"Dramatic soprano Alison Bolshoi['s] … singing of Senta's Ballad from Wagner's Flying Dutchman was on the level of Rysanek, and her acting skill was quite apparent. Like Rysanek, Bolshoi seems a perfect voice for Verdi heroines and even possibly Puccini's Turandot. This American artist bears watching."
-John Paul Keeter, The Register-Star, August 2006
"On stage, there were the master craftsmen ... soprano Alison Bolshoi, whose "Pace, pace mio Dio," from Verdi's La Forza del Destino," showed off a magnificent, large and complex voice and a stately grasp of emotional delivery."
-Willa J. Conrad, Star Ledger, NJ, Wednesday, June 14, 2006.
"Soprano Alison Bolshoi's rich voice reminded one of Helen Traubel. She sang Leonore's aria from Beethoven's 'Fidelio' more wonderfully than the artist that recently sang the role in a "Met" broadcast."
-John Paul Keeter, The Register-Star, April 2006
American dramatic soprano Alison Bolshoi was recently invited to make her debut at La Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona in a concert featuring excerpts from Strauss' Guntram, Reyer's Sigurd, and Schillings' Mona Lisa. Ms. Bolshoi also recently joined the roster of The San Francisco Opera to cover Senta in Der fliegende Holländer.
Other recent engagement includes Leonore in a concert-performance of Fidelio with One World Symphony, NY; in June 2006, she was asked to be the soprano soloist at the Alfredo Silipigni Memorial Concert with the NJ State Opera; and in September 2006 Ms. Bolshoi gave a concert as part of the Bach to Bartok Festival with the Accademia Pianistica, in Imola, Italy.
Ms. Bolshoi has sung many complete, staged performances of Sieglinde, the Die Walküre Brünnhilde, and the Siegfried Brünnhilde with the Wagner Festival Orchestra in New York, conducted by David Gilbert. She has also taken part in concerts with the company, singing the Senta/Dutchman duet and Brünnhilde from Götterdämmerung Act I.
Ms. Bolshoi was awarded grants from the Liederkranz International Competition 2006, Wagner Section, and is receiving sponsorship by The American Wagner Association. After a June 2006 concert for the Wagner Society of Chicago, they became her sponsors as well. Ms. Bolshoi is also a winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Award, 2004; and a grant from the Wagner Society of New York in 2002 and 2004. In May 2002, she received an invitation to join The Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program, of the Wagner Society of Washington, D.C., and performed in a concert given by the Wagner Society at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., in October 2002.
Ms. Bolshoi's background includes a degree in Theatre/Film and several years work as both a Shakespearean actress and musical theatre performer. She is a former student of H.B. Studios and Uta Hagen. Ms. Bolshoistudies voice with Metropolitan Opera artist Barbara Conrad, and coaches with renowned German coach Thomas Lausmann, of NY City Opera. She resides with her family in Montclair, New Jersey.
