Nicole Car
Nicole Car, 2018
Born1985 (age 38–39)
Melbourne, Australia
OccupationOpera singer (soprano)
Years active2009–present
Websitenicolecar.com

Nicole Car (born 1985)[1] is an Australian operatic soprano. She has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra national de Paris, The Dallas Opera, and Opera Australia.[2] Car is particularly associated with the roles of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Mimì in La bohème, Marguerite in Faust, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Micaëla in Carmen, and has also given noted performances as Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos, and the title roles in Luisa Miller and Thaïs.[3]

Early life and education

Car attended Strathmore Secondary School, where she performed in school musicals. In Year 12 she sang at the Victorian Schools' Spectacular, singing jazz songs from the 1930s and 40s.[4]

At age 17, Car saw her first opera, Tosca, in her final year of high school in Melbourne. She then completed a Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts, rather than the legal degree her parents had hoped for.[5]

Career

Car's debut in a major role was Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Victorian Opera in 2009.[6] She began performing with Opera Australia from 2014 debuting a number of roles including the title parts of La traviata, Thaïs and Luisa Miller (winning her first Helpmann Award for the latter); Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Micaëla (Carmen), Mimi (La bohème), Marguerite (Faust), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Leila (The Pearl Fishers), and both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni).[2]

She made her American debut singing the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at Dallas Opera in 2014, a role previously performed for Opera Australia.[2] Car made her Covent Garden debut in 2015, singing Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, followed by Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and a new production of La bohème as Mimì in the 2017/18 season. In 2020 she returned to the Royal Opera House as Mimì.[4] Car had previously performed the role of Micaëla for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in 2013.[7]

In a review of her first recording, The Kiss, Car is described as possessing "a lovely lyric soprano".[8]

In 2019 Car visited Australia to sing the role of Ellen in a recital version of the Benjamin Britten opera Peter Grimes with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In Sydney she was joined by her husband Étienne Dupuis and sang a series of concerts together.[9] In the 2019/2020 season, she performed Tatyana to Étienne Dupuis' Eugene Onegin for Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House. The duo went on to sing in Eugene Onegin in at Montreal Opera House in 2019, with Car making her Canadian debut.[10]

In Germany, Car has performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tatyana, Fiordiligi, Marguerite.Verdi Gala, Thaïs), the Semperoper Dresden (Mimì, Fiordiligi) and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Tatyana).

Car made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the role of Mimì (La bohème) in September 2018, receiving critical acclaim from The New York Times for her "fine-grained tone and nuanced acting".[11][12] She returned to the Met in 2020 as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.

Performances at the Paris Opera have included Tatyana, Mimì, Micaëla and her role debut as Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlos in the 2019/2020 season. She also sang the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in a new production at the Paris Opera which was broadcast by many international cinemas.[13]

In April 2020 Car launched the Freelance Artist Relief Australia fund, a crowd-sourced trust dedicated to supporting Australian freelance artists during the Covid-19 pandemic.[14]

Opera roles

Personal life

Car is married to Canadian baritone Étienne Dupuis. They have one child, Noah.[19] Car was previously married to engineer Robin Stephenson.[20]

Discography

Albums

List of albums, with selected details
Title Details
The Kiss
(with Australian Opera, Australian Ballet Orchestra and Andrea Molino)
  • Released: February 2016
  • Format: CD, Digital
  • Label: ABC Classics
Heroines
(with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti)
  • Released: 2018
  • Format: CD, Digital
  • Label: ABC Classics

Awards and nominations

  • At 21, while in her final year at the Victorian College of the Arts, Car won the 2007 Herald Sun Aria, performing arias by Verdi and Puccini. In making the announcement, chief adjudicator Anson Austin said she has "a wonderful talent and a most beautiful voice".[21]
  • In 2013 Car won joint first prize in the Neue Stimmen vocal competition held in Germany.[22]

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
2016 This Kiss Best Classical Album Nominated [23]

Helpmann Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Nicole Car", profile, Neue Stimmen
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Nicole Car – Soprano". Opera Australia. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Nicole Car, Soprano, Performances". Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Dow, Steve (19 April 2016). "Opera superstar Nicole Car hits all the right notes in Luisa Miller". The Weekly Review. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  5. ↑ Schaffer, Monique (30 April 2016). "Opera singer Nicole Car rising up the ranks of the international opera schene". ABC News. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  6. 1 2 Paget, Clive (5 May 2016). "Nicole Car: Australia's Wandering Star". Limelight. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  7. 1 2 Neutze, Benjamin (24 March 2013). "Carmen – Second time, just as lucky!". AussieTheatre.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  8. ↑ Pullinger, Mark. "Nicole Car: The Kiss". Gramophone. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  9. ↑ Meacham, Steve (1 August 2019). "From Paris to Peppa Pig: Nicole Car juggles Opera, love and family". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2019..
  10. ↑ "Nicole Car, soprano". www.operabase.com. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  11. ↑ Fonseca-Wollheim, Corinna da (26 September 2018). "Review: A Thrilling La bohème at the Met, Radiating Warmth". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  12. ↑ Martell, Logan (27 September 2018). "Metropolitan Opera 2018–19 Review: La bohème". OperaWire. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  13. ↑ Salazar, Francisco (16 June 2018). "Metropolitan Opera 2018-19 Review: La bohème". OperaWire. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  14. ↑ Jo Litson (11 April 2020). "Nicole Car launches Freelance Artist Relief Australia". Limelight. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 "Nicole Car". Opéra national de Paris. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  16. ↑ "Don Carlo - Opera - Season 19/20 Programming - Opéra national de Paris". www.operadeparis.fr. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  17. ↑ "Nicole Car". Royal Opera House. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Andrea Licata's Traviata receives standing ovation". SBS. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  19. ↑ "La Traviata". Australian Arts Review. 23 February 2018. Archived from the original on 23 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  20. ↑ "At home with: Opera Australia soprano Nicole Car" by Mercedes Maguire, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 27 February 2015
  21. ↑ "Soprano scoops Herald Sun Aria". Herald Sun. Melbourne. 2 November 2007. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  22. ↑ Paget, Clive (3 October 2013). "Aussie Wins Neue Stimmen Singing Competition". Limelight. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  23. ↑ ARIA Award previous winners. "ARIA Awards – Winners by Award". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  24. ↑ James, Erin (25 July 2016). "Helmpann Awards 2016 – Full List". AussieTheatre.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  25. ↑ Jefferson, Dee (16 July 2018). "Sydney Theatre Company the biggest winner at this year's Helpmann Awards". ABC News. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
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