PRESS
2023
A Vivid Account of Samson’s Agonies and Triumph from The Boston Musical Intelligencer by Lee Eiseman
“Allison Gish’s rich and well-placed true contralto gave warmth and credibility to her every utterance as Micah, Samson’s friend. She also partook generously of consonants, projecting Newburgh Hamilton’s texts with clarity.”
2023
New York Comedy Club Review 2023: Fizz and Ginger from Operawire by Chris Ruel
“Allison Gish, who’s as comfortable singing Baroque repertoire as she is the blues, gave a heart-wrenching performance. Her piercing scream in Act two and her tears over losing her son were very moving.”
2022
The Dark Ring* returns in 2022: Newark... Is a new wagnerian city born? from Emociones Líricas by Angel Parsifal
“In Walküre, it was a big surprise to hear Allison Gish's amazing, well sung and beautifully, velvet.-toned Fricka, one of the best singers in this edition, who also performs amazingly the anger and frustration of this goddess.”
2019
“Gish’s commanding stage presence, strikingly rich voice and an innate sense of comedic timing made her a delight to watch as she did her best to run her enterprises and corral the ragtag group surrounding her.”
‘La Straniera’ and ‘La Gazza Ladra’ Reviews: New Corners of the Canon from The Wall Street Journal by Heidi Waleson
“Mezzo Allison Gish shone in her single aria as Lucia, Ninetta’s employer”
Teatro Nuovo 2019 Review: La Gazza Ladra: A Riveting Revival of a Rare Rossini Opera from Operawire by Nicole Kuchta
“Mezzo-soprano Allison Gish’s Lucia seamlessly transformed from a cold and disapproving employer into a remorseful and compassionate mother-figure in one of the more touching moments of the opera (“A questo seno”), coming to realize that the punishment of death didn’t fit the petty crime – if there really was a crime!”
Stealing My Heart from Voce di Meche by Meche Kroop
“His wife Lucia was brilliantly portrayed by mezzo-soprano Allison Gish, whom we have often reviewed in her work with New Camerata Opera, Cantanti Project, Dell'Arte Opera, and ARE Opera (now City Lyric Opera). We are not surprised that this excellent young singer is cast a lot; her voice is richly textured and her acting thoroughly convincing. We loved the change in vocal color at the end when she begins to care for her future daughter-in-law.”
New York’s Teatro Nuovo Resurrects Two Bel Canto Gems from Seen and Heard International by Rick Perdian
“Giannetto’s mother, Lucia, is one of Rossini’s most delicious character roles. She’s a harridan who demands justice when she believes her young servant girl stole a silver spoon, but melts when Ninetta is sentence to death. Allison Gish was grand and outlandish as she dashed off the coloratura in her aria ‘A questo seno’ and topped it off with a ringing high note.”
All Dressed Up and No Place to Go from The Berkeley Daily Planet by James Roy MacBean
“In the beautifully plaintive Agnus Dei, mezzo-soprano Allison Gish displayed a deep, resonant voice and superb technique.”
Unearthing a Manhattan opera jewel to rival the Met from Reaction by Gerald Malone
“Allison Gish, in the title role was a knockout. Her denial of Tarquinius’ advances were a series of desperate crescendos which never strayed into harshness and in stark contrast to her gentler approach in the earlier action, when innocence is yet to be betrayed....The joy of a compact 120 seat auditorium was the intimacy of the action and being blown away by the voices of Ms. Gish and Mr. Dwan; two true standouts.”
New Camerata Opera Review 2019: The Rape of Lucretia from Operawire by David Salazar
“Then there was Allison Gish, who gave a knockout vocal performance of the title role. There was a gentle manner with her singing early on in the performance, even if she was sad over her separation from Collatinus. But the singing darkened as the character’s trauma took place. While she did kiss Tarquinius while asleep, she pushed him away aggressively the moment that she awoke and realized what had happened. From there, her voice expressed increased escalation as she repeatedly pushed him away. Her “No’s” that had a spoken quality and the latter “I refuse” were even more agitated, leaving no doubt that she wanted nothing from him. She tried to shake him off, only to find herself repeatedly thrown around until eventually finding herself completely overpowered.
The famed “If it were all a dream, then waking would be less of a nightmare” is one of the most devastating scenes in all of opera. While unfortunately it is framed as a mad scene by the composer and librettist, Goodwin directed it in a crude manner that allowed Gish to truly express the revulsion, anger, and horror that she was experiencing all at once. How Gish built from “Give him this orchid” to “Hurry, for all men love the chaste Lucretia” was chilling, each line spewed out with increased pointedness. Later, when she started “Flowers bring to every year the same perfection,” her sound was far softer and more gentle, giving a more internalized feel to the passaged. She made a gradual vocal crescendo all the way to the “Let their pureness show my grief to hide my shame and be my wreath,” allowing the pain to come to fore. Gish’s voice was colored by a rapid vibrato that added to the growing intensity of the moment.”
