Alan Cline was born and raised in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia in the town of Wellsburg. He was taken with sound at a very young age and participated in nearly every sort of musical ensemble he could through his high school years. He would then begin his studies at West Liberty University, studying with Dr. Linda Cowan, where he continued to hone his skills as a musician. Although he spent time playing in orchestras, wind ensembles, brass quintets and ensembles, jazz combos and bands, marching and pep bands, and winning awards playing the tuba, Alan found his passion in the performance of vocal music. During his undergraduate years, he won National Association of Teachers of Singing competitions at the state, tri-state, and regional levels. He also was a Alpha Chi National Honors Scholarship Society winner at the national level for his scholarly work and performance of songs from the renaissance of British art song in the 19th century. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2014 with a Bachelors of Music Degree in Vocal Performance.

Alan chose to continue his studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where he studied with Dr. Robert McIver and Jan Opalach. His primary coaches were Benton Hess and Dr. Russell Miller. While attending Eastman, Alan placed in or won every competition that the school had to offer, including the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Prize, Friends of Eastman Opera Competition, Eastman Concerto Competition, and the Graduate Jury Prize. He also made frequent appearances with Eastman Opera Theater including the roles of Mr. Webb in Ned Rorem’s Our Town, Phillip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox, and Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. After completing his degree in 2016, he chose to remain in Rochester for a time performing concerts with Rochester Lyric Opera, the Voices Professional Choir, Nickel City Opera, and others. He also spent the summer of 2016 in California and took part in the NAPA Music Festival under the direction of Juliana Gondek, where he performed the role of The Villians in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffman.

In the fall of 2017, life brought Alan and his Lara back to West Virginia and Wheeling became their new base of operations. Beginning in this time, Alan spent three consecutive summers and one winter in Italy with Si parla, si canta under the direction of Benton Hess. Some highlights of his time there include the title role in Rigoletto and Gianni Schicchi, and scenes programs including Figaro in Barber of Seville, Tonio in Pagliacci, Marcello in La Boheme, and countless others. Also beginning in 2017, Alan hit the competition circuit and began to compete at the highest level with the best and brightest of the opera world today. Some of his most significant accolades include Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition victories in the Pittsburgh District (2017 and 2019,) and a victory at the Great Lakes Region which sent him to the national semi-finals on stage at the Metropolitan Opera (2018.) More recently, Alan was awarded the Erma Cooper Prize and the Dorothy Kirsten/James Browning Most Promising Singer Prize at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards (2022.)

Additional operatic credits include Morales in Carmen with Opera Naples, both the Sacristan in Tosca and Baron Duphol in La Traviata with Finger Lakes Opera, and Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte with Midsummer Night’s Opera. Alan is no stranger to the concert stage as well and is at home standing in front of orchestras of all sizes. He has appeared as a soloist in many performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Verdi’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony and Hodie, Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s B Minor Mass and St. Matthew’s Passion, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Bruckner’s Mass in F, and countless performances of Handel’s Messiah.

When he is not performing, Alan can usually be found with his wife Lara at their home in Wheeling, West Virginia. He maintains a large private studio of dedicated students and is also the owner of Cline Piano and Luthier, his repair company which tunes and services pianos of all shapes and sizes and performs repairs on all varieties of orchestral stringed instruments. He is an admirer of craft beverages of all sorts, global cuisine, and hiking in the natural beauty of his home among the West Virginia hills.