Cincinnati-based Mezzo-Soprano Lauren McAllister recently performed the role of Marta in Queen City Opera’s production of Iolanta, Madame de Volanges in Conrad Susa’s The Dangerous Liaisons with Vegas City Opera, and in Conspirare’s premiere of Joby Talbot’s Piedra de Sol. Lauren recently joined Detroit-based choral ensemble Audivi for their performances of Messiah with Baroque instruments, premiered composer Ben Owen’s reimagined 24 Italian Art Songs and Arias this past year, and with Conspirare, she premiered and recorded Mark Buller’s 2026 Grammy®-nominated Requiem in the Light. This season, Lauren will perform Alto solos in Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and premiere works with ensembles in New York and Seattle (details to be announced soon).

Lauren performs regularly with Conspirare, the Bach Ensemble of Saint Thomas, Heri et Hodie, and she recently joined the rosters of New York City-based ensemble Choral Chameleon and Cincinnati’s New Downbeat. She is an artist on five Grammy®-nominated albums for Best Choral Performance.

Operatic highlights include Vesta in the world premiere of Fierce by William Menefield and librettist Sheila Williams (Cincinnati Opera), Queen of the Virtues in Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum (Collegium Cincinnati), Laura (Iolanta, Queen City Opera), Lazuli (l'Étoile, Sin City Opera), Melanto (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Opera Louisiane), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus, Undercroft Opera), Courtier and Maid cover (The Witches of Venice, Opera Saratoga), and La Perichole (title role, Sin City Opera). As a soloist, Lauren has performed a variety of Bach cantatas with the Bach Ensemble of Saint Thomas and the Bach Society of Dayton, appeared in staged productions of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Bach’s Saint John Passion, and debuted with the Lubbock Symphony for their Chamber Sound! Series with works by Jennifer Jolley and David T. Little. Other notable appearances as a soloist include the Bach Ascension Oratorio, BWV 1083, and Bach’s B Minor Mass, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Fern Hill (Corigliano), A Child of Our Time (Tippett), Ode to Common Things (Ratcliff), Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson, and the US premiere of the Telemann Brockes Passion.

Lauren earned her Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), in the studio of Karen Lykes. While at CCM, Lauren performed as the alto soloist in a staged production of the Bach St. John Passion, sang the role of Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), and covered the role of Lazuli (l'Etoile). Lauren holds a Bachelor's degree in Voice Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Robert McIver. She performed the roles of Aunt Emma (Hin und Zurück) and Rosine (Signor Deluso), and was a finalist in the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition (2012).