Nicole Chevalier

American born soprano Nicole Chevalier made her recent debut in London at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). Her upcoming plans feature her debut at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Thomas Hengelbrock as Elettrta in Idomeneo and role debut as Elisabeth in Don Carlos with Vincent Huguet and the great stage designer, Richard Peduzzi in Basel. In Summer 2023 she will make her debut at the Festival d’Aix with Dmitri Tcherniakov as Despina in a new production of Così fan tutte (co-operation with the Stanislavsky Theatre Moscow).

Ms. Chevalier made her international breakthrough at the Salzburg Festival in the Summer of 2019 as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo with Teodor Currentzis and Peter Sellars. She sang the title role in La Traviata at Musikfest Bremen, and in 2020 made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as Leonore in a concert version of Beethoven’s Leonore (Fidelio 1806). In Vienna she premiered this role under the direction of Christoph Waltz at Theater an der Wien and also made her debut as Thaïs together with Peter Konwitschny. In Hamburg at the State Opera she debuted Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Kent Negano (incl. recording for the Biennale 2020).

As a permanent ensemble member at the Komische Oper Berlin for five years Ms. Chevalier worked extensively with Barrie Kosky with whom she created the 4-Female Leads in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, the title role in Handel’s Semele, the title role of Die Schöne Helena, Bernstein’s Cunegonde (Candide). Other highlights include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) and most notably the title role in Aribert Reimann’s Medea directed by Benedict Andrews.

The dramatic coloratura soprano’s repertoire is vast, extending from baroque to contemporary works by such composers as Aribert Reimann, Kaija Sarriaho and Dmitri Kourliandski with a particular focus however, on the great soprano roles of Mozart, Donizetti and Verdi. Early highlights of her career include: Verdi’s Violetta (La Traviata) directed by Benedikt von Peter at the Hanover State Opera as well as Ruth Berghaus’s production at the Stuttgart State Opera, Donizetti’s Lucia at the Hamburg and Hanover State Operas, Mozart’s Konstanze at the Vienna Volksoper and Calixto Bieito’s production at the Komische Oper, as well as Eudoxie in Konwitschny’s production of La Juive at Opera Flanders Antwerp/Gent.

For her performances as the 4-Female Leads in Les Contes d’Hoffmannin at the Komische Oper Berlin Nicole Chevalier received the German Theatre Prize “Der Faust” in 2016. In 2017 she was nominated by leading musical critics of Opernwelt as “Singer of the Year” for her portrayal of Aribert Reimann’s Medea (Opernwelt’s Annual Yearbook 2017). In 2020 she was nominated again as “Singer of the Year” for her interpretations of Elettra in Salzburg, Leonore and Vitellia in Vienna. In both Opernwelt Annual Yearbooks she was additionally highlighted as “Important Singer of the season”.