NICOLA SANTORO

Soprano Nicola Santoro is quickly establishing herself as a foremost interpreter of contemporary music. She was a featured artist with Fuse: A Collaboration of Song and recently presented a world premiere in May 2024. She made two role debuts in Thumbprint by Kamala Sankaram (Annu) and The Mother of Us All by Virgil Thompson (Lillian Russell) as an Apprentice Opera with Chautauqua Opera. She was an Artist-In-Residence with Promenade Opera Project and premiered the role of Zoo Director in The Bedbug in October 2021. She starred in the collegiate premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs as Chrisann Brennan under the direction of Kevin Newbury and Maestro Michael Christie. She also appeared as Mrs. O’Malley in the collegiate premiere of It’s A Wonderful Life by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer. As a member of the inaugural Dandelion Opera Institute in 2020, Nicola worked with numerous mentors such as Omer Ben Seadia, Pierre Vallet, Ailyn Pérez, and more to refine her craft during the pandemic. Other educational programs she has been a part of include SongFest and The CoOperative Program, where she attended as both a Young Artist and Fellow.

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This summer, Nicola appeared as an Ader Emerging Artist with Charlottesville Opera. During her time with the company, she covered the role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Frasquita in Carmen and performed in the ensemble for both. Additional engagements for the summer included the FestivALL concert at the beginning of Charlottesville Opera's season, Arias Concert, and a New Works Concert presenting premieres of composition team Peter Hillard and Matt Boresi.​

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Recently, Nicola received the Encouragement Award in the Boston District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards. In previous years, she was a prize winner in the National Society of Arts and Letters Competition two years in a row, was a semifinalist in the Orpheus Competition, and was a recipient of the distinguished Georgina Joshi International Fellowship.

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​Nicola is active as a soloist, recently having performed as the soprano soloist in Mozart's Vesperae solennes de confessore and Dvořák’s Stabat mater with the Newton Community Chorus and presented a recital with Boston Opera Collaborative in February 2024. Nicola has previously sung as a soloist with the The Handel Project (Alexander’s Feast).

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During her time at Indiana University where she received her Master in Music, Nicola studied with Carol Vaness in her private studio as well as in her opera workshop, where Nicola starred as Lauretta in a production of Gianni Schicchi. In 2019, Nicola made her German premiere as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. She also sang as a soloist in several concerts with the Thüringer Symphoniker.

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Having attended Westminster Choir College for her Bachelor of Music degree, Nicola has extensive choral experience, and has worked under the baton of world-renowned conductors such as Simon Rattle and Yannick Nezet-Seguin in performances of works by Beethoven (5th Symphony), Mahler (2nd, 8th Symphony), and Bernstein (Mass). This summer she joined Spoleto Festival USA in Haydn's The Creation, conducted by Dr. Joe Miller, and their season-end concert, The Heart Starts Singing. She sang in Annelies by James Whitbourn at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center under the baton of Dr. James Jordan and was a member of Williamson Voices from 2013-15. The choir has premiered numerous works by James Whitbourn, Thomas LaVoy, and Paul Mealor. During her time with the Williamson Voices, she had the opportunity to participate in the Choral Institute at Oxford.

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In addition to her performing, Nicola is a producer focused on highlighting strong female characters and addressing gender inequity and stereotypes through new works. As a part of Guerilla Opera’s inaugural Artistic Mentorship Program, she worked directly with Aliana de la Guardia to format fundraising goals and target important steps in bringing a work to life.

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Nicola currently lives in New York and studies privately with Dr. Lynn Eustis.