American dramatic coloratura soprano Michelle Allie Drever commands the stage with a rare fusion of agility, power, and emotional intensity. The Almanac praised her for “the most delicious singing,” noting her “high pianissimos that seem to still the air around her.” Recent triumphs include Amina in La sonnambula (West Bay Opera) and Nedda in Pagliacci (Opera Festival of Chicago). She has brought to life such heroines as Violetta (La Traviata), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), and Tosca (Tosca), with companies including Opera Mississippi, Pocket Opera, Opera Birmingham, Pacific Opera Project, and Miami Lyric Opera.

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A fiercely committed singer-actor, Ms. Drever is steadily gaining recognition as a “force of nature” on stage — hailed as “the rare combination of actor/singer for whom opera was intended but all too seldom found” (Splash Magazine). She holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she created the role of La Condesa in the world premiere of Juana by Carla Lucero. In 2024, she reunited with Lucero for another world premiere, portraying famed American icon Anne Sullivan — a role written expressly for her — in touch, an opera based on the life of Helen Keller, at Opera Birmingham.

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Ms. Drever’s repertoire spans the breadth of the Western musical canon — from classical to bel canto to verismo — as well as modern opera and the Great American Songbook. An alumna of the Renata Scotto Opera Academy under the direction of the late Renata Scotto, she recently made her debut as a solo recording artist on Navona Records, now available on all major streaming platforms. She stars in a short film of an aria featured on the album — entitled "Sin Voz" — jointly released by Vox Visceralis and Parma Recordings. 

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In February 2026, Ms. Drever will make her debut at the historic Pasadena Playhouse as Katherina Cavalieri in Amadeus, a visionary production directed by Tony Award-winner Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) that reimagines the play to include live operatic excerpts performed by a soprano — a rarity in nearly all Amadeus stage productions.

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A native of Northern California, Ms. Drever currently makes her home in Los Angeles, a second-generation Italian American whose roots reach across the Atlantic to Sicily's shores.