Hi.

Hi, Micaela.

Hi Micaela.

I'm Angel.

My name is Blenden.

My name is Evan.

Evan, I'm Angel.

It's nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Your dress is so pretty.

Thank you.

So is yours.

Thanks.

Is this what you wear to work?

Yes, most of the time I wear something very similar to this.

So are you famous?

No.

Are you a princess?

Do I look like a princess?

Yes, but you don't remind me of one.

Okay.

Kind of Tiana.

Kind of Tiana, okay.

Do you guys want to see what I do?

Yes.

Do you like loud noises?

No.

No?

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, I'll try not to be too loud, okay?

So what I do for a living is I go

Eeeeee

Oh.

Oh.

Yeah.

Are you a professional singer?

Yes, I am.

I'm an opera singer.

I love your singing voice.

Thank you so much.

That is very nice.

Thank you.

Can you please show me some more?

Sure.

Do you want to do some scales?

Wait, am I singing too?

Yeah.

Mmm.

Ah.

Ah.

Ah.

Drama.

That was awesome, yeah.

When did you know that you were gonna be an opera singer?

Four years old when I wanted to become an opera singer.

Wow.

And I started singing and taking voice lessons when I was six.

That's how old I am.

That's great.

That's a perfect age to start singing.

Did you have to go to school to be an opera singer?

Yes, I did.

Started studying voice with my dad.

He was my very first voice teacher.

And then I have a master's of music degree in opera performance from UCLA.

What's the highest note you can hit?

Probably a high G flat.

Eee.

What about you, what's the highest note that you can sing?

Ah.

That's good.

Do you like to sing?

Yeah, I sing everyday.

You do?

Can you sing?

Yeah.

Ooh.

Yeah.

Ooh, that was wonderful.

Can you sing for me?

♪ Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low. ♪ ♪ Ain't no river wide enough, baby. ♪ ♪ Cause baby, there ain't no mountain high enough. ♪ ♪ Ain't no valley low enough. ♪

Woo!

New York?

I've been to New York.

Turkey?

I've been to Turkey.

I've sung in Istanbul and-

Where's that place?

Turkey's-

Turkey's really far.

California?

I've been to California a lot.

China?

I've been to China.

Vegas?

Of course.

I love Vegas.

Me too.

Yeah.

How many languages do you know?

I can speak two languages fluently.

And I can understand five languages, only English and Spanish I can speak.

But-

You're not Italian?

Cause a lot of soppers are Italian.

That's really, this is great.

This is great.

So I've had a girl.

Yes.

Most of the opera that's really popular is in Italian.

Sing something in Italian.

♪ Mi sedarti ♪ ♪ O che scorre al liber mio per i sentieri del piacere. ♪

Do you want me to keep going?

Yeah.

♪ Sempre in lieta nei ritrovi. Ah! ♪ ♪ Ah! ♪

How do you like project your voice so loud without any like amplifiers?

The most important thing when I sing is to be supported on my breath and a lot of practicing.

Does your voice ever get tired?

I don't know that it's my voice that's really tired.

Cause I don't ever feel like tired in my throat.

Where I get tired is my body just gets really tired.

Cause it's almost in a way, it's almost like doing a sport.

Try what?

Ah!

Oh my gosh!

I gotta get protection.

So I should just sing as loud as I can.

Probably like loud enough.

It's gonna be tired for the tiring.

Okay let's see.

If I'm able to break this I'd be really surprised.

♪ Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Allah Anwar Ibrahim

Allah Akbar

Allah Akbar

Allah Akbar

Allah Akbar

Allah Akbar

Ah!

Nope.

No! That was so cool!

Ah!

Ah!

I can't do that.

No.

Do boys do opera?

A lot of boys do opera.

Do they wear what you wear?

No.

They don't wear what I wear.

The thing on your head kind of makes me look, think that your hair is a wig.

My hair is a wig.

All of this is what I would wear on stage if I were singing, so this is a wig.

Can you show us your real hair?

I would love to show you my real hair, but it's tucked away pretty tight right now, so I can't take it off.

You ever get nervous?

Every single time I have to sing, I get nervous.

I think I always get nervous when I'm going to sing.

That's good, though. That means that you care. You want to do a good job, huh?

Yeah.

Yeah? Yeah, me too.

I know that many, many, many opera singers do not make it.

What made you stand out to everybody, you know?

Because you can study at the best school, you can get the best grades, but still not be a professional opera.

That's really true. You know, I...

Excuse me.

I really don't know.

I know I work really hard at what I do.

I love to sing.

I don't know. I'm just myself. I'm just Angel. That's all I can do. That's all I can be.

I'm very, very, very lucky.

Yeah, thank you. That was a very, very good response.

Okay, thank you.

Perfect.

It was nice to meet you. Goodbye.

It was nice to meet you too. Goodbye.

When can I see one of your performances?

Well, if you aren't busy this Saturday night, you can come, and I can get you and your family tickets.

Yes, I would love that.

Awesome. Me too.