Young coloratura soprano Alison Trainer is rapidly claiming her place among the most important emerging singers today. A gifted singing actress, Ms. Trainer has garnered top prizes in several major vocal competitions and is increasingly gaining recognition for her vocal beauty, sensitive and intelligent musicianship, and compelling stage presence. Alison looks forward to her European debut as Fiakermili in Arabella in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2009.

 

In the summer of 2008, she will return to New Jersey Opera to sing Valencienne in The Merry Widow. Also in 2008, Ms. Trainer will sing Handel’s Messiah with the Pennsylvania Ballet and Symphony at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and return to Albany Pro-Musica to sing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. During the 2006 – 2007 season, Ms. Trainer returned to New York City Opera to sing the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel. She also sang the Dew Fairy and Sandman with the Phoenix Symphony, performed as a soloist in Mozart at the Opera with Albany Symphony and Dayton Symphony, sang the soprano solos in the Poulenc Gloria with the Erie Philharmonic, a Holiday Pops concert with the Asheville Symphony, and Carmina Burana with both the Southeastern Festival of Song (SEFOS) and the Charlottesville Symphony.

 

For her performances in 2006 as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, the Baltimore Sun hailed Alison “a convincing actress with a voice of radiant beauty.” Ms. Trainer received critical acclaim in 2005 for her debuts with Central City Opera as Tiny in Paul Bunyan, and Cleveland Opera as Adina in L’elisir d’amore. After her performances in Cleveland, Opera News reported that “Alison Trainer was a pert, lovable Adina, as alert to singing beautifully as to communicating the character’s building love for Nemorino.” Also during the 2004-2005 season, she returned to North Carolina to sing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with Asheville Symphony, she had her New York City Opera debut singing Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, her Avery Fisher Hall debut singing Carmina Burana with the National Chorale, and returned to the Aspen Music Festival to sing Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail.  Ms. Trainer’s professional opera credits include Adele in Die Fledermaus with Annapolis Opera and on the Western Opera Theater National Tour, Rose in Street Scene at the Aspen Music Festival, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte with Boston Lyric Opera, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with Glimmerglass Opera.   Ms. Trainer won first place in the 2005 Metropolitan Opera Northeast Regional Competition, first place in the 2005 Liederkranz Competition,  second place in the 2005 Opera Index Competition, and was a top prize winner in the 2005 Sullivan Foundation Competition.

 

Equally at home on the recital stage, Alison Trainer is known for her commitment to exploring and performing a vast array of song repertoire.  Ms. Trainer has performed in recital at the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, the San Francisco Opera Center, Glimmerglass Opera, and the Josyln Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Southeastern Festival of Song (SEFOS) in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Trainer earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from Cincinnati Conservatory, and a Performer’s Certificate from the Opera Institute at Boston University.  She has been an apprentice artist with Glimmerglass Opera and San Francisco Opera’s Merola program, and a vocal fellow at Tanglewood Music Festival and Aspen Music Festival.  Originally from San Diego, California, Ms. Trainer currently lives in New York City and Berlin, Germany.