Music is everything
It’s hard for Allison Sanders to remember a time when she wasn’t singing.
From the gospel choir at her mother’s church in Ensley to any stranger who would stop and listen, Sanders always knew she wanted to perform for others.
“My mom, growing up, would be like, ‘Allison, be quiet!’ And I’d say, ‘What? I’m not even doing anything.’ [I was] singing in the house just constantly,” Sanders said. “I always wanted to be a singer. There was never any other profession.”
She was 15 and living in Memphis when she discovered opera. It put Sanders on the path to attend the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal studies and a master’s degree in opera.
“I did everything, and opera I came to last, and it was just great,” Sanders said.
Sanders, who moved to Homewood in late 2015, said she enjoys everything about singing opera, including the different languages and the lack of a microphone on stage. The drama and the chance to play different characters is also a lot of fun, though Sanders said with a laugh that she’s not good at the dancing occasionally required.
“Everybody can relate to [opera]. You really can. If you’ve ever been in love, been cheated on,” Sanders said. “All of it [is] right there in opera, in a really dramatic tied-up bow.”
Since returning to the Birmingham area, Sanders still travels to Philadelphia to sing but also has performed with Opera Birmingham. She was one of the grand opening performers when the Lyric Theatre reopened in January, and in May, she competed in the finals of Opera Birmingham’s annual Vocal Competition. At times, Sanders has performed opera at local bars and schools, just to introduce more people to the genre.
“It doesn’t feel like work. I’m just having a good time,” she said.
As Sanders describes it, most of her hobbies are also music-related. She nannies and teaches voice lessons, but she also sings at open-mic nights and is part of an indie pop band, the Raquel Lily Band. She said the chance to explore different genres helps her bring more to the table as an opera singer and discover “all the various sides of Allison.”
“[Music] is literally everything. I couldn’t imagine my life without it,” Sanders said. “Everyone knows me as Allison the singer.”
Coming back to Birmingham has given her the opportunity to do everything she is interested in, musically speaking, she said.
“It’s been so interesting being back. It’s like a brand-new place for me, but it’s felt like home, which is weird and awesome,” Sanders said. “What better place to do it than where you started?”
Though she has sung in Europe and has the classic dream of performing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Sanders said that being able to make a career out of music is more important than the stage she’s standing on.
“I think if I’m able to make a living singing at wherever, I’ll be completely OK with that. Because it’s not about where you sing. It’s just to be able to do what you love to do,” she said.