Alyson Cambridge - Musetta

Soprano

Portland Opera Debut

"A dynamic soprano with unlimited potential. She has a natural stage presence that carries her scenes. Vocally, her solos are unparalleled."
-St. Louis Playback Magazine 2005

Alyson Cambridge—whose voice has been described as "sweetly evocative", "creamy" and "dynamic"—joined the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the beginning of the 2003/04 season after being selected as a Grand Prize winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2003. Equally noted for her strikingly beautiful stage presence as well as her affecting musical and dramatic interpretation, she has embarked on an exciting operatic and concert career.

During the 2008/09 season, Ms. Cambridge returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Crobyle in a new production of Thaïs, conducted by Jesús López-Cobos, and as Bianca in Nicolas Joël’s new production of La Rondine, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Both productions will be broadcast live in high-definition to cinemas around the world. She also makes her debut at Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Mimì in La Bohème, followed by her role debut as Violetta in La Traviata at Granite State Opera, and rounds out the season with Mimì at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Her concert calendar includes the Les Chants d’Auvergne with the Baton Rouge Symphony, as well as the Brahms Requiem and Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the Roanoke Symphony.

During the 2007/08 season, Alyson Cambridge made several company and role debuts. She began the season as Musetta in Washington National Opera's new production of La Bohème, under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume, followed by her company and role debut as Mimì with Boston Lyric Opera. For her debut with Atlanta Opera, she sang her first Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. On the concert stage, Alyson appeared with the Omaha Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, and in a recital tour of William Bolcom's From the Diary of Sally Hemings.

Alyson Cambridge recently toured Japan as Frasquita in Carmen, under the baton of Seiji Ozawa. During the 2006/07 season, she made her debut at the Los Angeles Opera as Clara in Francesca Zambello’s production of Porgy and Bess, having previously performed the role at the Washington National Opera; she also debuted with Michigan Opera Theater as Clara, and with the Handel and Haydn Society as Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, and she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Karolka in Jenůfa. Her 2006/07 concert engagements included an all-Gershwin program with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Lansing Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Baton Rouge Symphony.

The young American soprano is a frequent guest of the Metropolitan Opera, having made her debut in 2004 under the baton of James Levine as Frasquita in Carmen (a performance for which The New York Times noted her "powerful, clear voice"). Other Met roles include the Flowermaiden in Parsifal, and Gianetta in L’Elisir d’Amore. Highlights of past seasons include her role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Portland Opera Repertory Theatre; Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Sir Simon Rattle and the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra; Gounod’s Juliette with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; her company debut with Palm Beach Opera as Musetta; Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with Wolf Trap Opera; selections from Porgy and Bess with Peter Nero and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Alyson Cambridge received both a B.M. in Voice Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and a B.A. in Sociology from Oberlin College. With Oberlin Opera Theater, she performed the roles of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, the Maiden in Henry Mollicone's Coyote Tales, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Dido in Dido and Aeneas. During her summers at the Chautauqua Institution Voice Program, she performed the title role in Suor Angelica, Mrs. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Metella in La Vie Parisienne. After graduating from Oberlin in 2002, Cambridge continued her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, pursuing a Master's of Music, and where she performed the role of Anna Gomez in Menotti’s The Consul. She also continues to be an active recitalist in New York and Washington, D.C.

Among numerous awards and prizes, Alyson Cambridge received First Prize in the 2003 Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Voice Competition and was a 2004 George London Foundation Award recipient.

www.alysoncambridge.com