Cinderella

'Cinderella'
Friday, November 02, 2007
JAMES McQUILLEN
Special to The Oregonian

How Angela Niederloh came to sing her first lead role with a major opera company isn't exactly a Cinderella story, but there's still a bit of a storybook quality to it.

That is, the opera in question is in fact a Cinderella story -- it's the Cinderella story, in the version by Gioacchino Rossini best known in the opera world by its Italian title of "La Cenerentola."

Mezzo-soprano Niederloh will sing the role of Angelina, the Cinderella character, on the same stage where her mother sang as part of the Portland Opera chorus for 20 years. It's where her own opera experience began: She was there for dress rehearsals as a kid, which she recalled in a recent interview as "a pretty unique experience for a 9-year-old."

A few years later she began private lessons with Christine Meadows, a mezzo-soprano who has sung in more than 20 Portland Opera productions and is a voice professor at Portland State University. From Wilson High School -- "Go Trojans!" Niederloh said with a laugh -- she went on to the opera program at PSU.

The PSU program is hardly the operatic equivalent of thanklessly scrubbing the floors for your wicked stepsisters, but while it has earned considerable accolades, it's not exactly Juilliard or the Manhattan School of Music, where many of Niederloh's colleagues have gone. But as she pointed out, whatever great experiences students get at bigger-name schools, they're unlikely to get as much stage experience as she got, and that makes a huge difference.

"As a sophomore, to have a main stage role is really unusual," she said, but it's invaluable. "You learn by doing. For better or worse, you're out there, and you figure it out. I really benefited from that." In her case, it was clearly for better: In 2000, she earned national recognition as a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, the first of many awards.

From there, she was on to professional engagements, first at Chautauqua and later with such acclaimed summer programs as Wolf Trap and Aspen. As a member of Houston Grand Opera Studio, she sang in numerous productions, including "Falstaff" with baritone Bryn Terfel, and "La Traviata" with soprano Renee Fleming. Back home in Portland, she made her debut in 2004 with her mother's old company in Rossini's "Voyage to Reims" and appeared again in 2007 in Mozart's "Magic Flute."

Of the wide variety of repertoire she's sung, Rossini and Mozart are closest to her heart. In "Cinderella," her coloratura performs a mesmerizing high-wire act above the orchestral texture -- she calls the style "vocally naked" -- lightly negotiating hairpin melodic turns and spitfire verbal patter.

There's no hint of the temperamental diva about Niederloh. She stressed that though she's singing a title role, "Cinderella" is really an ensemble piece, and that her fellow singers are fantastic. She said she feels lucky to be taking the role with Portland Opera, that it "feels like coming home." She also said she finds Cinderella a sympathetic character and that Rossini's take on her story is a "cherry-on-top opera" and a delight.

Her story is part "local girl makes good," part "coming home to the family business" -- and in its happy rewards for hard work and virtuous character, a little bit of "Cinderella," as well.

To read a review of the opera click here.

As of today there are two more performances:
Thursday, November 8 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, November 10 at 7:30 PM

Performances are at the Keller.