soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
singer,
actress
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
and
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
performer. She has performed in operas in the United Kingdom, in Australia and in New Zealand. Her cabaret performances have been seen at festivals in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.
Career
McGregor, who was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, studied music at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
before completing her
Bachelor of Music
A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...
at the
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...
in Manchester, England as a Peter Moores Scholar. Her first lead role was playing Polly Peachum in
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, comedian and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...
's production of ''
The Beggar's Opera
''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...
'' at
Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Shadwell, built as a music hall and now run as a multi-arts performance space in Graces Alley, off Cable Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is one of very few surviving music ...
in London. She went on to present ''La Traviata – Live from Paris'' for
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
alongside
Howard Goodall
Howard Lindsay Goodall (; born 26 May 1958) is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was name ...
in 2000.
McGregor was then lured back to Australia by
Simone Young
Simone Margaret Young AM (born 2 March 1961) is an Australian conductor and academic teacher. She is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Biography and career
Young was born in Sydney, of Irish ancestry on her father' ...
to be one of her first Young Artists for
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...
. She became a principal soprano with
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...
from 2000 until 2005. She played various roles including Zerlina in ''
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'', Papagena in ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...
'', Marzellina in ''
Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...
'', Yum Yum in ''
The Mikado
''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...
'', Adele in ''
Die Fledermaus
' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874.
Background
The original literary source for ' was ...
'', Ninetta in ''
The Love for Three Oranges
', Op. 33, is a 1921 satirical French-language opera by Sergei Prokofiev. He wrote his own libretto, basing it on the Italian play '' L'amore delle tre melarance'', or ''The Love for Three Oranges'' ( ''Lyubov k tryom apyelsinam'') by Carlo Goz ...
'', The Plaintiff in ''
Trial by Jury
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial, in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions.
Jury trials are increasingly used ...
'' and Clorinda in ''
La Cenerentola
("Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant") is an operatic in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera '' Cendrillon'' with music by Nico ...
'' for which she won a
Green Room Award
The Green Room Awards are Australian peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, theatre companies, independent theatre, musical theatre, contemporary and experimental performance, and opera. The awards, which were established in ...
in 2003. She also performed Zerlina for
New Zealand Opera
New Zealand Opera is New Zealand's only full-time professional opera company, formed in 2000 from the merger of companies in Auckland and Wellington (and later Christchurch). New Zealand Opera is headquartered in Parnell, New Zealand, Parnell, Au ...
in 2005.
In 2018, McGregor developed the operatic cabaret ''Lorelei'' based on the myth of the sirens on a rock above the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
who lured sailors to their death. The production which featured McGregor, Dimity Shepherd and
Antoinette Halloran
Antoinette Halloran is an Australian operatic soprano.
Education
Antoinette Halloran grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Rosanna and Deer Park.Victorian Opera (Melbourne)
Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill a ...
and travelled to
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981 under the name ''Lyric Opera of Queensland'' after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in ...
in 2020.
The Opera Burlesque
In 2005 McGregor created the show "The Opera Burlesque" to introduce more people to opera. She was joined by
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
Dimity Shepherd and soprano
Antoinette Halloran
Antoinette Halloran is an Australian operatic soprano.
Education
Antoinette Halloran grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Rosanna and Deer Park.The Famous Spiegeltent in Melbourne and later at the
Adelaide Fringe Festival
Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...
. She then took the show to the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
in 2006 with soprano Catherine Friel and mezzo-soprano Jacqueline Tate. They performed at the Spiegeltent and later at the
Gilded Balloon
Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.
The company has its origins in a venue kno ...
in 2007. They also performed at Lost Vagueness at the
Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...
and
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
Her solo shows ''Midnight Lullabies and Evergreens'' also debuted at The Famous Spiegeltent as well as playing at The Butterfly Club in Melbourne and at
Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. In this show she played the
autoharp
An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...
(which has since become her trademark instrument) and was accompanied by the percussionist Ben Hendry. She was a regular member of the Spiegletent's "La Clique – a Sideshow Burlesque" in the
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and Adelaide festivals and at the Edinburgh Fringe from 2005 to 2008.
Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night
Her variety show ''Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night'' has become a fixture at The
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...
; guests include
Hamish & Andy
Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. Best known for their various drive time radio programmes on the Hit Network, which aired in multiple formats until 2017, their shows gained consistently ...
,
Danny Bhoy
Danny Bhoy (born Danni Chaudhry on 16 January 1975) is a Scottish comedian who has performed in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the United States.
Early life
Bhoy was born in Moffat, Scotland, as one of four ...
