Praised for her “high, sweet coloratura” and “nuanced performance,” soprano Alison Scherzer is a dynamic and versatile artist whose work spans opera, musical theater, concert, operetta, theater, and film. A graduate of Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists Program, Scherzer is particularly noted for her commitment to contemporary vocal music.

Upcoming projects for the 2025/26 season include, among others, the title role in Gerald Barry’s Salome with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Thomas Adès, as well as a concert performance of Salome at the New Music Dublin Festival. She will also create the role of Sarai in the world premiere of Hagar by Jan Peter de Graaf with the Nederlandse Reisopera, and perform as the Wife in Schnittke’s Life with an Idiot at Theater Magdeburg. In addition, she will appear in the BBC’s Friday Night is Music Night concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Highlights of her 2024/25 season included the world-premiere recording of Gerald Barry’s one-woman opera La Plus Forte, in which she performed the role of Madame X. This landmark project—co-produced by the BBC Concert Orchestra and Nouvel Opéra Fribourg—was recorded at Alexandra Palace in London and will be accompanied by a documentary film. Concert and staged performances of La Plus Forte also took place in Switzerland. Scherzer continued her collaboration with Nouvel Opéra Fribourg in the premiere of a new short opera by British composer David Buckley. She returned to the title role in Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and is set to originate the title role in the world premiere of Barry’s Salome at Theater Magdeburg. In partnership with Eden River Records, she also released two film recordings this year: Kaija Saariaho’s From the Grammar of Dreams and George Crumb’s Apparition.

Scherzer made her house debut at the Nederlandse Reisopera during the 23/24 season as Maid in Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face. Previously, she reprised her role as Maid in Powder Her Face, in a co-production with Nouvel Opéra Fribourg and Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet in Paris, where she previously sang Cecily Cardew in Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest. She has performed as a soloist at Theater Görlitz-Zittau, where she sang Franziska Cagliari in Wiener Blut, Ulla in The Producers, Chava in Fiddler on the Roof and Stella/Ella in Frau Luna. Other roles performed include Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Zerbinetta and Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Dalinda in Ariodante, Mrs. Nordstrom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Curley’s Wife in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, and Maria in The Sound of Music.

Scherzer’s concert and oratorio experience include the soprano solos in Fauré’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mondonville’s Dominus Regnavit, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Exultate Jubilate and Vesperae solennes de confessore, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem and Liebeslieder Walzer, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, Johannespassion, and as Lieschen in the Kaffee Kantate.

Scherzer studied at the prestigious University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music (CCM) for her Master of Music degree, as well as an Artist Diploma directed towards incorporating different art forms and performance practices within contemporary art song recital.