2018
BWW Review: Dell'Arte Opera Unlocks the Cypher of LA CIFRA by Salieri from Broadway World by Richard Sasanow
“Director Brittany Goodwin kept the piece barreling along, giving it the feeling of more substance than the libretto and score might deserve and offering the cast a chance to shine. Among them, mezzo Allison Gish was hilarious to the nth degree as Lisotta, the daughter who wished she was a countess.”
Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble Festival 2018 Review La Cifra: Salieri’s Work Given Side-Splitting Treatment by Team from Operawire by Logan Martell
“As Lisotta, the daughter of Rusticone, Allison Gish was the very image of exuberance. Believing herself to be the woman Fideling seeks, Lisotta did everything in her power to seal the deal and wed the nobleman, all the while outdoing the advances of the lowborn and lovesick Sandrino. The jubilant tone in Gish’s mezzo-soprano served well to draw the eyes of the cast away from her sister, and later, rival Eurilla. A moment I felt encapsulated the character came when Lisotta and Eurilla first learn of Fideling’s search for his betrothed, Olympia. When Eurilla asked if there were any such women who matched the image of noble beauty they were told, Lisotta brightly cried out: ‘Whore! There’s me!’”
dell’Arte Opera Ensemble: Salieri’s La cifra from Oberon’s Grove
“Mezzo-soprano Allison Gish (Lisotta) is likewise a singer who has it all: a plushy instrument of vast range, and a knack for comedy. She simply threw herself into the role, singing with flair, and running the gamut of facial expressions from snobbish to sassy with telling effect. Ms. Gish's Act II aria was a vocal high-point of the afternoon, a tour de force really. But much earlier, she endeared herself to me as an actress when Milord's servant Leandro (played by Stephen Steffens) made bawdy gestures towards her. Allison's Lisotta got the message - loud and clear - and signaled back that she was ready, willing, and able. Ah, a libidinous girl...a girl after my own heart: I laughed out loud.”
Review: La Cifra from Drama Queen NYC by Jonathan Warman
“The cast is uniformly strong vocally, but what really matters here is that they are also all gifted comic actors. Standouts in this area include Allison Gish, who gives us Rusticone’s hedonistic daughter Lisotta with infectious exuberance.”
Cipher Space from Parterre Box by John Yohalem
“The comic singers were the stars on this occasion—probably on previous occasions too, with this work. Mezzo-soprano Allison Gish is a natural cut-up who warbles to flirt and vice-versa, her full-flavored mezzo exulting in the musical delights of Lisotta’s imaginary wedding to Milord.”
New York Opera Fest 2018 Review – Tabula Rasa: Jarrar-Goodwin Team Transcends Genre with New Work from Operawire by Logan Martell
Mezzo-soprano Allison Gish cut a stern presence as Kiki’s “Wine Mom,” and delivered one of the evening’s high points with her number “Alice! Alice! Alice!” which danced between loving plea and horror-filled warning for Kiki’s low situation. As Gish’s sorrowful legato built-in dynamic heft, matched by the full and fierce Bb clarinet, she ended on an abyssal low E-natural which made for a meaningful parallel to the high E natural delivered by Forteza in the first act.
2017
Gianni Schicchi ARE Opera by Voce di Meche
"As Rinuccio's Zia Zita, mezzo-soprano Allison Gish employed her substantial instrument and stage presence to create a character."
Dell’Arte Opera serves up a racy and exuberant “La Calisto” from New York Classical Review by David Wright
"At last, Juno, wife of Jove, arrived on the scene, resplendent in a wedding-cake gown and magenta headdress. Sizing up the situation in a flash, she gave her errant husband a tongue-lashing, laid the bear curse on poor, unoffending Callisto, and ordered the other characters to get their acts together. In this déesse-ex-machina role, Allison Gish’s [mezzo] soprano was a trumpet of indignation."
dell'Arte Opera Ensemble: LA CALISTO from Oberon's Grove
"Vocally, the afternoon got off to a splendid start as Allison Gish intoned the lines of La Natura with a voice that evoked thoughts of the great contraltos of bygone days."
Reviews: New York City - DUST from Opera News by Arlo McKinnon
The Mannes production was superb. Music director Joan La Barbara—herself a living legend in the genre—clearly trained this cast of fine young singers to a high degree of polish and commitment. Baritone Mario Diaz-Moresco, as the character “I Live in the Park,” served as Virgil to the audiences Dante, in that he narrated the essential facts and gave biographical sketches of his street pals, as well as singing the transition from the stories to the songs. Diaz-Moresco’s performance, as with those of his colleagues, was flawless. The rest of the cast included sopranos Julia Meadows (“Lucille”) and Marisa Karchin (Shirley Temple”), mezzo Allison Gish (“Green Pants”), and baritone Alexander Greenzeig (“The Rug”).
PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Robert Ashley, DUST from The Log Journal by Steve Smith
"Allison Gish actually found fresh shades of self-flagellating nuance in the role of 'Green Pants,' a part originally performed by Ashley’s son, Sam Ashley."