,
Tim Minchin
Timothy David Minchin Order of Australia#Levels of membership, AM (born 7 October 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, musician, poet, composer, and songwriter.
Minchin has released six CDs, five DVDs, and live comedy shows that he ...
,
Eddie Perfect
Edmund Perfect (born 17 December 1977) is an Australian musician, comedian, writer and actor.
Widely known for his role as Mick Holland in Channel Ten's TV series ''Offspring'' in which he performs his own music, he has recorded solo albums an ...
,
Julia Zemiro
Julia Zemiro () (born 14 April 1967) is a French-born Australian television presenter, radio host, actress, singer, writer and comedian. She is best known as the host of the music quiz and live performance show ''RocKwiz''. Zemiro is a fluent E ...
and Rima the Itty-bitty Belly-dancer. In 2007 it debuted at Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Gilded Balloon. In 2009 she hosted the show at the
Assembly Rooms
In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...
. Her guests included
Jimmy Carr
James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is an Irish-British comedian, presenter, writer and actor. He is known for his rapid-fire deadpan delivery of One-line joke, one-liners. He began his comedy career in 1997, and he has regula ...
,
Simon Amstell
Simon Marc Amstell (born 29 November 1979) is an English comedian, writer and director. He wrote and directed the films '' Carnage'' (2017) and ''Benjamin'' (2018). His work on television has included presenting '' Popworld'' and '' Never Mind t ...
,
Adam Hills
Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...
,
Robin Ince
Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He is known for presenting the BBC radio show '' The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox, creating Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, co-creatin ...
,
Frisky & Mannish
Frisky & Mannish is a British musical comedy double act, created and performed by singer Laura Corcoran and pianist-singer Matthew Floyd Jones. Known for their pop music parodies, the duo have toured the fringe festival and comedy festival cir ...
,
Dusty Limits
Mark McInnes, professionally known as Dusty Limits is an Australian-born cabaret singer and comedian based in the United Kingdom, and one of the leading figures on the "new cabaret" scene.
Biography
Innes is from Brisbane, Queensland, Australi ...
Pete Firman
Peter "Pete" Firman (born 26 April 1980) is an English magician, comedian, television presenter and actor.
He has appeared in magic shows on BBC1, ITV, Channel 4, Five, and Sky1. He was also the presenter of two game shows on CBBC: ''St ...
, Lady Carol,
The Pajama Men
The Pajama Men are an American comedy duo composed of Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez.
They began performing together as Sabotage, creating shows including ''Sabotage 2001'' and ''In Fine Form.'' Around 2004, they changed their name to The Pajama ...
,
Wil Anderson
William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster.
Early life
William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...
Tim Key
Timothy Key (born 2 September 1976) is an English poet, comedian, actor and screenwriter. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, both as a solo act and as part of the comedy group Cowards (comedy troupe), Cowards, and plays Alan Pa ...
. She also performed on
Frank Skinner
Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), known professionally as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...
's ''Credit Crunch Cabaret'',
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''4 at the Fringe'' and ''
Nicholas Parsons
Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show ''Just a Minute'' and hosted the game show '' S ...
' Happy Hour'' at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Acting
As an actress, McGregor has appeared in various TV commercials in the UK for companies including Norwich Union, BBC, Eircell, Pontiac Grand Prix, Bliss Jewellery and BN Biscuits. She has also appeared as Polly Peachum/Grace Madden for the
Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...
and the
Out of Joint Theatre Company
Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in London. It specializes in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions.
It was founded in 1993 by direct ...
directed by
Max Stafford-Clark
Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark (born 17 March 1941) is a British theatre director.
Life and career
Stafford-Clark was born in Cambridge, the son of David Stafford-Clark, a physician, and Dorothy Crossley (née Oldfield). H ...
which played in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and then went on to tour the UK in 2009.
Other work
McGregor was an occasional guest panellist on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' which was hosted by her husband
Adam Hills
Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...
.
Personal life
McGregor is married to Australian comedian Adam Hills. They have 2 daughters.
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
is an annual ceremony presented by
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...
(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the
music of Australia
The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...
. They commenced in 1987.
!
, -
,
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, Ali McGregor's Jazzamatazz
,
Best Children's Album
The Grammy Award for Best Children's Album (from 2020: Grammy Award for Best Children's Music Album) is an honor presented since 2012 at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Hono ...
Melbourne Opera
Melbourne Opera was founded in 2002 as a charitable not-for-profit company dedicated to producing opera and associated art forms in Melbourne, Australia. With philanthropic assistance it has also toured to outer-suburban and regional Victorian t ...