Alysia Hanshaw

Alysia is a coloratura soprano studying with Sandra Dugdale. She has recently accepted a scholarship to study a Masters in Performance at the Royal College of Music having graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a first-class Bachelor’s degree. During her time at the RNCM she was highly commended in both the James Oncken Song Prize and the Elsie Thurston Prize and took part in a residency at Opera North with acclaimed director Jo Davies.

 

A highlight of Alysia’s time at the RNCM was performing in the award-winning Video Jam’s Spaces-in-between commission on the film ‘Dreaming in Red’ by Christin Turner and scored by CHAINES. During the pandemic Alysia has been involved with other new music commissions including the York-based Arc Project and the UnHeard Hybrid Orchestra.

 

Her recent recital engagements include Britten’s Songs from the Chinese with the RNCM Songsters, an exploration of Parnassian poetry for the RNCM Spotlight Series and Copland’s Poems of Emily Dickinson at the RNCM Chamber Music Festival, for which Alysia’s performance of The Chariot was described by the Sunday Times as ‘a high point of a fascinating group-recital’.

 

Alysia is an experienced oratorio singer having performed solos with choral societies throughout the North. Frequent works include Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabeus, Fauré’s Requiem and Mozart’s Mass in C.

 

Alysia also has a keen interest in early music having formed the Lyra Ensemble with lutenist Sara Salloum, with whom she performed in baroque and renaissance showcases in venues throughout Manchester. Tutored by acclaimed early music specialists Roger Hamilton and Paula Chateauneuf, the Lyra Ensemble hold a particular interest in the Italian renaissance, performing works by Monteverdi, Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi amongst others.

 

Alysia’s past opera roles have included Héro in Béatrice et Bénédict and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro for RNCM opera scenes, La Princesse in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with MUMS Opera, the Spirit in Dido and Aeneas and the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel for Leeds Youth Opera. As a chorister she sang in the RNCM productions of Cendrillon conducted by Martin André and directed by Olivia Fuchs and Hansel and Gretel conducted by Anthony Kraus and directed by Stephen Medcalf. She also performed in the Youth Chorus for Opera North’s staged production of Handel’s Joshua conducted by Stephen Layton and directed by Charles Edwards.

 

Alysia has taken part in masterclasses with celebrated artists including Michael Chance, Christopher Purves, Alwyn Mellor, Ruby Hughes, Kitty Whately and Marcus Farnsworth. She has performed at venues including the Bridgewater Hall, Chetham’s Baronial Hall, Leeds Grand Theatre and Huddersfield Town Hall.

 

Alongside her normally busy schedule of performance and study, she is passionate about creating music for varied audiences and has experience working in hospitals, schools and care homes through outreach companies including LIME Music for Health and RNCM Children’s Opera.