OPERA NEWS
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As Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the Grant Park Music Festival
“Marguerite doesn’t show up until the second half in Berlioz’s version but Allyson McHardy made the most of her belated appearance as Faust’s doomed beloved. Resplendent in a midnight-blue gown, McHardy’s high mezzo-soprano proved apt for this Gallic idiom. The Canadian singer brought inner feeling and refined lovely tone to the King of Thule ballad…
As Suzuki in Madame Butterfly with the Vancouver Opera
“Suzuki…poignantly portrayed by Allyson McHardy” (Vancity buzz, 7 March 2016)
“As Suzuki, Butterfly’s servant and only confidant, mezzo Allyson McHardy makes the most of her telling supporting role” (Vancouver Sun, 6 March 2016)
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About
A unique vocal colour and commanding stage presence are the hallmarks of performances by mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy. Hailed by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle as “a singer of enormous imagination and versatility”, she has appeared with the Paris Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Chicago Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Glyndebourne Festival, San Francisco Opera, Boston Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, Warsaw Philharmonic and Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse. Adam Fischer, Seiji Ozawa, Jeremy Rohrer, Kent Nagano, Emmanuelle Haim, Bernard Labadie, Ludovic Morlot, Carlos Kalmar and Jesus Lopez Cobos are among the conductors with whom she has collaborated for performances of works such as L’enfant et les sortileges, La clemenza di Tito, Das Rheingold, Dream of Gerontius and Messiah.
Latest Album
Handel: Messiah
Music of the Baroque Orchestra
Recorded live in November 2021, Handel’s Messiah features the Music of the Baroque Chorus and Orchestra and soloists Sherezade Panthaki, soprano, Allyson McHardy, mezzo-soprano, Brian Giebler, tenor, and Matthew Brook, bass-baritone under the direction of Nicholas Kraemer.