical studies at the University of California Los Angeles. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.

Lang Lang is a leading figure in classical music today. As a pianist, educator, and philanthropist, he has become one of the world’s most influential and committed ambassadors for the arts in the 21st century. Equally happy playing for billions of viewers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing, the 2020 Dubai Expo Opening Ceremony, the 2024 reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris, or for a few hundred children in a public school, he is a master of communicating through music.

Lang Lang has formed ongoing collaborations with conductors who include Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim, and Christoph Eschenbach, and he performs with the world’s top orchestras. Millions of viewers watched his performances at the Grammy Awards with Metallica, Pharrell Williams, and jazz legend Herbie Hancock.

In 2008, he founded the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, aimed at cultivating tomorrow’s top pianists, championing music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience through live music experiences. In 2013, he was designated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace with a focus on global education.

Lang Lang started playing the piano at age three and gave his first public recital before age five. He entered Beijing’s Central Music Conservatory at age nine and won first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians at 13. He studied with legendary pianist Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music. At 17, he substituted for André Watts at the Ravinia Festival’s Gala of the Century, playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach, and became an overnight sensation.

Lang Lang’s boundless drive to attract new audiences to classical music has brought him tremendous recognition. He was presented with the 2010 Crystal Award in Davos and named one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum. He has received honorary doctorates from the Royal College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and New York University. In December 2011, he was honored with the highest prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and received Germany’s Order of Merit and France’s Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2016, Lang Lang performed for Pope Francis. He has also performed for four US presidents and monarchs from many nations.