Allison Cecilia Arends, soprano

Allison Cecilia Arends, soprano
	Official Website: www.allisonarends.com Lyric Coloratura Soprano, Allison Cecilia Arends, is quickly making her mark in the Canadian music scene as a singer who has “charmed listeners with her lyrical upper tones” (Opera Canada, Winter 2009). Previously featured on the cover of Ontario’s Whole Note Magazine, she is noted as having a “voice [that] is stunningly beautiful, [which] she uses… with intelligence and great sensitivity” (Hnatyshyn Foundation press release, July 2007). In the 2009/2010 season, she joined the Cathedral Bluffs Orchestra for a performance of Der hölle Rache and Adele’s Audition Aria, Chorus Niagara for Haydn’s Creation, the Toronto Philharmonia for Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Univox Choir for Fauré’s Requiem, the Annex Singers for Orff’s Carmina Burana, and sang in the chorus for Opera Atelier’s Marriage of Figaro. She also gave various recitals in Regina, Toronto, and Hamilton. Upcoming performances this season include a broadway concert with Tryptych; recital of Richard Strauss Lieder with Toronto’s Birthday Series; Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (COSI); and Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme for the Highlands Opera Studio in Haliburton, Ontario. This summer, her studies will also take her to the Britten-Pears Program in Aldeburgh, England, where she will study Mozart opera with Claudio Desderi and Laura Sarti. She was the recipient of a scholarship from the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation, in support of these studies. Next season, she looks forward to performing in recital with pianist Peter Tiefenbach at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie; singing Donna Anna in Wish Opera’s production of Don Giovanni; performing with organist Imre Oláh in a noon-hour recital at Yorkminster Park Baptist; singing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with the Toronto Philharmonia in both Toronto and Barrie; performing with pianist Donna Williams at Symons Valley United Church’s recital series in Calgary; and performing with pianist Amanda Johnston in recital in Toronto and Calgary. Allison will be joining Calgary Opera for their Emerging Artist Development Program next season, where she will perform in the world premier of Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor, Dortchen Wild in Dean Burry’s The Brothers Grimm, Despina in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, cover the role of Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermor, and perform in an orchestral opera gala. In the 2011/2012 season, she will reprise the role of Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme, join the Tallis Choir as soprano soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and perform with baritone Peter McGillivray, mezzo-soprano Leigh-Anne Martin, and pianist Robert Kortgaard in a program of folk songs from the British Isles, all at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie, Ontario. She has also been engaged by the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg to sing in recital with pianist Rachel Andrist in October of 2011. In April of 2012, she will join Toronto’s Birthday Series for a recital of songs by Rachmaninov. Ms Arends’ opera credits include Adele and Ida in Die Fledermaus, Lucy in The Telephone, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Madame Herz in The Impresario, and the Angel, King’s Mistress, and Witch in R. Murray Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade. In concert, Ms. Arends has appeared as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah; Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore; Bach’s Saint John Passion, Magnificat, Mass in B minor, and Cantata 209; Vivaldi’s Gloria; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Rutter’s Magnificat; Beethoven’s Mass in C; and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. She has also sung with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the University of Victoria Orchestra, Tryptych Opera, Soundstreams, Toronto’s Concert Opera Group, Opera By Request, the University of Toronto Opera School, and Saskatoon Opera. In recital, she has sung for the Aldeburgh Connection, the Wagner Society, the Arts and Letters Club, Opera IS, the University of Toronto New Music Festival, Timothy Eaton’s Opera Tea Series, and the Canadian Opera Company’s noon hour series at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Allison was named a Jeune Ambassadeur Lyrique Laureate both in 2007 and 2009. In 2007, she competed in the Spazio Musica International Competition for Singers in Orvieto, Italy, where she placed third. She also represented Canada in Sicily’s Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici, where she was judged by Dame Joan Sutherland and Maestro Richard Bonynge. Other awards include a Wagner Society Scholarship (2008), Hnatyshyn Foundation Governor General’s Award for Classical Voice (2007), a British Columbia Arts Council Senior Award (2007), the Johann Strauss Scholarship for study in Austria (2005), first place in the Gordon C. Wallis Opera Competition (2004), and various other awards and scholarships through the University of Toronto and the Canadian Opera Volunteer’s Committee, including the Holbrook Opera Tour Graduating Award. A recipient of the Encouragement Award at the 2005 Western Canadian Metropolitan Opera auditions, Ms. Arends has been recorded and broadcast by CBC Radio. Ms Arends completed a Masters of Music at the University of Toronto Opera School under the esteemed tutelage of Mary Morrison, OC, with whom she now continues private studies. A graduate of the University of Victoria Voice Performance program, Allison has studied in the studios of Alexandra Browning and Selena James. She has also participated in the Highlands Opera Studio (2009), the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel (2008), the Song and Scenes Program with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre in Toronto (2008), the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (2007), the Banff Opera as Theatre program (2006), the Franz Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria (2005), and the Stuttgart Festival International Choir under the direction of Maestro Helmuth Rilling (2004). She also joined Toronto’s Eglinton St. George United Church Choir in 2008 as a soloist and choir member in their tour of the major cathedrals of Italy. She has sung in master classes with Stephen Pickover, Timothy Noble, Richard Margison, John Fanning, Joan Dornemann, Martin Katz, Carol Vaness, Michael Schade, Martin Isepp, Håkan Hagegård, Edith Wiens, Elly Ameling, Rudolf Jansen, Wolfgang Holzmair, Helmut Deutsch, Walter Moore, Jorma Hynninen, Robert Tear, Stuart Hamilton, Rosmarie Landry, Selena James, and Darryl Edwards.

