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The Irish mezzo-soprano, Alison (Ali) Darragh, studied singing at the City of Belfast School of Music. She later went to the University of St Andrews where she held a choral scholarship for four years and graduated with a Joint degree of English Literature and Art History.
Alison Darragh has since performed with many of the leading early music ensembles, with highlights including performances of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) (with Collegium Vocale Gent/Philippe Herreweghe, and the Dunedin Consort/John Butt) and Blow’s Venus and Adonis (with The Musicians of the Globe Theatre, London/Philip Pickett). She sings regularly with the Gramophone and MIDEM award-winning Dunedin Consort in works such as George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor (BWV 232) and with which she recently made her solo CD debut in a recording of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) released by Linn Records. She sings regularly with The Exon Singers (Matthew Owens), and with Chorus Angelorum (Gavin Carr), recently performing Olivier Messiaen’s Trois Petites Liturgies de la présence divine in Turin Opera House.
Alison Darragh is increasingly active as a soloist and recitalist, with recent highlights including performances of Antonio Vivaldi’s solo cantata Nulla in Mundo with Philharmonia of Edinburgh and Johannes Brahms’ Liebesleider Walzer in Glasgow and at the Edinburgh Festival. In the Southwest of England she has recently given recitals as part of the Exon Singers Festival in Tavistock, at Stogursey Parish Church, the Bishop’s Palace in Wells, Wells Cathedral, in Bristol and in Bath. She performs regularly as a soloist with choral societies with recent performances including Mozart’s C Minor Mass; Requiem; Haydn’s Nelson Mass; G.F. Handel’s Messiah and Acis and Galatea; J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), Mass in B minor (BWV 232) and Magnificat (BWV 243); and Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man. Recently she was a soloist in a Gala Concert with Wells Cathedral Choir and soloists Dame Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Daniel Norman and Neal Davies (J.S. Bach’s Magnificat (BWV 243) and G.F. Handel’s Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate).
Alison Darragh is heavily involved with Music in Hospitals - a registered charity whose mission it is to improve the quality of life of adults and children in hospitals and care homes through the joy and therapeutic benefits of live music. |
