Alison Acord

Educational Credentials

• DMA, Vocal Performance, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
• Artist Diploma, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
• M.M., Vocal Performance, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
• B.M., Vocal Performance, Baylor University

Biography

Alison Acord, DMA, is a Teaching Professor of Voice and the 2025 recipient of the Crossan Hays Curry Award for distinguished teaching. She serves as Coordinator of the Voice Area and teaches voice and vocal pedagogy. Alison also serves as the advisor for the Miami Chapter of the Student NATS organization.

Alison has been heard in more than 40 operatic roles in the United States and abroad and has received critical acclaim as the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos. Her operatic repertoire encompasses other roles such as Lady Billows in Albert Herring, the Mother in Hänsel und Gretel, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Mimì in La Bohème, Micaëla in Carmen, La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. Alison has also been heard as a soloist in orchestra concerts both in the United States and Europe in Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Ravel’s Shehèrazade, Marquez’s Aforismos, and in Fikret Amirov's A Thousand and One Nights. Alison has received prestigious grant awards in the United States and Europe for championing the work of living composers. The International School of Performing Arts, The Recording Industries' Music Performance Trust Fund, Grismer Fine Arts Fund, Havighurst Center for Russian and Post Studies, and Doblinger Publishers Wien have all funded her performances and lectures on composers living and writing art song in the United States, Moldova, Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Russia, Great Britain, and Austria.

Alison has taught on the faculty of Miami University of Ohio since 1999. A native of Houston, Texas, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Baylor University. As a Corbett Scholar, Alison earned her Master’s, Artist Diploma, and Doctorate degrees in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. While a student at CCM, Alison was a student of Barbara Honn’s and worked with her for many years, later organizing teaching seminars throughout the United States.

Alison's students are highly regarded and enjoy great success. They have been heard in international opera and musical theater venues around the world, including Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera. They routinely place as finalists and winners in a variety of regional and international competitions and have regularly participated in professional summer music festivals and young artist programs, such as International Meistersinger Akademie, Julliard, Chautauqua, Verbier Festival, Spoleto, and Tanglewood. Since 2016, Alison has taught voice for the Schmidt Vocal Institute for talented high school singers, and since 2009, for the American Institute of Musical Studies AIMS in Graz, Austria. An active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Alison has served as Vice President, President, and District Governor for Ohio.