Opera & Operetta
Allegra Durante, a coloratura soprano born and raised in New York City, has been performing opera since 2010. She debuted as the Shepherd in Tosca, and has gone on to perform roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera, Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Morgana in Alcina, Amore and Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Echo in his Echo et Narcisse, Hippolyte in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, Papagena and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Giulietta in Romeo and Giulietta, a pastiche of scenes from Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi interwoven with text from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
As a regular with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Society and the Temple Israel Center Savoyards, Allegra has drawn on her experience in opera and her early training in musical theatre to bring life to leading ladies of operetta including Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, the title role of Patience, Casilda in The Gondoliers, Aline Sangazure in The Sorcerer, Phyllis in Iolanthe, and even (as a lark) Mad Margaret in Ruddigore.
In January of 2024, Allegra debuted the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Amore Opera, to which she brought a “pleasingly fresh and musically used” voice (Parterre). As her first lead role in a Mozart opera, she will always remember the experience fondly, and looks forward to her next opportunity to revisit the role.
In 2021 and 2023, respectively, Allegra performed Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Hippolytus in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie (re-titled Phedre) with Brooklyn Telemann Chamber Society. Both productions were recorded in the style of films. Orfeo has been released on YouTube after premiere showings in New York City, and Phedre will be released in 2024 once editing is completed.
In 2017 Allegra was part of the Summer Vocal Arts program at Brooklyn Music School in New York City, where she debuted as Echo in Gluck's opera Echo et Narcisse.
Each summer from 2015-2017, Allegra studied with Orfeo Vocal Arts Academy and performed in and near Dresden, Germany. In summer of 2014 she traveled through Italy, first studying the Italian language at Centro Studi Urbania, host school of Si Parla, Si Canta, and then immersing herself in the Italian culture while visiting numerous cities in Northern and Central Italy.
Allegra produced and co-starred in her first independent production in 2012, a staged and costumed pastiche called Replenished Repertoire. The next year, she joined forces with fellow soprano Susan Bywaters to direct and produce a fully-staged arrangement of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with chamber orchestra and quartet chorus. The run played to sold-out houses and the production was praised musically and dramatically as well as for its inventive staging.
After years of being torn between musical theatre and classical spoken theatre, in 2010 Allegra discovered that opera offered her the best of both worlds, and hasn't looked back since her first professional role, the Shepherd in Tosca. Her training includes classes at the Lucy Moses School and HB Studio in New York City, and over 15 years of movement work including ballet, jazz, tap, and ballroom dancing, karate, stage combat, fencing, rock climbing, and historic movement styles.
Allegra has performed with Amore Opera, Brooklyn Telemann Chamber Society, Vertical Player Repertory, the Opera Collective, Utopia Opera, OperaRox Productions, New Amsterdam Opera, Empire Opera, Vocal Productions NYC, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Operamission, the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, and the New York Fringe Festival.
In addition to performing, she greatly enjoys directing opera. In addition to her own productions of Replenished Repertoire and Orfeo ed Euridice, she has assisted the directors of Hippolyte et Aricie (Phedre) and Don Giovanni, and co-directed Romeo and Giulietta. She looks forward to having more time on her hands, once she graduates, to begin work on a project she has wanted to produce for many, many years.