Allison has been lauded by The Washington Post for her "ethereal soprano" and "spare, otherworldly radiance... a performance from across the centuries, full of distant and irresistible beauties." A specialist in early music, she received her B.A. cum laude in music from Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA) and her M.M. in Early Music Vocal Performance from the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA). While at Longy, Allison studied voice with Laurie Monahan (Tapestry, Ensemble P.A.N., Sequentia) and was introduced to an entirely new approach of music-making. She discovered a new love and inspiration: medieval music. She has engaged in scholarly studies of the Montpellier and Las Huelgas manuscripts, and is a notation and performance specialist on the chants of Hildegard von Bingen. Her interpretation of Hildegard has led her to performances in the Boston Early Music Festival and special performances with the Ars Nova Singers (Boulder, CO) in The Passion of St. Ursula, an original passion play based on the martyrdom of St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. She has also led teaching and coaching sessions on the interpretation of Hildegard’s chants at the Peabody Conservatory, Williams College, and DePauw University, among others, and takes the utmost joy in sharing her love of this music. In summer of 2010 Allison founded the Sardonyx Series, an editorial project based on the works of Hildegard von Bingen attempting to bridge the gap between medieval source and modern performance.
Also during her time at Longy, Allison performed in several operatic productions, including Charpentier’s Actéon and Lully’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme where she learned the practice of French Baroque music and gesture. In 2001, Allison sang in the Boston Early Music Festival’s production of Lully’s Thesée and Rameau’s La Guirlande, presented at Jordan Hall and Tanglewood. In 2004, she sang the role of La Messaggiera in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with the Harvard Early Music Society in which The Boston Phoenix noted her performance as "a powerful turn.”
In 2005, Allison moved from the Boston area to Williamstown, MA with the design of savoring the rural mountain landscape and cultural offerings of Berkshire County. With her husband and musical partner Richard Giarusso she co-founded Williamstown Early Music, a local concert series offering unique and adventurous programming. WEM performances include Bach's Johannes-Passion (with two singers on a part), Rameau cantatas at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien, and “A Handel Gala,” a chamber music concert featuring dramatic scenes and arias from opera and oratorio. She also sang the role of Despina in a concert version of Cosí fan tutte with The New Opera. Allison gave several solo recital performances at WCMA, including a solo chant meditation, a lute song recital with long-time collaborator and friend Matthew Wright, and an art song recital in conjunction with the special exhibition "Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy," featuring songs of Poulenc, Milhaud, and Debussy.
Stemming from her love of Renaissance choral music, Allison has spent many years singing professionally with various choral groups in Boston, the NY Capital region, and the Baltimore/Washington region. For four years she served as Choir Scholar and soprano soloist at Marsh Chapel at Boston University, in which services aired weekly on WBUR 90.9FM, Boston’s NPR station. She has also sung or appeared with the Church of the Advent, Trinity Church Boston, the National Cathedral, St. Paul's K Street, Church of the Epiphany Tuesday Concert Series, St. Matthew's Cathedral, the National Shrine, vocal ensemble Magnificat with Piffaro and the Folger Consort, the Kennedy Center, and Dumbarton Oaks.
Allison currently resides in the Washington, DC area. She recently appeared as soprano soloist for the Maryland Choral Society's performance of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, as well as joining the Bach Sinfonia and the National Cathedral's chamber group Cathedra. This past year she presented a Baroque vocal chamber music program featuring the music of Purcell, Monteverdi, and selections from Handel's Neun Deutsche Arien as well as a duet recital of French art song at the historic DACOR Bacon House. She sings regularly with medieval ensemble Armonia Nova and is a professional chorister at Christ Church Georgetown. One of her most cherished projects is the recent founding of medieval ensemble Eya (pronounced "eh-yah"), specializing in music for women's voices, in which she serves as music director.
This season she rejoins the Maryland Choral Society as soprano soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria, as well as joining the Countertop Ensemble and Cathedra. She continues to develop new programs and present preformances with Eya. Allison is also a voice teacher with the National Cathedral's chorister program and is currently a voice student of Elizabeth Daniels.
