Giselle Allen
Representation: General Management
Born in Belfast, Giselle Allen graduated from the University of Wales, Cardiff with honours in Music before pursuing her vocal studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. The winner of numerous awards at both establishments, she has also achieved success in several competitions in the UK and Ireland, notably winning the Lady Nixon Prize, the Countess of Munster scholarship and the Sybill Tutton Award.
Her operatic roles include Parassia Sorochintsky Fair, the title role in Suor Angelica, the title role in Troilus and Cressida for the William Walton Foundation, Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Singapore Lyric Theatre, Tatyana Eugene Onegin for the Buxton Festival, Svatava Sarka for Wexford Festival Opera, the title role in Mascagni’s Iris and the Countess The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Holland Park, Geraldine in Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge in the American Series at the Barbican, Giulietta Les Contes d’Hoffmann for Central Festival Opera, Wellgunde Das Rheingold and Gutrune Götterdämmerung for the Covent Garden Festival, Salome in Massenet’s Herodiade at the Anna Livia International Opera Festival in Dublin, concert performances of Vitellia La Clemenza di Tito in Malaga, Musetta La Bohème for ENO and at La Monnaie in Brussels with Maestro Antonio Pappano, her debut as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes at the Komische Oper in Berlin and Gerhilde Die Walküre at English National Opera. A regular visitor to Opera North, Giselle has appeared as Tatyana Eugene Onegin, The Fox Cunning Little Vixen, Ellen Orford Peter Grimes, Musetta La Bohème, Marenka The Bartered Bride, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni and title roles Rusalka, Jenufa and Kat’á Kabanová. In 2006, Giselle made her debut as Marie Wozzeck for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and has since returned to sing Tatyana Eugene Onegin and Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As a concert artist Giselle Allen has performed in many of the major concert halls in the UK and Ireland. She has worked with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Sir David Willcocks and Marin Alsop, and has recorded with the Ulster Orchestra under Vernon Handley. In demand also as a recitalist, she has appeared for BBC Belfast, the Castleward Opera Series, and at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Concert engagements have included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Dvorak’s Te Deum with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass (Norfolk and Norwich Festival) and Donna Eleonora in Salieri’s Prima la Musica poi le Parole with the SCO conducted by Nicholas McGegan for the Edinburgh International Festival. Giselle returned to the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 to sing Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.
Recent engagements include title role Jenufa for Glyndebourne on Tour, title role Rusalka, Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw, Freia Das Rheingold for Opera North and her debut as Tosca for Northern Ireland Opera. Future appearances include Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw for the Glyndebourne Festival and for Northern Ireland Opera, Martha The Passenger for English National Opera and Mimi La Bohème for Welsh National Opera.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Lucie Davienne
