| Biography | Australian baritone Nicholas Lester studied at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and was a State Opera of South Australia Young Artist. After his move to the UK where he now lives as a dual Australian/British Citizen he studied at the National Opera Studio London. His studies were sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera, as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. Nicholas 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. In 2014 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 Daddy Bear Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs The Opera Story Marcello La Bohème New Zealand Opera title role Eugene Onegin and Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia (Welsh National Opera) Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte Dandini La Cenerentola, Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia and Frédéric Lakmé (Opera Holland Park) Valentin Faust (Dorset Opera Festival) Josef K in Philip Glasss The Trial Germano La Scala di Seta Dr Malatesta Don Pasquale and Ping Turandot (Scottish Opera) Marcello La Bohème (English Touring Opera Iford Festival and Lyric Opera Productions Dublin) Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte (Danish National Opera) Escamillo Carmen (Mid Wales Opera) excerpts of Gianni Schicchi (title role) in a broadcast performance from Amsterdams newest concert hall Bimhuis and Bohu The Jacobin (Buxton Festival). Recent concerts include Raymond Gubbay Spectacular Classics at Bridgewater Hall and Sea Symphony with Brighton Philharmonic conducted by Barry Wordsworth.
He created the role of Edward Lear in Ode to nonsense - a co-production between Slingsby Theatre Company and State Opera of South Australia in Adelaide and performed Marcello for the State Opera of South Australia. Further roles include Fred / Petrucchio Kiss Me Kate(WNO) Belcore Lelisir damore Conte Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro Don Giovanni (title role) Theseus A Midsummer Nights Dream Doctor and Shepherd Pelléas et Mélisande Diarte Erismena (Cavalli) Justizrat and Storch Intermezzo Schaunard La bohème Onegin Eugene Onegin Pietro Simon Boccanegra Aeneas Dido and Aeneas The Foreman Jenufa Miguel Betrothal in a Monastery (Prokofiev) Colonel Calverly Patience Pirate King The Pirates of Penzance Sir Joseph Porter HMS Pinafore Paris Roméo et Juliette Kagler Wiener Blut The Vicar Albert Herring.
Notable concert engagements include Mahlers Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for Maurice Béjarts 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. |