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Alison Browner

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Alison Margaret Browner
Born22 September 1957
Dublin, Ireland
Occupationmezzo-soprano opera singer
SpouseWilhelm Gries
Websitealisonbrowner.com

Alison Margaret Browner (born 22 September 1957) is an Irish mezzo-soprano opera singer.[1][2]

Life

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Born in Dublin, Ireland, Browner graduated in Music at Trinity College with a Bachelor of Arts while she also studied singing and violin at the College of Music (now the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama). Through a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) she went to the Hamburg Academy of Music and completed her studies with a recital and concert diploma with Hans Hotter[3][4][5]

Her married name is Alison Gries and she is based in Limburg an der Lahn, Germany.[1]

Career

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Her singing career began at the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Staatstheater Darmstadt working with Hans Hotter.[3][4][5]

Browner sang in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and the title role in Der Rosenkavalier and the great Mozart and Rossini parts in 1987 as an ensemble member of the National Theatre Mannheim.[3][4][5]

Her international breakthrough came at London's Royal Opera House in the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola. Numerous appearances in major opera houses such as the Brussels opera house La Monnaie and the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp and Ghent followed. At the Salzburg Festival she performed under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.[3][4][5]

Besides opera Browner shows great interest in the recital and concert repertoire. In recent years she has sung the great oratorios and many recitals throughout Europe and abroad. Browner has celebrated success with a broad repertoire with renowned ensembles and conductors as Philippe Herreweghe, Eric Ericson and his chamber choir, the Concerto Köln and many others.[3][4][5]

Browner has sung many concerts with the Limburger Domsingknaben where her husband Wilhelm Gries is vocal coach, assistant choir director and conductor.[3][4][5]

Browner's repertoire includes numerous works from the Baroque period (including Bach and Handel), classical (including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), Romanticism (including Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss) and modernity (including Schoenberg, Boulez).

Discography (selection)

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Catalogue of the German National Library". Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
  2. ^ Douglas Sealy. "Alison Browner (mezzo-soprano)/ NSO/Colman Pearce". The Irish Times.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Biography". Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Bach Cantatas Biography of Alison Browner".
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Naxos Records".
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