Spotlight on soprano Angel blue 

Meet the smoky-voiced rising star on a mission to bring opera to the masses

Born Angel Joy Blue, Los Angeles, 1984.

 Background The statuesque operatic soprano (she’s 5ft 11in) paid her way through her music degree and master’s at the University of California, Los Angeles, with prize money from beauty pageants. ‘My three elder sisters were already going through college, and my parents [her father is a reverend and her mother a high-school teacher] had used up their savings. So my mother said, “Angel, we need to think of something to get you through university.”’ She found the twice-daily gym sessions that she had to put in to be pageant-fit gruelling, but she graduated ‘without too many student loans to pay off’.

 Big break Being spotted by Plácido Domingo when she applied to be on his Young Artist Programme in 2006. Her voice, with its smoky mid-register, reminded him of some of the greats he had worked with, such as Leontyne Price. Under his mentorship she has performed all over the world and duetted with him, most recently when he topped the bill at October’s iTunes Festival in London, and last week at the European Parliament.

Catch her in the final few performances of Jonathan Miller’s English National Opera production of La Bohème (she plays Mimi) at the London Coliseum until 6 December.

 Mission ‘I’m determined to find ways to make opera accessible to everyone.’

Angel’s album Joy Alone is out now