Allison Christiansen is a senior studying Music Performance at Brigham Young University. In the summer of 2017, Ally studied choral music in London, which included singing church service with Oxford chapel choirs. In 2018 Ally went to Vienna to study music, which included singing with the Augustinian Church Choir for several masses, and culminated in a recital performance.
Ally has been an active member in the BYU choirs since 2013, and has been a member of and often a soloist with Women’s Chorus, Concert Choir, and currently the world-renowned University Singers. She was the featured soloist for the Men’s Chorus 2018 concert program. As a third-year soprano in BYU Singers, Ally has performed throughout the nation in Missouri, Nevada, and California, and is currently preparing to compete in the Netherlands. Within the last year they shared the concert stage with world-renowned Tenebrae, as well as participating in a televised broadcast with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
Beyond chamber singing, Allison also enjoys solo work. She studied with Darrell Babidge and Jennifer Welch-Babidge from 2012-2018, and is now studying with Dr. Diane Reich. In early 2020 she was featured in a BYU masterclass setting with Professor JoAnn Kulesza, musical director of the Opera Theatre Program at the Peabody Conservatory. In 2019 she worked with local director Karen Thueson to bring operatic music to the local Hobble Creek Elementary choir, where she sang for their spring concert. This school year Ally was a featured soloist twice for BYU’s televised devotional program.
Last fall Ally played Ida in BYU’s production of Die Fledermaus, and covered Rosalinde. In fall 2019 Ally covered The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, and sang on stage in the chorus. She has been an auditioned member of BYU’s Opera Scenes production every winter semester since 2018, singing scenes from productions such as Macbeth, Le Nozze de Figaro, La Rondine, and Dialogues des Carmélites.
In summer 2019 Ally was accepted into the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute through the Aspen Music Festival. Along with private vocal lessons and intensive daily rehearsals with James Bass and Patrick Dupré Quigley, Ally was also featured in a Baroque Oratorio Masterclass setting with Dr. Scott Allen Jarrett. For the last two Christmas seasons, Ally has also participated in the Santa Fe Desert Chorale residency program through BYU.
Ally has served in the University Singers presidency since 2019, and in the BYU Concert Choir presidency from 2017-2018. Ally has a strong background in music history, having worked as a TA for BYU’s music history core classes since 2015.
In 2020 Ally competed in Cal-West Regional NATS and qualified for Nationals, where she placed as a semifinalist.
Ally seeks out opportunities to work with contemporary composers. Since 2019 she has been involved with productions through the local Voice for Good company, singing in the choir and as a soloist in newly composed works. She sang in the recording of Cayson Renshaw’s piece Harmonic Overtones for a 2020 video series with the BYU Magazine. This summer she joined two virtual choir productions: Tracey Singer’s All-National Choir, and Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6.