First Prize Winner of the 2024 Pasadena Vocal Competition, mezzo-soprano Erin Alford is quickly making a name for herself on the operatic, concert, and recital stage. In the 2026-2027 season, Erin returns to some of her favorite companies: The Glimmerglass Festival as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Gertie Cummings in Oklahoma!; LA Opera for Francesca Zambello's beloved production of Candide; Pensacola Opera for their Jukebox Gala; and the BCCM Symphony for her debut of Verdi's Requiem. Last season, Erin made her principal debut at LA Opera as Neferneferuaten in the arresting Phelim McDermott production of Philip Glass's Akhnaten, made her Carnegie Hall debut as the Mezzo Soloist in Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music, jumped in on 24-hours notice to cover Mrs. Noye in LA Opera's production of Britten's Noye's Fludde with Mo. Conlon at the helm, reprised Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with The Muses Project, made her role debut as the beloved Romeo in Bellini's i Capuleti e i Montecchi with Opera Italia. 

In the 2024-2025 season, Erin sang Effie and covered Augusta in The Ballad of Baby Doe with The Opera Buffs, portrayed Agata in the rarely-performed bel canto comedy Don Bucefalo with Pacific Opera Project, returned to Pensacola Opera to make her role debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and covered Yvonne/Betty in Sunday in the Park with George at The Glimmerglass Festival. For her appearance as Agata, Erin was praised by Opera News for bringing "real bel canto craft" to the role. In the 2023-24 season, Erin appeared as Berenice in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro with Opera Southwest, in performances in LA Opera Connects outreach production Orpheus, in recital Words of Women in American Song with the Ebell of Los Angeles, as Alto Soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Pacific Opera Project and First Church Miami, and in concert with the Palm Springs Opera Guild. In 2024, Erin also earned First Prize in the Pasadena Vocal Competition and Fifth Prize in the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition.

​In the 2022-23 season, she joined Florida Grand Opera as a Studio Artist, where she was seen as Fidalma in El matrimonio secreto, La Ciesca in a double-bill of Gianni Schicchi & Buoso’s Ghost, and covered Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Erin’s performance of Fidalma was lauded as “statuesque and spunky,” and she was praised for her “powerful mezzo” and for “exhibit[ing] the best sense of classical style in the cast” (South Florida Classical Review). In the 2021-22 season, Erin performed Second Woman and Dido cover in Dido and Aeneas with Opera San José, returned to Pensacola Opera as Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and joined Opera Santa Barbara as a Chrisman Studio Artist, covering Hannah After in As One and performing song cycle The Starry Night with renowned American composer Jake Heggie at the piano. Additionally, Erin was named a 2022 Tennessee District Winner in The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. ​

In the competition circuit, Erin has won prizes in the Pasadena Vocal Competition, Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, and the NATS-LA Gwendolyn Roberts Young Artist Auditions.  

A passionate interpreter of art song, Erin enjoys programming and sharing intimate recitals. Recent recitals include Words of Women in American Song featuring all American songs with text by women (including Argento's From the Diary of Virginia Woolf and songs by Bernstein, Copland, and Margaret Bonds), Songs of Fantasy & Wonder at The Bowers Museum, and Frau: Love 'em and Leave 'em, a recital of all women composers and poets juxtaposed against Schumann's famous Frauenliebe und Leben, all with Erin's brilliant friend and collaborator Dr. Clara Cheng Stosch.

Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Erin has recently appeared with MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall, the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. Erin has also sung Ravel's Shéhérazade with the CSULB Symphony as winner of the Vocal Concerto Competition, as well as performed as Alto Soloist in Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass, and Bach's Magnificat and B Minor Mass. (www.erinalford.com)