A unique vocal colour and commanding stage presence are the hallmarks of performances by mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy. Allyson debuted at Pacific Opera Victoria as Fenena in Nabucco, returned for the titular role of Carmen, Britten’s Phaedra (digital), and as the Minskwoman in Dove’s Flight. Ms. McHardy’s upcoming engagements include appearances with the symphonies of Vancouver, Victoria, and Indianapolis.
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, St. Louis Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival, San Francisco Opera, Boston Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, Les Violons du Roy, Warsaw Philharmonic
and Théâtre capitole du Toulouse. Adam Fischer, Seiji Ozawa, Jeremy Rohrer, Kent Nagano, Emmanuelle Haim, Bernard Labadie, Trevor Pinnock, Ludovic Morlot, Carlos Kalmar, and Johannes Debus are among the conductors with whom she has collaborated for performances of works such as L’enfant et les sortilèges, La clemenza di Tito, Matthäus Passion, Das Rheingold, The Dream of Gerontius and Messiah. Ms McHardy is a Prix Opus Winner for Opéra de Québec’s Der Fliegende Holländer and she was nominated for a Juno Award for the Canadian Art Song Project’s disc, Summer Night, music of Healey Willan.
Her engagements for the 2022/2023 season included the lead role of Rose Valland in the world premiere of Le beauté du monde at Opéra de Montréal (OdeM), a program of Bach Cantatas with Rafael Payare and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), Elijah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Handel’s The Resurrection with Opera Atelier, and Messiah with the Victoria Symphony.
2021/2022 season saw her starring in a double bill that included Riders to the Sea (OdeM) and the premiere of La Flambeau de la nuit, performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, and holding multiple engagements as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah, including with Music of the Baroque, Les Violons du Roy, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Despite interruptions by the COVID-19 pandemic, Allyson’s 2020/2021 season saw her return to Pacific Opera Victoria for a digital production of Britten’s Phaedra and performing as Cleophas in Opera Atelier’s celebrated film of Handel’s La Resurrezione. Her 2019-2020 season schedule included performances of Bach Cantatas for Music of the Baroque, Messiah with the Florida Orchestra and Newfoundland Symphony, and Dove’s Flight for Pacific Opera Victoria.
Masterpieces by Rameau and Britten figured prominently in McHardy’s 2018-2019 season with performances of Acteon and Pygmalion produced by Opera Atelier in Chicago, at Versailles and in Toronto, while Midsummer Night’s Dream took her to Opera Philadelphia. She was with the Vancouver Symphony for Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, the Toronto Symphony for Messiah, Calgary Philharmonic in Elijah, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Kitchener’s Grand Philharmonic Choir in Matthäus Passion, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for Symphony Nova Scotia and in recital with Société d’art vocal de Montréal.