Ali initially trained at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and then went on to the Royal Academy of Dance, and subsequently became a ballet dancer in Germany. Working in a theatre with its own resident ballet, theatre and opera companies Ali rose to soloist status, dancing several of the classical repertoire’s favourite roles. During this time Ali discovered a love of opera and sang with the extra opera chorus on her nights off. After a back injury forced retirement Ali returned to England and, while taking a postgraduate business degree, and later a degree in History of Art, she returned to singing part time.
After getting married and moving to Buckinghamshire Ali sang principal roles in a variety of genres with several local companies and was a founder member of the professional Stowe Opera chorus. Over the past few years Ali has enjoyed directing productions on a wide variety of pieces, including several of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. However, her greatest love is still remains opera, which she enjoys both designing and directing. She has designed and directed Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, Smetana’s Bartered Bride and a dynamic production of her own translation of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld for Opera at Bearwood. For Aylesbury Opera she directed and designed both Verdi’s Macbeth and Otello, Weber’s Der Freischutz, Bellini’s Norma and Saint-Saëns Samson et Delilah. Since founding Arcadian Opera with her sometime singing teacher Justin Lavender, Ali has directed Puccini’s La Bohème; Donizetti’s Elixir of Love; Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet and Mozart’s The Magic Flute
In addition to her theatre work Ali has recently retired from organising and managing cultural tours in Europe and the UK and is a specialist in medieval graffiti and apotropaic symbols.