Alysia Hanshaw, soprano

Praised for her ‘pure and vibrant’ timbre (Olyrix), British soprano Alysia Hanshaw is a member of the 2023-25 Opera Studio at the Opéra National du Rhin. Highlights from her past season there include her main stage debut as Nerea in Porpora’s Polifemo with Le Concert d’Astrée conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm and performing as Ombre d’une Vierge in Guercœur by Albéric Magnard, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher; a production which was awarded the Prix du Syndicat de la Critique, given to exceptional artists, shows and creatives in France. Alysia made her Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut in 2023 as Soeur Antoine in Dialogues des Carmélites and in the ensemble of L’elisir d’amore. She is an alumna of the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Past opera roles include Une Pastourelle and La Chauve-Souris in L’enfant et les sortilèges, The Dew Fairy in Hansel und Gretel, Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites (RCM Scenes), Héro in Béatrice et Bénédict and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (RNCM Scenes). Alysia created two roles in new chamber operas written for the 2022 Tête-à-Tête Festival, in Darren Sng’s My Days as a Zombie and Michael Hughes’s Cue Action. In 2022 she was a young artist at the Lyrique-en-mer Festival in Brittany, performing in Gluck’s Orphée, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and Handel’s Messiah. In 2020, she took part in a residency at Opera North working on the role of Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Alysia’s was recently invited back to the RCM as a guest soloist to perform Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Royal College of Music Orchestra. Other concert work includes Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem in Ripon Cathedral and Bach Magnificat with the Bournemouth Bach Choir. Next season she will appear in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Mozart Mass in C minor with the Orchestra Symphonique de Mulhouse.

A passionate song performer, she has appeared in recitals throughout the Alsace region of France at the Opéra du Rhin, Château Pourtalès, Théâtre Municipal de Colmar, Comédie de l’Est, La Filature and Théâtre de la Sinne. Alysia was a member of the RCM’s SongPlus scheme with whom she performed recitals for International Women’s Day and an American song collaboration with the Juilliard School, curated by Simon Lepper.

Her past recital engagements also include Britten’s Songs from the Chinese with the RNCM Songsters and Copland’s Poems of Emily Dickinson at the RNCM Chamber Music Festival, for which her performance was described by the Sunday Times as “a high point of a fascinating group-recital”. 

Alysia was a finalist in the 2023 RCM Concerto Competition, performing Kaija Saariaho’s Leino Songs. In 2021, she was awarded 2nd prize at the Courtney Kenny Award held by the AESS and she is an award holder from Leverhulme Arts, Help Musicians UK and The Countess of Munster Trust. Alysia has performed in masterclasses with celebrated artists including Sarah Connolly, Edith Wiens, Mary Bevan and Michael Chance.