Allison Oakes

British soprano Allison Oakes has established herself in recent years as one of the leading dramatic sopranos, making her role debut as Elektra at the Cologne Opera, her role debut as Sieglinde (“Die Walküre”) under Christian Thielemann at the Saxon State Opera in Dresden, as Chrysothemis (‘Elektra’) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Saxon State Opera as well as at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Carlotta (“Die Gezeichneten”) at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, at the Hamburg State Opera with Salome and Marietta (“Die tote Stadt”) at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as Salome and Elisabeth/Venus (“Tannhäuser”) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Brünnhilde (“Die Walküre”) at the Leipzig Opera, as Isolde (“Tristan und Isolde”) at the Budapest Wagner Festival, and as Brünnhilde in “Siegfried”. Her first Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung at the Staatstheater Braunschweig was a widely acclaimed role debut.
Important engagements in recent seasons include Chrysothemis (Elektra) and Marie in “Wozzeck” with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under Sebastian Weigle, Isolde in a new production of “Tristan und Isolde” (Omer Meir Wellber/Daniele Menghini) at the Teatro Massimo Palermo, Sieglinde in a new production of “Die Walküre” at the Greek National Opera in Athens; concert performances of the first act of “Die Walküre” under Omer Meir Wellber at the Rome Opera and under Jaap van Zweden in Seoul; Marietta in “Die tote Stadt” at the English National Opera, her role debuts as Brünnhilde in concert performances of “Die Walküre” and “Siegfried” at the Berlin Philharmonic and a Wagner concert at the Ravello Festival conducted by Donald Runnicles, Senta in “Der fliegende Holländer” and Marie/Marietta in “Die tote Stadt” at the Hamburg State Opera, Brünnhilde in “Die Walküre” in Leipzig and at the Wagner Days Budapest, her UK debut with Richard Strauss's “Vier letzte Lieder” with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and Isolde in new productions of “Tristan und Isolde” at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste and at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, where she had already impressed as Salome. In Frank Castorf's Bayreuth production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” she appeared from 2013 to 2015 under the baton of Kirill Petrenko as Freia in “Das Rheingold,” Gerhilde in “Die Walküre,” and Gutrune in “Götterdämmerung.”
In addition to the roles already mentioned, her repertoire includes roles such as Miss Jessel (“The Turn of the Screw”), Rosalinde (“Die Fledermaus”), Elsa (“Lohengrin”), Tosca, Marschallin (“Der Rosenkavalier”) and Marie (“Wozzeck”).
Allison Oakes won first prize, the orchestra prize, and the audience prize at the 2010 International Lauritz Melchior Wagner Singing Competition in Aalborg, Denmark, and during her studies, she won first prize and an audience prize at the 2005 Robert Stolz International Singing Competition in Hamburg.
Born in Great Britain, the singer first completed a degree in X-ray diagnostics before taking up vocal studies in Germany with Prof. Gudrun Fischer.
In the 2025/26 season, the soprano will take on the role of Brünnhilde in “Die Walküre” at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and return to the Hamburg State Opera as Isolde in “Tristan und Isolde.”