Allison Charney
Soprano Allison Charney’s operatic career began following the national finals of the Metropolitan Opera Competition with her debut at the New York City Opera. Since then, Ms. Charney has earned a reputation for her “vocal agility, lush sound and dramatic portrayals” of the lyric soprano roles in her wide-ranging repertoire, including many of the most beloved Puccini heroines, most notably the title roles in Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Suor Angelica, both Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, and Liu in Turandot. She is well known for her Mozart interpretations as well, including both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, both Susanna and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaroand Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Her versatility has led her to sing all four heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffman as well as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Micaëla in Carmen, Nedda in Pagliacci, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana and the title roles in Martha, La Traviata, Jenufaand The Merry Widow.
Ms. Charney’s career has brought her to opera companies across the United States, including the New York City Opera, the Atlanta Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Utah Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Memphis, Annapolis Opera, Opera Theater of Connecticut, New Rochelle Opera, Opera Illinois, Opera Delaware, Utah Festival Opera, DiCapo OperaTheater, Tampa Opera, Opera Idaho, Syracuse Opera, Washington Summer Opera Festival, Colorado Opera Festival and Mississippi Opera.
Concert highlights have included performances at Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall as well as a debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in April of 2009 and Ms. Charney’s first performance of Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 as well as the world premiere of Kim D. Sherman’s newly-orchestrated, Invocation, with the New Hampshire Festival Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta in the summer of 2011. Ms. Charney will be featured in the first recording of the Pulitzer Prize nominated oratorio Choose Life, by composer Mona Lyn Reese and can be heard in a CD of American songs with pianist, Benjamin Loeb, on the DSC Label. Ms. Charney is an active recitalist and master teacher and is the founder and curator of the concert series, PREformances. Ms. Charney lives in New York City with her husband, Adam Epstein and their two sons, Evan (6) and Oliver (4).