Contralto Alissa Anderson wields her comic prowess, striking features, and powerful vocalism to great acclaim on opera and concert stages worldwide. Ms. Anderson achieved a considerable success and was celebrated for being “impeccably prepared” and “splendid in every way” when she stepped in as Florence Pike in Santa Fe Opera’s Albert Herring under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis. In 2020, Ms. Anderson made a lauded debut as Mrs. Lovett at Royal Danish Opera. Opera News raved, “…it was left to an American Mrs. Lovett, Alissa Anderson, to show the natives how it should be done… Anderson was the best of all of them. She has a true contralto voice… her comic timing was exemplary.”
Ms. Anderson begins the 2022-2023 season making her debut at Hawaii Opera Theatre as Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden and makes her role and company debut at Nashville Opera as Baba in The Medium. She also debuts at Chicago Opera Theatre as the Deaconess in Krol Roger and as Florence Pike in Albert Herring. The busy 2021-2022 brought Ms. Anderson’s debut at Angers-Nantes Opera as Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress, as well as a reprise of her Marcellina at Austin Opera, Nurse (cover) in Boris Gudunov, Dame Quickly to Falstaff with Berkshire Opera Festival, Mama in Why I Live at the Post Office with UrbanArias, Erda in Das Rheingold with Opera Santa Barbara, and alto soloist with Heartbeat Opera’s popular “Messy Messiah” concert.
The 2018-2019 season included Ms. Anderson’s return to San Diego Opera as Maddalena in Rigoletto, her debut with Opera San Antonio as Marthe in Faust, and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro and Mrs. Andrews/The Bird Woman in Mary Poppins in a return to Utah Festival Opera. Other recent performances for Ms. Anderson include The Witch in Into the Woods with Utah Festival Opera, La tragédie de Carmen with Opera Birmingham and Opera Louisiana, Frugola/La Zia Principessa in Il trittico with Opera Delaware, Tisbe in La Cenerentola with San Diego Opera, La Zia Principessa/Ciesca in Il trittico with the Opera Company of Middlebury, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro with North Carolina Opera, La Zia Principessa/Zita in Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi with Opera Santa Barbara, Cleo in The Most Happy Fella with Tulsa Opera, Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress with Utah Opera, and her debut with Houston Grand Opera’s East + West series in River of Light by composer Jack Perla and librettist Chitra Divakaruni. In addition, she made, her “comically perfect” debut as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff with Opera in the Heights, Lampito in Lysistrata with Fort Worth Opera, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Santa Barbara, Emilia in Otello and Zulma in L’italiana in Algeri with Opera Southwest, Madame de la Haltiere in Cendrillion and the Mother in Hansel and Gretel with the Santa Fe Concert Association, Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera in the Heights, and her return to Santa Fe Opera where she sang the Society Woman in The Last Savage. Recent concert engagements have included John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Concordia University Symphony Orchestra, her European debut as mezzo soloist in the Verdi Requiem with performances throughout Germany and France and her Lincoln Center debut as the mezzo soloist in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony.
At Sarasota Opera, Ms. Anderson performed the roles of Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Sandman in Hansel and Gretel, and Flora in La Traviata. As a resident and principal artist with Fort Worth Opera she performed the roles of Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Angel Trio in Angels in America. Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News praised her 2010 performance of the Verdi Requiem with the University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra stating, “Mezzo Alissa Anderson supplied aptly rich tones and an awesome chest voice.”
As a young artist, Ms. Anderson performed with the Santa Fe Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Ashlawn-Highland Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. She received the Kathryn Tyrell Award in the Shreveport Opera Competition, the Agnes M. Canning Award from Santa Fe Opera, and the Stuart R. Silver Award from Sarasota Opera. She holds her Master of Music from The University of Maryland and her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas.