Ali McGregor

Ali McGregor is an Australian soprano opera singer, actress and cabaret 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.

McGregor, who was born in Melbourne, studied music at the Australian National University before completing her Bachelor of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester as a Peter Moores Scholar. Her first lead role was playing Polly Peachum in Jonathan Miller's production of The Beggar's Opera at Wilton's Music Hall. She went on to present La Traviata – LIve from Paris for Channel 4 alongside Howard Goodall in 2000. She was then lured back to Australia by Simone Young to be one of her first Young Artists for Opera Australia. She became a principal soprano with Opera Australia from 2000 until 2005. She played various roles including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Marzellina in Fidelio, Yum Yum in The Mikado, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Ninetta in The Love for Three Oranges, The Plaintiff in Trial by Jury and Clorinda in La Cenerentola for which she won a Green Room Award in 2003. She also performed Zerlina for New Zealand Opera in 2005.

In 2005 McGregor created the show "The Opera Burlesque" to introduce more people to opera. She was joined by mezzo-soprano Dimity Shepherd and soprano Antoinette Halloran. This show was first performed in The Famous Spiegeltent in Melbourne and later at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. She then took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006 with soprano Catherine Friel and mezzo-soprano Jacqueline Tate. They performed at the Spiegeltent and later at the Gilded Balloon in 2007. They also performed at Lost Vagueness at the Hackney Empire and Glastonbury Festival and Waterford Festival in Ireland.