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Mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy is " a singer of enormous imagination and versatility" in the words of the San Francisco Chronicle's Joshua Kosman, who continued his praise noting that in Il Barbiere di Siviglia "[she] sang a lustrous and energetic Rosina; the inventive twists and turns in her highly ornamented account of the opening "Una voce poco fa" were surperb." An alumna of the prestigious Merola Program, Ms. McHardy debuted as Olga in Eugene Onegin for the San Francisco Opera in the fall of 2004 and was immediately re-engaged to be heard as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in the 2006-07 season. She appeared as Flosshilde and Rossweisse in the Canadian Opera Company's first Canadian Ring cycle in the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Other upcoming engagements include Dalilah in Samson et Dalilah at Opera Ontario with Richard Margison and Handel's Israel in Egypt with Les Violons du Roi. The busy mezzo-soprano made her debut with New York City Opera in the fall of 2005 as Marquise Melibea in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims. Further engagements for 2005-2006 included Suzuki in Madama Butterfly for l'Opéra de Québec, Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung and Magret in Wozzeck for the Canadian Opera Company. Concert appearances include Messiah for the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, The Elora Festival and Amadeus Choir, Popera (an opera highlights concert) for Opera Ontario, Elijah in Montreal, Les nuits d'été and Les Noces in Bielefeld, Germany and Alexander Nevsky for Orchestra London.
In the summer of 2005 she was in Berlin, Potsdam, Montreal and Vancouver appearing in the revival of a Caldara dramatic cantata, La Conversione di Clodoveo, Rè di Francia produced by Les Voix Baroques. Engagements for 2004/05 included the role of Solange in The Maids and the Drummer Girl in The Emperor of Atlantis for Cincinatti Opera and Rossweisse in Die Walküre for the Canadian Opera Company. Rounding out her season in San Francisco, she was presented in a solo concert by the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series. She was also in Edmonton and Calgary for Mallika in Lakmé, in Ottawa for Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Opera Lyra Ottawa and Chicago for Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream for Chicago Opera Theater.
She began her 2003–2004 season with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood as Carmela in La Vida Breve conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Other assignments for the season included Alcina, Hansel and Gretel and Madama Butterfly for San Francisco Opera and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly for the Canadian Opera Company. Ms. McHardy debuted with the Minnesota Orchestra in Honegger’s Jeanne D'Arc conducted by Helmuth Rilling and recorded Harry Somers’ Serinette (Centredisc label) and A Mid-Winter Night's Dream, after live performances for Soundstreams with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus. She was also featured in from Rags to Riches: 100 Years of American Song with Steven Blier in the San Francisco’s Opera’s Schwabacher Debut Recital Series.
Ms. McHardy sang Concepciòn in L'Heure Espagnole under the baton of Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood and was in Amsterdam for Henze’s Venus and Adonis for Vara Radio at the Concertgebouw. She was heard in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Robert Cooper’s Chorus Niagara, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Thunder Bay Orchestra and the Viola Songs by Brahms with Les Amis in Toronto. Ms. McHardy made her European debut as Ottavia in L'Incoronazione di Poppea performing at the Schloß Rheinsberg Festival and also sang in gala opera concerts there under the baton of COC General Director Richard Bradshaw.
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