American mezzo-soprano Alice Chung is rapidly being recognized for her "operatic tonal glamour (parterre box) and being “a force of nature with a sound both powerful and appealing” (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Ms. Chung’s 2023-2024 season commenced with a celebrated house début at Boston Lyric Opera as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, after which Opera News declared Ms. Chung “one of America’s most gifted young singers.” Other notable appearances included a return to Hawai’i Opera Theatre in An American Dream and a début with Houston Grand Opera in the world premiere of The Big Swim. She also joined Boston Modern Orchestra Project for Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 and Out of the Box Opera to sing the Principessa in Suor Angelica. On the concert stage, Ms. Chung enjoyed a return engagement with the U.S. Naval Academy in Handel’s Messiah, accompanied by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. This season, Ms. Chung sings Amneris in Aida with Boston Lyric Opera, the title role in Carmen with Hawaii Opera Theatre, and she reprises her roles of the Ox and the Pig in The Big Swim, this time with Asia Society Texas in Houston.
Previous engagements included a house and role début at Hawai’i Opera Theatre as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, covering the role of Granny Jia in Dream of the Red Chamber in San Francisco Opera’s coproduction with the Hong Kong Arts Festival, along with a return to cover the role of Suzuki, and house débuts with Arizona Opera as the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte and La mort in Le rossignol with West Edge Opera.
A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Chung has also performed with Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Role credits include La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Ježibaba in Rusalka, Die Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, Larina in Eugene Onegin, and Mariana in Luisa Fernanda. On the concert stage, she has sung with the Kansas City Symphony, Bucks County Symphony, and the Naples Philharmonic at Artis-Naples. Concert credits include Duruflé’s Requiem, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, and Beethoven’s Fantasia and Mass in C Major.
As a two-time alum of the prestigious Merola Opera Program, Ms. Chung garnered acclaim from San Francisco audiences for her excerpted portrayals of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Augusta Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Azucena in Il trovatore, which parterre box praised for its “riveting dramatic intensity.” The San Francisco Chronicle lauded Ms. Chung’s Gertrude in Hamlet as “ringing, magisterial.” She returned for her Schwabacher Recital début, presented by the Merola Opera Program in conjunction with San Francisco Opera and has continued to perform recitals in the Bay Area since. A lover of collaboration and chamber music, Ms. Chung has premiered new works alongside standard literature.
Ms. Chung is an honored recipient of numerous grants and winner of various competitions, including the 2022 Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition, the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, First Prize and Audience Favorite awards at the Young Patronesses of the Opera, First Place in the Cooper-Bing Competition, District and Regional Winner in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and the 2021 William Matheus Sullivan Foundation Audition Awards.
As the artistic director and co-founder of the arts and advocacy initiative Wear Yellow Proudly, Ms. Chung works to raise awareness of Asian and AAPI narratives and culture by showcasing and celebrating Asian art and artists worldwide.
