Born in Bedford, Rachel Nicholls is establishing herself as 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. She read French and Linguistic Science at the University of York, and furthered her studies at the Royal College of Music, winning many prizes including the President's Rose Bowl for the Most Outstanding Student of the Year. Winner of the Second Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition, she made her début at London’s Royal Opera as Third Flowermaiden Parsifal. Other operatic engagements have included performances with L’Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, the Early Opera Company, English National Opera, English Touring Opera and Scottish Opera, in a repertoire including Erismena, Miss Schlesen Satyagraha, Ginevra Ariodante, Dorinda Orlando, Theophano Ottone, Metella Silla, Susanna, Elisa Tolomeo, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Flora The Knot Garden, Jenifer The Midsummer Marriage and Tatyana Eugene Onegin. Recital work has included programmes for the BBC, as well as at the Linbury Studio Theatre and the Wigmore Hall, whilst her broadcasts and recordings include Flashmob - The Opera and Schoenberg Quartet No. 2 with the Quatuor Parisii (BBC), the B Minor Mass (BIS), Silla (Somm). Hummel Mass in D Minor (Chandos), Music by Cecilia McDowall (Dutton) and Paul Spicer’s Easter Oratorio (Birmingham Bach Choir). Conductors with whom she has worked in opera and concert include Stephen Cleobury, Thomas Dausgaard, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Martin Gester, Richard Hickox, Sir Simon Rattle, Steven Sloane and Masaaki Suzuki. Recent and current engagements include First Niece Peter Grimes at the St Endellion Festival, Joan For You for Music Theatre Wales, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni at the Gregynog Festival, Armida Rinaldo at the Edinburgh Festival 2009, Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the New Theatre, Tokyo, the B Minor Mass, St Matthew Passion (arranged Mendelssohn) and Messiah with Bach Collegium Japan, Jauchzet Gott with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London and Minneapolis, Brahms Requiem, The Kingdom and Verdi Requiem in King’s College, Cambridge, Dvorak Stabat Mater with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Pulcinella with the Britten Sinfonia, Erwartung with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Il tramonto and Schönberg String Quartet No. 2 with the Quatuor Parisii, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle in Rome, the Strauss Song Series at the Wigmore Hall, Szymanowski Stabat Mater for Huddersfield Choral Society, Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music at the BBC Proms, and Sinfonia Antartica for the Philharmonia Orchestra, Verdi Requiem in Winchester Cathedral, Errollyn Wallen’s Run! at the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival and Opera Galas with the Mikkeli City Orchestra and the Oxford Philomusica.
