Allyson Devenish

Allyson Devenish grew up in Ottawa, Canada where she began her musical career, studying piano and violin privately, at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. She completed her undergraduate studies at Oberlin College (Ohio, USA), receiving a B.Mus. and B.A., and her postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music. 

Allyson is the Artistic Director of NitroVox, and Co-artistic Director of the burgeoning Femmes Noires Féroces. She has recorded for the BBC, CBC, Radio France and RTE1 (Eire) and appeared as a guest on BBC R3 - Building A Library, Record Review, and in a live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall. Her performance schedule has taken her to France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada (Banff Centre, Koerner Hall, National Arts Centre), US, Caribbean and throughout the United Kingdom (including Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Snape Maltings) 

As former Artistic Associate and Music Director with Nitro (Black Theatre Co-Op), she worked on projects such as Mass Carib (Lord Mayor’s Festival, Greenwich Festival, Hackney Empire), An Evening of Soul Food/African Cargo (Greenwich Theatre) and the acclaimed UK tour of Desert Boy. As the creative and directive force behind NitroVoX, she has directed the a cappella group in performances at the Bath Literature Festival (To Kill A Mockingbird), London Literature Festival (A Celebration of Maya Angelou) as well as recording for BBC Radio 4 (The Fisk Jubilee Singers). 

She has served as music director on countless other productions including the premiere of Looking At The Sun (Battersea Arts Centre), Kismet (Arcola), assisting on King, The Musical (Hackney Empire), Porgy and Bess (Lisbon), as well as productions and recordings for Tangle International, and LUNG Theatre. She made her stage directing début in 2022 with The Pocket (Melissa Jo Smith - Theatre Peckham).

Allyson is a vocal coach with The National Opera Studio and guest tutor at Book, Music and Lyrics (www.bookmusicandlyrics.com). She was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022.