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The Australian-boen soprano and singing teacher, Miriam Allan, graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Newcastle, Australia, with first class honours and the University Medal. She received an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Federal Government, and completed a Master of Creative Arts (Music). In 2003, she was a prize-winner in the Handel Singing Competition for young professional singers organized annually by the London Handel Society.
Miriam Allan has been a soloist with leading orchestral and choral organisations all over the world: Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists (Director: John Eliot Gardiner), London Baroque (Director: Charles Medlam) (UK), Les Arts Florissants (Director: William Christie) (France), Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Concerto Copenhagen (Director: Lars Ulrik Mortensen) (Denmark), Il Fondamento (Director: Paul Dombrecht) (Belgium), Gewandhaus Kammerchor, Leipzig Kammerorchester, Concerto Köln, ChorWerk Ruhr (Director: Florian Helgath) (Germany), Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chacona and Arcadia (Australia). She has been fortunate to work with many of the finest directors and conductors, including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Laurence Cummings, William Christie and Roy Goodman. She appears on numerous recordings, highlights of which include Pinchgut Opera’s Fairy Queen and Dardanus, The Wonders of the World with Echo du Danube, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem with the Leipzig Kammerorchester and Gewandhaus Kammerchor.
In 2009, Miriam Allan completed a concert tour of Australia with Ironwood Ensemble for Musica Viva and returned to Australia for performances of Messiah with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony directed by Stephen Layton in December. After making her debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera in performances of Purcell’s Fairy Queen in 2009, she continued with that production to Paris, Caen and New York in 2010. Other engagements in 2009 included performances of George Frideric Handel's Israel in Egpyt in Germany and Monteverdi’s 6th Book of Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants. In 2011, she performed Monteverdi Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants; returned to Australia for performances with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra of W.A. Mozart and G.F. Handel; and made her debut with the Bach Collegium Japan, under Masaaki Suzuki. She also performed the role of Costanza in Pinchgut Opera’s production of Antonio Vivaldi’s Griselda to critical acclaim. Concerts in 2012 included a tour of Monteverdi’s 3rd Book of Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and performances in Holland, Switzerland and the UK of J.S. Bach, Dowland and John Rutter. Her CD of G.F. Handel’s Silete Venti and Purcell Songs was released on the ABC Classics label and the live recording of A. Vivaldi’s Griselda on the Pinchgut LIVE label. In 2013 she appeared with Le Concert d'Astrée under Emmanuelle Haïm; toured Monteverdi’s 5th Book of Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and returned to Australia to perform Haydn with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Cavalli with Pinchgut Opera and Messiah with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Collegium Musicum, Perth.
2014 sees Miriam Allan continue with Les Arts Florissants's Monteverdi project, touring the 6th and 7th Book of Madrigals in venues around France, including the Chateau de Versailles and Cité de la Musique, Paris. Debuts will be made in China, with the Academy of Ancient Music, performing Fairy Queen and with the Canadian ensemble, Les Violons du Roy (Director: Bernard Labadie) this December for concerts of G.F. Handel’s Messiah.
Miriam Allan is a vocal coach at Westminster Under School and Head of Singing at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire. Since 2003 she has been based in England. |
