Rachel Nicholls is now widely recognised as one of the most exciting dramatic sopranos of her generation. Her Brünnhilde in complete Ring cycles for Longborough Festival Opera in 2013 received the highest critical acclaim.
She made her début at London’s Royal Opera as Third Flowermaiden, Parsifal, returning as Echo, Ariadne auf Naxos and Prilepa, The Queen of Spades. Other operatic engagements include Tatyana, Eugene Onegin and Senta, Der fliegende Holländer for Scottish Opera, Jenifer, The Midsummer Marriage, Sieglinde, Die Walküre, Micäela, Carmen, and Anne Trulove, The Rake’s Progress, at the St Endellion Festival, Jessie, Mahagonny Songspiel at the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte, Montepulciano, First Woman – First Fury, The Mask of Orpheus at the BBC Proms, Philippa, Babette’s Feast at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Euridice, Orfeo ed Euridice on tour with the Israel Camerata, Armida, Rinaldo at the Edinburgh Festival, Nerone, L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the New Theatre, Tokyo and Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris.
She sang her first Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung for the 2012 Longborough Festival, returning for three complete Ring Cycles in 2013.
She is also in demand as a concert artist and has performed with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Bach Collegium Japan, BBC Symphony, Bochum Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony, Darmstadt Hofkapelle, Gdansk Music Festival, Huddersfield Choral Society, London Handel Players, London Mozart Players, London Philharmonic, Orchestra of St John’s, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic, at the Brighton, Chelsea, Fishguard, London Handel and Three Choirs Festivals and in recital at the Wigmore Hall, London.
Conductors with whom she has worked include Avner Biron, Martyn Brabbins, Stephen Cleobury, Francesco Corti, Thomas Dausgaard, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Martin Gester, Andrew Greenwood, Richard Hickox, Adrian Leaper, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Anthony Negus, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Simon Rattle, Steven Sloane, John Storgårds, Masaaki Suzuki, Hilary Davan Wetton and Barry Wordsworth.
Recordings include B Minor Mass and Cantatas – Volume 42, 44 and 49 (BIS), the St Matthew Passion (Sabra), For You (Signum), 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).
Recent and future opera engagements include Isolde for the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Oper Stuttgart, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio Turin, the Badische Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and Grange Park Opera, the title role in Elektra for Theater Basel, Münster and Karlsruhe, the title role in Salome for Hannover, Brünnhilde / Götterdämmerung in Taichung, Brünnhilde / Siegfried with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé (also released on CD), Brünnhilde / Die Walküre for English National Opera, Senta and Mariya / Mazeppa for Grange Park Opera, Marie / Marietta / Die tote Stadt for Longborough and the Korean National Opera, Leonore / Fidelio for Opera North and Lithuanian National Opera, Guinevere / Gawain for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jenifer / A Midsummer Marriage in the opening concert of the 21/22 season with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (to be released on CD), Lady Macbeth / Macbeth for Karlsruhe and NI Opera, Eva / Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Karlsruhe and ENO. Starting in 2026 she will sing all three Brunnhildes in a new Ring Cycle for Grange Park Opera. Concert engagements include Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder in Rome, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder in Tokyo, Britten’s War Requiem in Lisbon, and a LeFanu world premiere with the BBCSO at the Barbican.
Rachel Nicholls was born in Bedford and in 2013 was awarded an Opera Awards Foundation Bursary to study with Dame Anne Evans. Rachel is proud to be an ambassador for Oxford Opera and President of Northampton Philharmonic Choir.
