|
Biography
Scottish Soprano Alison McNeill (24) graduated in 2008 with Honours from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where she was awarded the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Peter Mooney scholarships. As a regular recitalist and concert singer her UK engagements include Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, Haydn’s Scots Songs with the Cantelina Chamber Music Festival on the Island of Islay and recitals in Paisley Abbey and Holy Trinty for the Voices in Paisley Festival and St Mary’s Cathedral for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Oratorio experience includes Handel’s Messiah and Charpentier’s Te Deum in Glasgow Cathedral, the Brahms Requiem, Vivald’s Gloria, Zelenka’s Magnificat in D, Rutter's Feel the Spirit, Saint Saens' Christmas Oratorio, the Mozart Requiem, and the Kodaly Missa Brevis at the International Kodaly Conference, Chichester Psalms with the BBC SSO, conducted by Martyn Brabbins and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio Scotland. Alison was also soloist in Howard Blake's The Snowman for the RSNO in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. In opera, Alison understudied the lead role of the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight at the RSAMD.
As a fine interpreter of Scots Song and Celtic Music Alison is one half of the Duo Celtic Magic and has sung in Charles Rennie Macintosh’s House for an Art Lover, Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Fernie Castle and her recital of Celtic Music with harp in Hafton Castle led to the recording of “Celtic Magic”, a collection of songs from around Celtic Britain accompanied by harpist Eleanor Holley. Alison also performed with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers in the Burns n’ a’ That Festival and in Glasgow City Chambers on the night Glasgow was announced as host city of the Commonwealth Games.
Alison has a particular flair and passion for the research and performance of Spanish Song and has had the great honour of studying the interpretation of this genre with Teresa Berganza and Alicia Nafé in Spain. She has performed as a solo recitalist at the Interpretation of Spanish Song Festival in Granada, at the house of the late composer Joaquin Rodrigo in Madrid and at the Kunstkring in Den Haag, Holland. In July 2010 Alison performed in a series of concerts with the Mexican Renaissance Ensemble Ditirambo and with guitarist Javier Hernandez Tagle in Mexico where El Sol de Toluca decribed her voice as “extraordinary”. Alison also taught at the First International Festival of Guitar and Voice and has appeared on Spanish and Mexican Television.
Alison sings with the female voice quartet, Scottish Voices, conducted by Dr. Graham Hair and performed her first series of concerts with the group in April 2009 - a four state tour of America which culminated in a recording of works by living composers Dr.Graham Hair and Prof. Bruce Mahin.
Future engagements include guest soprano with Mexican Renaissance Group Ditirambo in March on their Scottish Tour, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, South Pacific and Oliver! for Utah Festival Opera in America, a series of concerts with Ditirambo in Mexico and a recital with guitarist Javier Hernandez Tagle in New York.
|
