Alyson Cambridge

Alyson Cambridge is an American operatic soprano. In addition to opera, she sings classical song, jazz, American songbook and popular song.

In 2003 Cambridge won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, becoming the competition's youngest Grand Prize winner ever. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut the following year in Carmen. She was also awarded First Prize in the 2003 Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Voice Competition, First Prize in the 2004 George London Foundation Award, and the Régine Crespin Award at the 2008 Elardo International Opera Competition.

In 2010, her debut recording, From the Diary of Sally Hemings, was released, and made its premier at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In 2016, Cambridge released her second solo album, with the jazz standards and American popular song-based Until Now. Her third album, Sisters in Song, with soprano Nicole Cabell and the Lake Forest Symphony, will be released in September 2018. She has served as brand ambassador for Swiss luxury watch and jewelry designer Chopard, as well as for fashion designers Vivianne Tam and Monika Chiang. In 2018, Cambridge is performing on Broadway, as one of the lead vocalists in Rocktopia, which fuses iconic 20th-century rock with classical masterpieces.

Early and personal life Cambridge was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. Her father Richard, whose parents are from Guyana, immigrated to the United States for college at the age of 19 from Guyana on the Caribbean coast of South America, and is a principal economist at the World Bank. Her mother is from Minnesota, of Danish-Norwegian heritage, and works at the National Academy of Sciences.

Cambridge has gold-brown hair and green eyes. The Washington Post opined that her "25-inch waist and stunning features make her seem a natural for the catwalk, not for an opera house."

She started taking vocal lessons after a friend suggested that she do so, after hearing her jokingly pretend to sing opera.

University Cambridge attended university at Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, where she earned a double degree with honors in both—a B.M. in Voice Performance and a B.A. in sociology, with a concentration in pre-law.

Opera career Cambridge began as a light lyric soprano, then developed into a full lyric soprano, and more recently begun to develop into a spinto soprano, a more powerful voice that can handle more dramatic climaxes.

In 2003 Cambridge won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, while still a student at The Curtis Institute of Music, becoming the competition's youngest Grand Prize winner ever.

In 2004 Cambridge made her Met debut as Frasquita in Georges Bizet's Carmen, and was noted by Anne Midgette of The New York Times for her "powerful, clear voice". She has since appeared in several roles with that company, including Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore, a Flower Maiden in Parsifal, Karolka in Jenůfa, Crobyle in Thaïs, and Bianca in La Rondine. She also played Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Juliette in Romeo et Juliette at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In the 2009–10 season she portrayed Musetta in La Bohème at the Portland Opera, Clara in Porgy and Bess at the Washington National Opera, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Opera Cleveland. Reviewer Sarah Downs wrote in New York Theatre Guide: "Cambridge ... possesses a stunning, richly hued voice that she has to stifle at times to match the performance level of the other singers," while theater critic Charles Isherwood wrote in Broadway News that her "vibrant soprano is lovely to hear — and, swathed in a rather complicated sexy-glam gown ... she also looks gorgeous."

Recording career In February 2010, her debut recording with pianist Lydia Brown, From the Diary of Sally Hemings (about the slave who was thought to be the mistress of Thomas Jefferson) was released on the White Pine Music label.

She has modeled for Sculpsure, Monika Chiang, Chopard, The Today Show and other various fashion, lifestyle and fashion brands.

She has donated her time to charities, including The Fresh Air Fund, The Humane Society, K9s for Warriors, Sing For Hope, the American Red Cross, and Hope For Hearts Foundation.