ALICE CHUNG
MEZZO-SOPRANO
BIOGRAPHY
American mezzo-soprano Alice Chung is rapidly being recognized for her "operatic tonal glamour" (parterre box) and being “a force of nature with a sound both powerful and appealing” (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Last season, Ms. Chung made role debuts as Amneris in Aida with Boston Lyric Opera, Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti with Annapolis Opera, the title role in Carmen with Hawai'i Opera Theatre, and Mother in the world premiere of Fearless with Opera Delaware. She reprised her roles of the Ox and the Pig in The Big Swim, this time with Asia Society Texas in Houston. She also joined the Modesto Symphony for her first Verdi Requiem. Additional concert work included Messiah with the Syracuse Orchestra as well as Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat with the Dream Orchestra LA. This season, Ms. Chung joins Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Arizona Opera as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She will also join Pittsburgh Festival Opera as Laura Adorna in La Gioconda and Opera Roanoke for a gala concert, singing excerpts from Thaïs as Albine and Madama Butterfly as Suzuki.
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A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Chung has also performed with Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Role credits include La Zia PriRecently, Ms. Chung had a celebrated house debut with Boston Lyric Opera as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, after which Opera News declared her “one of America’s most gifted young singers.” She returned to Hawai’i Opera Theatre in An American Dream and debuted with Houston Grand Opera in the world premiere of The Big Swim. She also joined Boston Modern Orchestra Project for Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 and Out of the Box Opera to sing the Principessa in Suor Angelica. On the concert stage, Ms. Chung enjoyed a return engagement with the U.S. Naval Academy in Handel’s Messiah, accompanied by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Previous engagements included a house and role debut at Hawai’i Opera Theatre as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, covering the role of Granny Jia in Dream of the Red Chamber in San Francisco Opera’s co-production with the Hong Kong Arts Festival, along with a return to cover the role of Suzuki, and house debuts with Arizona Opera as the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte and La mort in Le rossignol with West Edge Opera.
A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Chung has also performed with Tulsa Opera, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Role credits include La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Ježibaba in Rusalka, Die Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, Larina in Eugene Onegin, and Mariana in Luisa Fernanda. On the concert stage, she has sung with the Kansas City Symphony, Bucks County Symphony, and the Naples Philharmonic at Artis-Naples. Concert credits include Duruflé’s Requiem, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, and Beethoven’s Fantasia and Mass in C Major.
As a two-time alum of the prestigious Merola Opera Program, Ms. Chung garnered acclaim from San Francisco audiences for her excerpted portrayals of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Augusta Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Azucena in Il trovatore, which parterre box praised for its “riveting dramatic intensity.” The San Francisco Chronicle lauded Ms. Chung’s Gertrude in Hamlet as “ringing, magisterial.” She returned for her Schwabacher Recital debut, presented by the Merola Opera Program in conjunction with San Francisco Opera and has continued to perform recitals in the Bay Area since. A lover of collaboration and chamber music, Ms. Chung has premiered new works alongside standard literature.
Ms. Chung has been an honored recipient of numerous grants as well as a winner of various competitions including, the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation Award, Cooper-Bing Competition, Shoshana Foundation, the Loren L. Zachary Society Competition, and the National Vocal Competition by the Young Patronesses of the Opera. She has also won awards through the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition, Opera Index, Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, Orpheus Vocal Competition, Pasadena Opera Guild, Chautauqua Opera Guild, the Metropolitan National Council Auditions.
As the artistic director and co-founder of the arts and advocacy initiative Wear Yellow Proudly, Ms. Chung works to raise awareness of Asian and AAPI narratives and culture by showcasing and celebrating Asian art and artists worldwide.
Current as of September 1, 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... one of America's most gifted young singers..." – Opera News
Madama Butterfly – Academy of Vocal Arts graduate Alice Chung - one of America's most gifted young singers - sounded wonderful as Suzuki; as Christa Ludwig...one could have followed the whole tragedy through her impassioned performance.
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"...the voice rings out with grandeur..." – Parterre
Il trovatore – Here, she sang Azucena’s “Condotta ell’era in ceppi” with an actual feel for the score’s intricacies—it is bel canto, as you said—and a riveting dramatic intensity. in a long and famously outlandish melodramatic narrative, every word and emotion had specificity and punch, and the voice rings out with grandeur.
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"...commanding the stage..." – OperaWire
Madama Butterfly – Another graceful surprise was Alice Chung’s Suzuki... Chung’s mezzo tone is rich in lower harmonics, especially in the medium range of the voice. She is perfectly capable of commanding the stage in the most dramatic moments of the opera, especially in the final act. She is efficiently lyrical and tender when necessary.
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"...ringing, magisterial performance..." – San Francisco Chronicle
Hamlet – “Hamlet” is a tough sell musically, but on this occasion it had a formidable advocate in the person of mezzo-soprano Alice Chung, whose ringing, magisterial performance as Gertrude — abetted by baritone Timothy Murray in the title role – lent Thomas’ limp score a soaring grandeur it might otherwise have lacked.