Hailed by OPERA NEWS as “delightful”, Ashley Galvani Bell has been performing from an early age, starting at age 9 as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and making her Off-Broadway debut at 16 in the world premiere of the musical The Golden Touch.  Ms. Bell has since performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia. This season includes singing with New York City Opera in both a 100 year Puccini Anniversary concert and a workshop of a dance production of Klara, returning to ABAO Bilbao covering both Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème, singing the title role in Pedro Halffter's Penelope's Dream at the Ateneo de Madrid & in Logroño, singing Cio Cio San at Bay Street Theatre and Mimi at McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, and joining Teatro de la Maestranza for La Bella Susona. Highlights of 2023 included her debut with ABAO Bilbao Opera as Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte where ProOpera highlighted her "superabundance of talent", her debut with Teatro Perez Galdos in Gran Canaria, Spain as the title role of Klara, singing Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly with both Bohème Opera New Jersey and Daytona Beach Symphony Society, her debut in Milan, Italy as soprano soloist in Exultate Jubilate with Orchestra UNIMI and Violetta in La Traviata, the title role in the world premiere of Penelope's Dream as well as Soprano soloist in Zemlinsky's Lyrische Symphonie all with Spain's festival Musica en Villafranca.

        In 2022, Ashley made a successful debut with Seville's Teatro de la Maestranza as Violetta in La Traviata, joined ABAO Opera Bilbao in productions of La Voix Humaine and Zemlinsky’s Eine Florentische Tragödie and originated the title role in the world premiere of Pedro Halffter's opera about artificial intelligence Klara in both Spain and Harvard University with Beckmesser citing her “well-colored timbre, full of attractive vocal substance. Other 2022 engagements included Mimí in La Bohème with California’s Opera Modesto, Violetta in La Traviata in La Rioja, Spain with Semana Lirica Lucrecia Arana and Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with both Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid/Titular de Teatro Real and in the Festival de Villafranca del Bierzo and soprano soloist in the new opera/theatrical piece The Shakespeare Riots. In 2021, as in-person performances resumed, she sang one of her signature roles, Elle, in a critically-acclaimed production of La voix humaine both at Spain’s Rioja Forum & Bay Street Theatre.  During the pandemic, Ashley produced and starred in the documentary film Rival Queens featuring music from Maria Stuarda, which has won 19 awards in international film festivals including Best Documentary at Madrid Art Film Festival & Tokyo Film Festival.  Upcoming performances include the title role of Klara in Teatro Perez Galdós in Gran Canaria and Cio Cio San at the Music Hall in New Hampshire. 

      In recent seasons, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soprano soloist in Hadyn’s “Nelson” Mass and Schubert’s Mass in C with MidAmerica Productions, debuted Mímí in La bohème with both Mississippi Opera and Natchez Festival, debuted as the title role in Madama Butterfly with Townsend Opera in California,  sang Donna Anna in a sold-out performance of Don Giovanni at Bay Street Theatre, and made her debut with New York City Opera as a principal artist in Montemezzi's L'Amore dei tre re. Other notable performances have included Anna in Catalani's Lorelei with Teatro Grattacielo, productions of Madama Butterfly and Dialogues of the Carmelites with Sarasota Opera, her debut as Desdemona in Otello with Bay Street Theatre, her debut as Gilda with New Jersey Verismo Opera, Violetta in La Traviata with Mid-Atlantic Opera, Fiordiligi and Donna Anna at the Narnia Festival in Italy with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma, Isabella Colbran in the premiere of Discovering Mrs. Rossini at the Sheen Center in NYC and Norina at the Rioja Forum in Spain where La Rioja called her “unstoppable in her brilliant singing and a true ‘stage animal’ with her hilarious interpretation of Norina/Sofronia”.

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     Fluent in Spanish, Ms. Bell has appeared frequently in zarzuela productions with Rioja Lirica in Spain and New York City, including the lead in Serrano’s La Dolorosa.  She was soprano soloist in the Italian Cultural Institute and Basilica of St. Patrick Old Cathedral’s commemoration of the 175th Anniversary of Lorenzo da Ponte. Other roles include Dorothée in the U.S. premiere of Offenbach’s La bonne d’Enfant with Salome Chamber Orchestra, Molpe in Choreo Theatro’s world premiere of the Odyssey at the 92nd Street Y, Serpina in La serva padrona Off-Broadway and on tour in Arizona, Beauty in Giannini’s Beauty and the Beast, and Katrina in Legend of Sleepy Hollow with Di Capo Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Teatro Lirico D'Europa and Opera New Hampshire, and Adina in L’elisir d’Amore.

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     Other roles have included Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi in Chiari, Italy, Clarina in Rossini's La Cambiale di Matrimonio at the Teatro Sociale in Brescia, Feu and Chauve-Souris in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges as a young artist at the Crested Butte Music Festival, Guadalena in Offenbach’s La Perichole with Opera du Périgord in Thiviers, France, Despina (Cosi Fan Tutte), 1st Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Filia in Carissimi’s Jepthe.

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    Ms. Bell is equally at home in concert and recital. Notable oratorio solos have included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Gainesville Symphony, Handel's Messiah with Performing Arts Center at Purchase under Maestro Byung Kook Kwak, Hadyn's Nelson Mass at St. Bart's Church Park Avenue, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle in the Oratorio Espectacular in Santo Domingo de la Calzada,Spain, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Waterbury Symphony, Faure's Requiem and Schubert's Mass in G at St. Luke's in Darien, CT, and frequent recitals with organ including a performance at Trinity College Vespers under the direction of renowned organist John Rose. 

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Ms. Bell is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University with distinction in Italian and International Studies and speaks five operatic languages fluently.  She is a recipient of Yale’s Browne Irish Performing Arts Award and of a Scholarship Award at the Crested Butte Music Festival.