Official Website: www.allisonarends.com

Lyric Coloratura Soprano, Allison Cecilia Arends, is quickly making her mark in the Canadian music scene as a singer who has “charmed listeners with her lyrical upper tones” (Opera Canada, Winter 2009). Previously featured on the cover of Ontario’s Whole Note Magazine, she is noted as having a “voice [that] is stunningly beautiful, [which] she uses… with intelligence and great sensitivity” (Hnatyshyn Foundation press release, July 2007).

In the 2009/2010 season, she joined the Cathedral Bluffs Orchestra for a performance of Der hölle Rache and Adele’s Audition Aria, Chorus Niagara for Haydn’s Creation, the Toronto Philharmonia for Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Univox Choir for Fauré’s Requiem, the Annex Singers for Orff’s Carmina Burana, and sang in the chorus for Opera Atelier’s Marriage of Figaro. She also gave various recitals in Regina, Toronto, and Hamilton. Upcoming performances this season include a broadway concert with Tryptych; recital of Richard Strauss Lieder with Toronto’s Birthday Series; Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (COSI); and Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme for the Highlands Opera Studio in Haliburton, Ontario. This summer, her studies will also take her to the Britten-Pears Program in Aldeburgh, England, where she will study Mozart opera with Claudio Desderi and Laura Sarti. She was the recipient of a scholarship from the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation, in support of these studies.

Next season, she looks forward to performing in recital with pianist Peter Tiefenbach at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie; singing Donna Anna in Wish Opera’s production of Don Giovanni; performing with organist Imre Oláh in a noon-hour recital at Yorkminster Park Baptist; singing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with the Toronto Philharmonia in both Toronto and Barrie; performing with pianist Donna Williams at Symons Valley United Church’s recital series in Calgary; and performing with pianist Amanda Johnston in recital in Toronto and Calgary. Allison will be joining Calgary Opera for their Emerging Artist Development Program next season, where she will perform in the world premier of Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor, Dortchen Wild in Dean Burry’s The Brothers Grimm, Despina in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, cover the role of Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermor, and perform in an orchestral opera gala. In the 2011/2012 season, she will reprise the role of Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme, join the Tallis Choir as soprano soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and perform with baritone Peter McGillivray, mezzo-soprano Leigh-Anne Martin, and pianist Robert Kortgaard in a program of folk songs from the British Isles, all at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie, Ontario. She has also been engaged by the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg to sing in recital with pianist Rachel Andrist in October of 2011. In April of 2012, she will join Toronto’s Birthday Series for a recital of songs by Rachmaninov.

Ms Arends’ opera credits include Adele and Ida in Die Fledermaus, Lucy in The Telephone, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Madame Herz in The Impresario, and the Angel, King’s Mistress, and Witch in R. Murray Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade. In concert, Ms. Arends has appeared as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah; Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore; Bach’s Saint John Passion, Magnificat, Mass in B minor, and Cantata 209; Vivaldi’s Gloria; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Rutter’s Magnificat; Beethoven’s Mass in C; and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. She has also sung with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the University of Victoria Orchestra, Tryptych Opera, Soundstreams, Toronto’s Concert Opera Group, Opera By Request, the University of Toronto Opera School, and Saskatoon Opera. In recital, she has sung for the Aldeburgh Connection, the Wagner Society, the Arts and Letters Club, Opera IS, the University of Toronto New Music Festival, Timothy Eaton’s Opera Tea Series, and the Canadian Opera Company’s noon hour series at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.

Allison was named a Jeune Ambassadeur Lyrique Laureate both in 2007 and 2009. In 2007, she competed in the Spazio Musica International Competition for Singers in Orvieto, Italy, where she placed third. She also represented Canada in Sicily’s Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici, where she was judged by Dame Joan Sutherland and Maestro Richard Bonynge. Other awards include a Wagner Society Scholarship (2008), Hnatyshyn Foundation Governor General’s Award for Classical Voice (2007), a British Columbia Arts Council Senior Award (2007), the Johann Strauss Scholarship for study in Austria (2005), first place in the Gordon C. Wallis Opera Competition (2004), and various other awards and scholarships through the University of Toronto and the Canadian Opera Volunteer’s Committee, including the Holbrook Opera Tour Graduating Award. A recipient of the Encouragement Award at the 2005 Western Canadian Metropolitan Opera auditions, Ms. Arends has been recorded and broadcast by CBC Radio.

Ms Arends completed a Masters of Music at the University of Toronto Opera School under the esteemed tutelage of Mary Morrison, OC, with whom she now continues private studies. A graduate of the University of Victoria Voice Performance program, Allison has studied in the studios of Alexandra Browning and Selena James. She has also participated in the Highlands Opera Studio (2009), the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel (2008), the Song and Scenes Program with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre in Toronto (2008), the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (2007), the Banff Opera as Theatre program (2006), the Franz Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria (2005), and the Stuttgart Festival International Choir under the direction of Maestro Helmuth Rilling (2004). She also joined Toronto’s Eglinton St. George United Church Choir in 2008 as a soloist and choir member in their tour of the major cathedrals of Italy. She has sung in master classes with Stephen Pickover, Timothy Noble, Richard Margison, John Fanning, Joan Dornemann, Martin Katz, Carol Vaness, Michael Schade, Martin Isepp, Håkan Hagegård, Edith Wiens, Elly Ameling, Rudolf Jansen, Wolfgang Holzmair, Helmut Deutsch, Walter Moore, Jorma Hynninen, Robert Tear, Stuart Hamilton, Rosmarie Landry, Selena James, and Darryl Edwards.