Western-Canadian soprano Allison Cecilia Arends is quickly making her mark as a versatile singer whose “voice is stunningly beautiful and [is used] with intelligence and great sensitivity” (Hnatyshyn Foundation). Highly sought-after as an interpreter of opera, new music, and concert repertoire, she is noted for having “charmed listeners with her lyrical upper tones” (Opera Canada).
Allison commenced her 2015-2016 season as co-founder and instructor for the St. Andrew Parish Foundation’s Mini Mozarts Music Camp, a camp for underprivileged children in Kingston, Jamaica. Additionally, she traveled to Jamaica for a repeat performance of Festum Sancti Andreae, a performance of operatic highlights, as well as various television and radio appearances, and as a guest instructor in a masterclass at Kingston’s Edna Manley College for the Arts. Concert and operatic performances this season will include A Grand Night for Opera in Burlington and Festitalia’s Canto Quaranta in Hamilton with the Southern Ontario Lyric Opera, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Cathedral Bluffs Orchestra, and Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata with Barrie Concerts. Allison will make many recital appearances with the Heliconian Club, Arts and Letters Club, Neapolitan Connection, Alliance Française, Campbell House Recital Series, Dante Club, and a self-produced collaboration with violinist Alex Toskov, pianist Marty Smyth, and sculptor Farhad Nargol-O’Neill. Allison will join the Saskatchewan Music Festival as guest adjudicator in Regina.
Allison’s 2014-2015 season included concerts at Casa Loma with the Toronto Concert Orchestra, Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium with the Masterworks of Oakville, the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera York, a Christmas Chestnuts concert with the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Regina Philharmonic Chorus, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, as well as various recital appearances. Allison toured China in a Viennese programme with the Brahms Symphonie Orchester and traveled to Jamaica to present a recital of opera scenes with tenor Paul Williamson.
Allison is a graduate of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Program, and completed a Masters of Music at the University of Toronto Opera School and a Bachelor of Music at the University of Victoria Voice Performance Program. Allison currently studies with W. Stephen Smith, and has previously studied under the tutelage of Mary Morrison, Timothy Noble, Wendy Nielsen, Alexandra Browning, Selena James, and Diana Woolrich. She has completed summer studies at the Alliance Française, Goethe Institut, Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, Opera Workshop for Advanced Singers in St. Andrews, Highlands Opera Studio, Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel, Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, Banff Centre, Franz Schubert-Institut in Austria, and Stuttgart Festival International Choir under the direction of Maestro Helmuth Rilling.
As a recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Artist’s Grant, Allison was afforded the opportunity to perform at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. She also had the honour of being the guest artist at the Inter-American Development Bank Governor’s Dinner, as well as singing the National Anthem at the International Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors, which was attended by Prime Ministers, Governors, Delegates, and Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs from forty-five different countries. Additionally, she was recorded and broadcast by CBC Radio Saskatchewan, and joined Toronto’s Eglinton St. George United Church Choir as a soloist and choir member on their tour of the major cathedrals of Italy. Allison’s awards include first place and audience choice in the Clifford Poole Voice Competition, being named a Laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, second place in the Barry Alexander International Voice Competition, third place in the Spazio Musica International Competition, the Hnatyshyn Foundation Governor General’s Award for Classical Voice, a Senior Award through the B.C. Arts Council, an Encouragement Award through the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Holbrook Opera Tour Graduating Award, and scholarships from the Johann Strauss Foundation, the Aldeburgh Foundation, the Wagner Society, ARIAS (formerly COVC), and the Universities of Toronto and Victoria. She was also a participant and semi-finalist in the Joy in Singing masterclass series and competition in New York.