Nicholas Lester

baritone

Adelaide-born baritone Nicholas Lester has established himself across a broad repertoire ranging from Mozart and bel canto to verismo and contemporary opera. He has performed Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Grange Festival Opera, Opera Holland Park, and Danish National Opera, and Silvio in Pagliacci with Grange Festival Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, and Italy’s L’Opera nel Borgo. At Welsh National Opera he has sung leading baritone roles including Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the title role in Eugene Onegin, a role he also performed at West Green Opera. Other notable appearances include Ford in Falstaff and Lescaut in Manon Lescaut for Grange Festival Opera; Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Ping in Turandot, and Josef K. in Glass’s The Trial for Scottish Opera; and Dandini in La Cenerentola for Opera Holland Park. He has appeared as Chou En Lai in Nixon in China for Scottish Opera, Orphée in Glass’s Orphée for English National Opera, and sang the title role in Don Giovanni with English Touring Opera and at Kilden Opera in Norway.

Nicholas has performed Marcello in La bohème more than 100 times, appearing with English National Opera, Lyric Opera Dublin, English Touring Opera, New Zealand Opera, and in his native Australia with State Opera South Australia. For his home company, he has Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, The Count in Le nozze di Figaro and The Duke in Roméo et Juliette. He returns to SOSA as Dandini in Cenerentola and The Narrator in Into the Woods.

Nicholas is equally at home on the concert platform, performing a wide range of repertoire with orchestras and choirs across the UK. Highlights include gala performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Burana at the Royal Festival Hall, Charpentier’s Te Deum with the Harpenden Choral Society, and Dvořák’s Te Deum at Warwick’s Butterworth Hall. He has sung Mahler’s Vier ernste Gesänge with the Leicester Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the Brighton Philharmonic, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem at Warwick University, and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with English National Ballet.

Nicholas studied at the National Opera Studio in London, where he was sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. He is a graduate of the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide. At Opera Holland Park, he was voted Best Male in a Leading Role for his performance as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Nicholas’s Personal Site