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Harpist Dr. Alison Attar specializes in both historical and contemporary music. Ms. Attar's interest in historical harps has led to performances with Chicago's own Chicago Opera Theater, His Majesties' Clerkes, Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort. Ms. Attar also performs for Boston's Handel & Haydn Society, including their collaboration at the 1996 Edinburgh Festival, Scotland with the Mark Morris Dance Troupe. Her 2001 Handel and Haydn Society performances of the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp with flutist Christopher Krueger were praised in the Boston Globe: "... the performance was delectable, the timbres of the two instruments combining with great sweetness, and the two players seemingly outdoing each other in elegance and fluency of their phrasing." Attar's 2002 performances of the Mozart with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and flutist Janet See was praised by John Demma Van Hagen of the San Francisco Classical Voice as "... a wondrous performance ... From them [Attar and See] flowed gossamer notes of crystalline quality ... Attar and See brought a level of amity to the work, which served to draw the audience into a world of stately grace and expert precision. Both soloists dealt with the technical challenges as if they did not exist ... a sumptuous duet."

She has also performed with Boston Baroque, Opera Lafayette in Washington D.C., and Canada's premiere Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik. The San Francisco Chronicle listed Ms. Attar among the Philharmonia Baroque’s "superb solo players" and raved that "harpist Alison [Attar] and lutanist David Taylor make a first-rate team." Both The Wall-Street Journal and The New Yorker noted Attar's solo cadenza following performances of Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo by Chicago Opera Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Ms. Attar is also a member of the early music group The Naked Fifth, which was a finalist in the 1999 Dorian Records Early Music Recording Competition.

Highlights of Ms. Attar's pedal-harp career include the 1993-1996 Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Zubin Mehta conducting, as well as performances with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic and a concert tour of Taiwan with Chicago's Symphonic Pops Orchestra. Ms. Attar made her debut at Carnegie's Weil Hall in 1994, playing an evening of contemporary chamber music with mandolinist Dimitris Marinos and guitarist Paul Bowman, with whom she has recorded. A champion of new music, Ms. Attar has also appeared with the Colorado Chamber Players, Milwaukee's Present Music, Chicago's Contemporary Chamber Players, CUBE, Ensemble NoAmnesia, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW. Ms. Attar’s performance of Luciano Berio's Circles with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, according to Chicago Tribune critic Lawrence Johnson, was simply "stellar." A performance of Marta Ptaszynska's Un Grand Sommeil Noir with the Contemporary Chamber Players was described as "absolutely haunting" by the Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein and was declared as "the evening's highlight ... exquisitely performed ..." by Chicago Sun-Times critic Andrew Patner. This performance was also chosen by the late Chicago Tribune critic Ted Shen as one of the highlights of 1999. Ms. Attar has enjoyed working with living composers such as Pierre Boulez and George Crumb, among others. She is a regular member of the new music quartet Pinotage, with whom she has recorded.

Ms. Attar holds a B.M., M.M., and D.M. in harp performance and a B.A. in Italian culture, all from Northwestern University. Her private teachers include Elizabeth Cifani of Chicago's Lyric Opera and Elizabeth Borsodi. She has recorded on the Mayapple, Albany, Hungaroton and Cedille labels.