It is Daphne Alderson's vision to bring cabaret to people everywhere. Critically acclaimed as an artist of 'dignified passion' by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, her warm, contralto voice has moved and delighted audiences of all ages. Her debut recording A Matinee at the Love Cafe has been called, 'An enchanting and mesmerizing' collection of American, French, and Latin song standards.
In the 2007-08 season, Ms. Alderson debuts her new show Songs of the Little Sparrow celebrating the music and life of Edith Piaf. She continues touring her international cabaret program, An American Girl in Paris, World War II with shows from Atlantic City to the southern states. Her latest release, Songs from the Heart, a collection of love songs through the centuries is a project conceived and recorded live at Heinz Memorial Chapel in Pittsburgh.
Daphne made her celebrated New York cabaret debut performing her show Songs & Chansons. Since then, she has toured throughout the Northeastern Region in cabaret and classical venues. Ms. Alderson was a featured artist at the Center for American Music and the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh. She has recorded American and French song standards for public broadcast on WQED-FM Pittsburgh, and performed at the prestigious Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut.
This year's performances encompass Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Pergolesi's and Vivaldi's Stabat Mater, opera outreach programs with the Pittsburgh Opera, recitals with Steinway Artist, Yeeha Chiu, Chamber Music at the Frick Museum also Yeeha Chiu, guitarist John Marcinizyn, and cellist Elisa Kohanski. The 2007-08 season brings concerts of Bach, Vivaldi, and the chamber works of Schumann, Brahms and Mahler. As Artist in Residence, Daphne with guitarist John Marcinizyn tour through Central and Latin America and the Caribbean Islands for the University of Virginia Seminar at Sea. As a concert artist, she has performed in New York at Avery Fisher Hall and Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. and various arts organizations and churches throughout the United States, Canada, and Italy. She has toured with Chatham Baroque and performed at the Bach Aria Festival in Stonybrook, New York.
Daphne's most recent appearances include the role of The Sorcoress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneus with the much acclaimed Chatham Baroque. She tours with Pittsburgh Opera in opera improvisation. Other roles include Desiree in Sondheim's A Little Night Music with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor in Pittsburgh and Wheeling, Handel's Messiah with the Westmoreland Symphony and many orchestras throughout the Northeast Region. She recently toured Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle in Washington D.C. and Maryland. A champion of new music, Ms. Alderson has premiered many new works, among them Michael Moricz's O Sapienza and Elegy, Luke Mayernik's Requiem, Albert Tiberio's Black Granite for the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Pittsburgh premiere of Enrique Ubieta's Cuban Mass.
Her opera credits include Central City, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera North, Berks Grand Opera and the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, among others. Her roles include Hansel, Purcell's Sorcoress, Nicklausse, Isabella, Rosina, Orfeo, Lucretia, Suzuki, and Maddalena, as well as various Handelian roles.
She presently resides in Pittsburgh with her husband, classical guitarist and composer, John Marcinizyn and serves on the music faculty at Seton-Hill University.
