Biography
Alyson Cambridge launched her professional path as a soprano through membership in the Metropolitan Opera, where she earned early recognition for her vocal command. Though her formal training centered on opera, she had absorbed a broad range of sounds while growing up, among them pop, R&B, and jazz. Born in 1980 in Arlington, Virginia, to a Guyanese father and a Danish-American mother, she first pursued vocal instruction after a friend proposed lessons upon overhearing her playful operatic impressions.
Natural aptitude notwithstanding, she devoted much of her high-school energy to academics and soccer while continuing private vocal study. Following graduation she completed a double major in music and prelaw at Oberlin College. Only in her senior year, after graduating with honors from the music conservatory, did she resolve to devote herself entirely to singing. Acceptance into the Curtis Institute provided an additional year of focused vocal work, after which she secured entry into the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program through a successful audition.
Cambridge’s Met debut took place in 2004 as Fraquita in a production of Carmen. Further secondary assignments followed, among them Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore and Bianca in La Rondine. Subsequent engagements brought roles with other companies, including Guilietta in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Clara in Porgy and Bess at the Washington National Opera.
Her recording career began in 2010 with the song cycle From the Diary of Sally Hemings, created by playwright Sandra Seaton and composer William Bolcom. Three years later she received critical acclaim for her leading performance as Julie in the Washington National Opera production of Showboat. In 2016 she issued her first full solo album, Until Now, devoted to jazz standards and American popular song.
Natural aptitude notwithstanding, she devoted much of her high-school energy to academics and soccer while continuing private vocal study. Following graduation she completed a double major in music and prelaw at Oberlin College. Only in her senior year, after graduating with honors from the music conservatory, did she resolve to devote herself entirely to singing. Acceptance into the Curtis Institute provided an additional year of focused vocal work, after which she secured entry into the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program through a successful audition.
Cambridge’s Met debut took place in 2004 as Fraquita in a production of Carmen. Further secondary assignments followed, among them Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore and Bianca in La Rondine. Subsequent engagements brought roles with other companies, including Guilietta in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Clara in Porgy and Bess at the Washington National Opera.
Her recording career began in 2010 with the song cycle From the Diary of Sally Hemings, created by playwright Sandra Seaton and composer William Bolcom. Three years later she received critical acclaim for her leading performance as Julie in the Washington National Opera production of Showboat. In 2016 she issued her first full solo album, Until Now, devoted to jazz standards and American popular song.
Albums
