SOPRANO

Born in Bedford, Rachel Nicholls was awarded Second Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition. She has a huge repertoire ranging from J. S. Bach and Handel to Schoenberg and Errollyn Wallen. She made her début at London’s Royal Opera as Third Flowermaiden Parsifal, 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, 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 for English Touring Opera, 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 recently sang Jauchzet Gott and Haydn Il ritorno di Tobia with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London and Minneapolis, Judas Maccabaeus at the Gdansk Music Festival, Szymanowski Stabat Mater for Huddersfield Choral Society, an Opera Gala with the Mikkeli City Orchestra and La Folle Journée in Tokyo. Other concert appearances include performances with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the BBC Symphony Orchestra (at the 2008 Proms), the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Darmstadt Hofkapelle, Florilegium, the Hanover Band, the London Handel Players, the London Mozart Players, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of St John’s, Le Parlement de Musique, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as at the Brighton, Chelsea, Fishguard, London Handel and Three Choirs Festivals.

Conductors with whom she has worked in opera and concert include Stephen Cleobury, Thomas Dausgaard, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Martin Gester, Richard Hickox, Adrian Leaper, Sir Roger Norrington (she was featured soloist for his 75th Birthday Concert with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at London’s Royal Festival Hall), Sir Simon Rattle, Steven Sloane and Masaaki Suzuki. 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 (BIS), Dorinda Orlando (K617), Metella Silla (Somm), Hummel Mass in D Minor (Chandos), two volumes of Music by Cecilia McDowall (Dutton) and Paul Spicer’s Easter Oratorio (Birmingham Bach Choir).

In 2009, she returned to the BBC Proms to sing First Woman – First Fury The Mask of Orpheus: The Arches with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins, and her current engagements include further performances as Ginevra Ariodante and Elisa Tolomeo for English Touring Opera, Armida Rinaldo at the Edinburgh Festival 2009 (also in Tokyo), Fiordiligi Così fan tutte for the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Helmwige Die Walküre for Longborough Festival Opera, the B Minor Mass, Jauchezt Gott, the St Matthew Passion and Messiah on tour with Bach Collegium Japan, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 for the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Spring Symphony at the Three Choirs Festival, Hereford, Messiah on tour with the Holland Boys Choir, the Nelson Mass at the St Endellion Festival, Schumann Mass in C Minor with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a programme on Ann Cargill for the BBC’s Early Music Show and The Four Seasons by Candlelight 2010 for Raymond Gubbay Ltd.

www.rachelnicholls.com

Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.