Singing

Alison is returning to singing in concerts after a career break while training as a choral conductor.

She started her career with choral singing in London and at the Opéra de Lyon, then studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity College of Music. During that study time, she won a place in the prestigious soprano line-up of the BBC Singers. In her 22 years at the BBC, she sang so much music by so many composers it’s hard to pick a favourite but she remembers with special joy and reverence the concerts of French Romantic and contemporary music directed by Pierre Boulez.

Alongside her BBC work, Alison was a frequent oratorio soloist, especially for Baroque and contemporary works. This included The Death of Moses by Alexander Goehr in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, directed by the late Stephen Cleobury, and Tippett’s The Vision of St Augustine at the South Bank with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, which the Times reviewer described as “literally transcendental”.

In addition, her recital programmes in England and Scotland with pianist Katharine Durran have led to a major commissioning project called New French Song. Having commissioned 20 new French songs and performed them all in one concert at the South Bank (filling the Purcell Room) a few years ago, she is now planning some more – watch this space! Composers who wrote for this project include Tarik O’Regan (whose song, Sainte, won the song prize that year in the British Composers’ Awards, 2005); Nicola LeFanu, Michael Finnissy, Hugh Wood, Judith Bingham, John Casken, Helen Roe.

Alison’s tone is warm, clear, and silvery – suited to northern European composers from France through to Belgium, Germany, and up to Sweden. As a fine linguist, she relishes the opportunity to perform in other languages and recently performed a set of songs by Chani Haran Smith in Hebrew.