Born in Bedford, Rachel Nicholls is one of the most versatile sopranos of her generation with a huge repertoire ranging from J. S. Bach and Handel to Schoenberg and Errollyn Wallen. Acclaimed as an outstanding singer of Baroque Music and working regularly with Bach Collegium Japan conducted by Masaaki Suzuki in Europe, the Far East and North America, she is now beginning to developa new career as a dramatic soprano.
She made her début at London’s Royal Opera as Third FlowermaidenParsifal, returning as Pepik The Cunning Little Vixen, EchoAriadne auf Naxos and Prilepa The Queen of Spades and other operatic engagements have included Marzelline Fidelio for London Lyric Opera, Joan For You for Music Theatre Wales, Wendy Peter Pan (Bernstein) at the Festival Rota dos Monumentos, Portugal, First Woman – First Fury The Mask of Orpheus: The Arches at the BBC Proms, First Niece Peter Grimes, Jenifer The Midsummer Marriage and Shepherd Tannhäuser at the St Endellion Festival,Philippa Babette’s Feast at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Frasquita Carmen, Tatyana Eugene Onegin and Flora The Knot Garden for Scottish Opera, the title role in Erismena,Ginevra Ariodante and Elisa Tolomeo for English Touring Opera, Armida Rinaldo at the Edinburgh Festival 2009 (also in Tokyo), Miss Schlesen Satyagraha for English National Opera, Dorinda Orlando for the Atelier Lyrique, Tourcoing, TheophanoOttone and MetellaSilla at the London Handel Festival, Handel’s Susanna for The Early Opera Company, Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the New Theatre, Tokyo, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte for Longborough Festival Opera, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni for Mid Wales Opera, Elettra Idomeneo for New Sussex Opera, Junon Platée for T.C.C. Productions, Lisbon, and Jessie Mahagonny Songspiel at the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte, Montepulciano.
Rachel Nicholls made her international début singing Messiah under the direction of Sir David Willcocks in Halle and appears regularly with Bach Collegium Japan conducted by Masaaki Suzuki. Other concert appearances include performances with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Darmstadt Hofkapelle, Florilegium, the Gdansk Music Festival, the Hanover Band, Huddersfield Choral Society, the London Handel Players, the London Mozart Players, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mikkeli City Orchestra, the Orchestra of St John’s, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Le Parlement de Musique, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, as well as at the Brighton, Chelsea, Fishguard, London Handel and Three Choirs Festivals. She was also featured on The Four Seasons by Candlelight 2010 Tour for Raymond Gubbay Ltd.
Conductors with whom she has worked in opera and concert include Martyn Brabbins, Stephen Cleobury, Thomas Dausgaard, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Martin Gester, Richard Hickox, Adrian Leaper, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Sir Roger Norrington (she was featured soloist for his75th Birthday Concert with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at London’s Royal Festival Hall), Sir Simon Rattle, Steven Sloane, John Storgårds and Barry Wordsworth. Her broadcasts include the Christmas Oratorio with Le Parlement de Musique, Jauchzet Gott and Il ritorno di Tobia with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dvorak Stabat Mater with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Dorinda Orlando with La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy for Radio France and Sally Flashmob - The Opera, Schoenberg Quartet No. 2 with the Quatuor Parisii, In Tune and South Pacific for the BBC. She has appeared in recital at the Wigmore Hall, and her recordings include B Minor Mass and Cantatas – Volume 42, 44 and49 (BIS), the St Matthew Passion (Sabra CD and DVD), Dorinda Orlando (K617), Metella Silla (Somm), Wendy Hiscock’s Mother & Child (Symposium), Hummel Mass in D Minor (Chandos), two volumes of Music by Cecilia McDowall (Dutton) and Paul Spicer’s Easter Oratorio (Birmingham Bach Choir).
Currently studying with Dame Anne Evans, she was highly praised for her debuts as Helmwige Die Walküre at the 2010 Longborough Festival, being picked by The Sunday Times as “a future Brünnhilde”, and as Sieglinde Die Walküre at the 2011 St Endellion Festival with Susan Bullock conducted by Martyn Brabbins. She makes her debut as Brünnhilde Götterdämmerung at the Longborough Festival in 2012, and will return for the complete cycles in 2013. Other current engagements include Euridice Orfeo ed Euridice on tour with the Israel Camerata, Senta Der fliegende Holländer for Scottish Opera,Third Norn Götterdämmerung for Opera North, the B Minor Mass, Jauchezt Gott, theSt Matthew Passion and Messiah on tour with Bach Collegium Japan in Japan and the USA (including Carnegie Hall), the St Matthew Passion, Messiah, Mozart Requiem and Pergolesi Stabat Mater on extended tours with the Bach Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands (including performances at the Concertgebouw), Beethoven Choral Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the premiere of James Francis Brown’s Songs of Nature and Farewell at the Wigmore Hall, Glorious Handel by Candlelight for Raymond Gubbay Ltd, Mozart Requiem with the Bach Choir, Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall, A Child of Our Time at the St Endellion Festival, Verdi Requiem for the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra and 1700’s London & the fab four (Arias by Abel and Arne) with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
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