Allison DeSalvo
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Artist Educator
Children's Songs & Stories
Celebrating Beauty Nature Life |
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ARTIST STATEMENT
I have always loved to sing. When I was a child I would climb the trees in front of our house in San Francisco and sing while imagining a whole other world above the ground. My mother once told me that she never worried because my voice could always be heard reassuringly nearby. Songs were the natural accompaniment to my playing and dancing around the neighborhood. Embedded into my memory is the feeling of happiness that comes from singing songs to my hearts delight made up in the moment. A spontaneous fusion of melodies and words is often how songs come to me still all these years later. From these early experiences came the instinctive knowledge that music and life are deeply connected.
My music is a celebration of life, of our relationship to each other and the natural wonders of our world. Music is a gift to be shared. My songs are dedicated to cultivating appreciation, sparking connections, and raising awareness about the the joy of the creative arts, caring about our environment and animals, and the lessons we can learn about ourselves in relationship to it all. I wish for all the “little one’s” that the music invites their interest and unique creative responses. Nurturing their love of the arts gives all children myriad and magical ways to express themselves and shine their light as they grow.
World of Song (WOS) acknowledges the universality of music and how deeply it touches us through different genres and styles and from many cultures. There is the sense of music in the air. But perhaps most important to me is the inner 'world' - within ourselves and within a song - filled with layers of sounds, stories, colors, movement, rhythms, emotions and ideas to learn about and experience with all our senses. This whole inner world, in all it's variety of expression, is what I wish to illuminate through my work.
Songwriting Awards
"It's A Beautiful World" is Allison's second album to be released October 4th, 2021.
"Happiness Is All Around You" her first CD of children’s music, features an eclectic and colorful collection of traditional and original songs. It received the Children’s Music Web Award in 2002 voted on by kids, and the title track “Happiness Is All Around You” won Honorable Mention in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition.
Testimonials
ARTIST BIO HIGHLIGHTS
Allison’s began as an aspiring ballerina at the age of three receiving her early training in dance, theater and music while growing up in San Francisco. She studied at the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Ballet and took private voice lessons. She went on to complete her formal training at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, earning her a BFA in Drama. She completed courses in music at the Mannes School of Music’s Extension Division.
NYU catapulted Allison’s career into the professional arena where she performed in numerous music-theater productions Off-Broadway, regionally and in Europe. Productions included incarnations of Amphigorey based on the writings and drawings of Edward Gorey. Her characterizations met with critical acclaim. Allison was an original cast member in the Obie-winning, New York production of Hamletmachine, directed by Robert Wilson, going on to join a seven-city European tour which included London, Paris, and Madrid. Working again with international, avante-guard theater and opera director Robert Wilson, she performed the non-singing title role in his experimental staging of Salome at the renowned opera house La Scala in Milan, Italy that starred Monserrat Caballe.
As a classically trained singer, Allison sang the role of the step-sister, Neomie, in the Music Theater Group’s Cinderella-Cendrillon, Anne Bogart’s semi-classical adaptation starring Lauren Flannigan and Joyce Castle. Other credits include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, The Pirates of Penzance, as Musetta in a concert production of La Boheme and First Lady in The Magic Flute. She has sung in recitals at the Aspen Music Festival, in Italy and NY City.
During her 16 year career as a professional actor and singer, Allison also began teaching and performing for children, formerly founding World of Song as a platform for her music and artistic vision of nurturing children's connection to the creative arts as seeds that would support their growth and life long learning.
More About Allison & World of Song
“Allison has contagious enthusiasm, creative spirit and a beautiful singing voice. She is inspiring, innovative and capable of making wonderful things happen with a large group of people.”
-Toni Wisti Davilevsky – M.S.Ed. Retired Early Childhood Educator and Adjunct Lecturer Brooklyn College, Former Coordinator - Discovery Programs Recreational Toddler Center, NYC
Allison’s began as an aspiring ballerina at the age of three receiving her early training in dance, theater and music while growing up in San Francisco. She studied at the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Ballet and took private voice lessons. She went on to complete her formal training at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, earning her a BFA in Drama. She completed courses in music at the Mannes School of Music’s Extension Division.
NYU catapulted Allison’s career into the professional arena where she performed in numerous music-theater productions Off-Broadway, regionally and in Europe. Productions included incarnations of Amphigorey based on the writings and drawings of Edward Gorey. Her characterizations met with critical acclaim. Allison was an original cast member in the Obie-winning, New York production of Hamletmachine, directed by Robert Wilson, going on to join a seven-city European tour which included London, Paris, and Madrid. Working again with international, avante-guard theater and opera director Robert Wilson, she performed the non-singing title role in his experimental staging of Salome at the renowned opera house La Scala in Milan, Italy that starred Monserrat Caballe.
As a classically trained singer, Allison sang the role of the step-sister, Neomie, in the Music Theater Group’s Cinderella-Cendrillon, Anne Bogart’s semi-classical adaptation starring Lauren Flannigan and Joyce Castle. Other credits include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, The Pirates of Penzance, as Musetta in a concert production of La Boheme and First Lady in The Magic Flute. She has sung in recitals at the Aspen Music Festival, in Italy and NY City.
During her 16 year career as a professional actor and singer, Allison also began teaching and performing for children, formerly founding World of Song as a platform for her music and artistic vision of nurturing children's connection to the creative arts as seeds that would support their growth and life long learning.
More About Allison & World of Song
“Allison has contagious enthusiasm, creative spirit and a beautiful singing voice. She is inspiring, innovative and capable of making wonderful things happen with a large group of people.”
-Toni Wisti Davilevsky – M.S.Ed. Retired Early Childhood Educator and Adjunct Lecturer Brooklyn College, Former Coordinator - Discovery Programs Recreational Toddler Center, NYC