Nicholas Lester
BARITONEAustralian baritone Nicholas Lester studied at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and was a State Opera South Australia Young Artist. At the National Opera Studio, London his studies were sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. He was a recipient of an Independent Opera/National Opera Studio Postgraduate Voice Fellowship‚ awards from the Simon Fletcher and Tait Memorial Trusts and is very grateful for support from Chris Ball and Serena Fenwick. Nicholas was delighted to be voted Best Male in a Leading Role by the Opera Holland Park audience for his performance as Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Recent and future plans include Count Le Nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo (State Opera South Australia), Eugene Onegin and Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia (Welsh National Opera)‚ Don Giovanni (Kilden Opera, Norway), Orphée, Marcello La Bohème and Cascada (cover Danilo) The Merry Widow (English National Opera), Ford Falstaff, Lescaut Manon Lescaut and Guglielmo Cosi fan Tutte (The Grange Festival), Chou en Lai Nixon in China, Josef K in Philip Glass’s The Trial‚ Germano La Scala di Seta‚ Dr Malatesta Don Pasquale, Baron Douphol & Pere Germont La traviata and Ping Turandot (Scottish Opera), Prince Vyazminsky The Oprichnik (Chelsea Opera Group), Gluttony Beauty and the Seven Beasts and Daddy Bear Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs (The Opera Story)‚ Marcello (New Zealand Opera, English Touring Opera‚ Iford Festival and Lyric Opera Productions‚ Dublin), Onegin and Belcore L’Elisir d’amore (West Green House Opera), Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte‚ Dandini La Cenerentola, Figaro and Frédéric Lakmé (Opera Holland Park)‚ Valentin Faust (Dorset Opera Festival)‚ Guglielmo (Danish National Opera)‚ Escamillo Carmen (Mid Wales Opera)‚ excerpts of Gianni Schicchi (title role) in a broadcast performance from Amsterdam’s Bimhuis‚ and Bohuš The Jacobin (Buxton Festival). Recent concerts include a performance of Robert Frost songs for London Song Festival, an Opera Gala with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Raymond Gubbay Spectacular Classics at Bridgewater Hall and A Sea Symphony with Brighton Philharmonic.
Notable creatives he has worked with include; Sir Thomas Allen, Gale Edwards, Olivia Fuchs, Jakub Hrusa, Stephen Langridge, Robin Ticciati and Sir David McVicar.
He created the role of Edward Lear in Ode to nonsense– a co-production between Slingsby Theatre Company and State Opera South Australia and performed Marcello for SOSA.
Other roles include; Theseus A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ Doctor and Shepherd Pelléas et Mélisande‚ Diarte Erismena (Cavalli)‚ Justizrat and Storch Intermezzo‚ Schaunard La bohème‚ Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, The Vicar Albert Herring, Junius The Rape of Lucretia, Colonel Calverly Patience‚ Pirate King The Pirates of Penzance‚ Sir Joseph Porter HMS Pinafore‚.
Musical Theatre roles include; Fred / Petrucchio Kiss Me Kate (WNO)‚ Curly Oklahoma!, Freddy Eynsford-Hill The Sound of Music, Neville Craven The Secret Garden
Notable concert engagements include Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for Maurice Béjart’s ballet Song of a Wayfarer with English National Ballet at the London Coliseum‚ performances of Mendelssohn Elijah‚ Bach Cantatas‚ Rameau Motets and Mozart Requiem. He has sung Brahms Requiem in Beijing‚ Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra‚ the Fauré Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Messiah under Laurence Cummings.