Lyric soprano Allanda Small is an award winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Gulf Coast Region), the NATSAA Young Artist Award, and the American Prize Competition (opera). Operatic roles include Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Micaëla (Carmen), Mrs. Jenks (The Tenderland), Mrs. Gleaton (Susannah) and Elektra (Idomeneo). She is a graduate of William Carey University and The University of Southern Mississippi having earned her Doctorate of Music Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. As a solo artist, she presents recitals, concerts and master classes throughout the year. In conjunction with the Dream Consortium of Chicago, she presented Vision, a recital celebrating the art songs and spirituals of African-American composers with acclaimed baritone, Robert Sims, as well as a music tour of Spain as soloist with Triumph Chorale. Concert performances include Mozart’s Requiem, Bach Magnificat in D, Handel’s Messiah, Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, multi-city performances of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah with The Leipzig Youth Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the Carolina Master Chorale and Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Tarik O’Regan’s Triptycb with the Choral Society of Pensacola. Recently, Allanda debuted with West Bay Opera’s (Palo Alto, CA) production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida as the Voice of the High Priestess and cover for the title role. In a performance review by Opera News Magazine, the article noted that, “In their debut, Allanda excelled as the High Priestess…” Regionally, she also premiered the opera, The Crossing, a second part of the Slavery Trilogy by Odaline de la Martinez in New Orleans. Allanda is a New York native who resides in Mobile, AL. She serves as part of the music faculty at The University of West Florida.
