Soprano Allison Cecilia Arends is a graduate of Calgary Opera's Emerging Artist Program, and received her Masters of Music at the University of Toronto Opera School and her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Victoria. Her various teachers and mentors have included W. Stephen Smith, Mary Morrison, Timothy Noble, Wendy Nielsen, Selena James, Alexandra Browning, Diana Woolrich, and Norma Bertsch.

Allison has taught private voice and theory for almost 20 years and takes a great deal of joy in imparting her musical knowledge to students from various musical backgrounds of all age groups. Her students have been accepted into many prestigious programs, including the Royal Northern College of Music, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the University of Western Ontario, Wilfred Laurier University, York University, the Randolph Academy for the Arts, the Etobicoke School for the Arts, Cardinal Carter School for the Arts, Claude Watson Secondary Arts Program, Acting Upstage, the Stratford summer training program, Cowtown Opera Summer Academy, Long Reach Opera Workshop, Ontario's Provincial Choir, the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, Shoestring Opera, and the Toronto Children's Bach Choir. Professionally, her students have been engaged by the Stratford Festival, Netflix, the Thursford touring ensemble in the U.K, and various orchestras, opera and musical theatre companies, and touring ensembles. She also enjoys working with artists from various singing traditions and has worked with sing/songwriters to hone their craft, as well as a member of the well-known Canadian folk/rock band, The Strumbellas. She has conducted public masterclasses, educational workshops, and vocal/choral clinics for the music department at the University of Mississippi, Opera Atelier, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Saskatchewan Music Festival, the British Columbia Provincial Music Festival, Ryerson Oakham House Choir, the Grand Prairie Registered Music Teachers' Association, the voice studio of Diana Woolrich in Regina, the Regina Conservatory of Music, and the Edna Manley Music College in Kingston, Jamaica. She has adjudicated on various occasions for the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association, as well as the British Columbia Provincial Music Festival, the National Association of Teachers of Singing's Ontario auditions, Yip Music Festival, and festivals throughout Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, and British Columbia. She is a member of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers' Association, the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association, and holds the position of Urban Teacher Liaison for the Ontario Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing. Allison was formerly a member of the voice faculty at St. Michael's Choir School and Timothy Eaton Memorial's choir school. A Royal Conservatory of Music Certified Teacher, Allison is also a member of the College of Examiners.

Active as a performer, she has been engaged by the Southern Ontario Lyric Opera, Opera York, Tapestry New Opera, Soundstreams, the Aldeburgh Connection, Toronto Summer Music, Winnipeg's Women's Musical Club, Saskatoon Opera, the Arts and Letters Club, Chorus Niagara, Pax Christi Chorale, Toronto Concert Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia, Toronto Classical Singers, Calgary Civic Symphony, Regina Symphony Orchestra, Tallis Choir, Regina Musical Club, and Regina Philharmonic Chorus, among others, for solo opera and concert appearances. Internationally, Allison has toured with the Brahms Symphonie Orchester throughout Germany and China, and has sung with the Bachakademie (Germany), the Aldeburgh Festival (England), the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, the International Vocal Arts Institute (Israel), and the Franz Schubert-Institut (Austria).