I’ve been in the opera world for many years, and recently have moved to the other side of the table – I was recently named the Assistant Artistic Director of Boheme Opera, NJ. While I learn how to run the company from Joseph and Sandra Pucciatti, who are both extraordinary at what they do, I am also looking ahead to projects I would love to bring to the company, such as a Young Artists Program. The hope is that I will one day move into the position of Artistic Director.
Wagner and Verdi are my specialties, both as a teacher and singer. People expect Wagnerians to walk out of the mist fully formed at 45 years old, ready to perform the most challenging roles ever written. Wagnerians need to be brought along slowly, from their thirties, so that when they are old enough to handle this repertoire, they’re raring to go on every level; mentally, vocally, physically. They require a deep connection to themselves that allows for physicalized acting because more than anything, the voice must communicate emotion. My degree is in Theater & Film and right out of college I was a Shakespearean actress and Musical Theater performer. Eventually I realized I could not ignore the size and depth of my voice and began to study privately. My Opera and Broadway singers now benefit from my acting and elocution skills as well as all the great work I gleaned from each of the masters, below.
Barbara Conrad and Patricia Sage taught me the technique from Bayreuth, where Pat was a participant for many years in Friedelind Wagner’s theatre program. I’ve taken that technique and added components from other teachers’ work who I thought were fabulous. I’ve been fortunate in my career to have collaborated with some of the very best teachers, conductors and coaches in the world.
My current teacher is Andrea DelGiudice, who expertly helped me add a more Italianate approach to my Germanic technique, which I also now pass on to my singers. I also studied with Ruth Falcon, Rita Shane, Dodi Protero, Barbara Conrad, Bill Schumann, Diana Soviero, and more. Conductors I’ve worked with include Donald Runnicles, Emmanuel Villaume, John Keenan, Daniel Raiskin, Karen Kamensek, and Joseph Colaneri. Coaches I’ve worked with include (New York): Nicoló Sbuelz, Mitchell Cirker, Craig Ketter, John Keenan, William Hobbs, Roger Malouf, Patricia Sage and (Berlin): John Dawson, Peter Berne, Douglas Brown, Graham Cox.
My singers who work in all other genres of music benefit just as fully from the immense strength, stamina and ease of singing that this technique provides. I have four wonderful professional singers who were mentored by me for years in this technique. Kevin Patrick, Mathew Tartza, Kate DiFonzo and Erin Pach expertly sub for me when I am away on contracts of my own.
It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a dream team, such as I have had, to get an opera singer to this point in her singing and teaching career. I love teaching and while I am still a working singer myself, I have so much joy to share about my understanding of the body and voice.
Performance Experience
Ms. Bolshoi has been hired to perform leading roles or as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, The Dallas Opera, The Liceu, Barcelona, the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, the Huntsville Symphony, Alabama, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (“NJPAC”), the Cesky-Krumlov Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, Boheme Opera, NJ, among others. For more on her professional singing career, go to www.alisonbolshoi.com.
Affiliations
Ms. Bolshoi is member of:
The American Guild of Musical Artists (“AGMA”)
The National Association of Teachers of Singing, USA (“NATS”)
The Association of Teachers of Singing, United Kingdom (“AOTOS”)
The New York Singing Teachers Association (“NYSTA”)