Hailed as a “richly powerful singing actress” (Broadway World), Nina Yoshida Nelsen captivates audiences throughout North America and Europe with her world-class voice and magnetic stage presence. In the 2023-2024 season, Ms. Nelsen joined Indianapolis Opera for the title role in Carmen, sang the role of Melissa in Alcina with Seattle Opera, sang Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Opera Carolina, joined Utah Opera as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, and sang the role of Mother Chen in An American Soldier at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, which she has previously performed with Bard Opera.

 

Ms. Nelsen has performed Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Atlanta Opera, New Orleans Opera, Portland Opera, Manitoba Opera, Utah Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, Sarasota Opera, and New York City Opera, and covered the role with Lyric Opera of Chicago. With her home company of Opera Santa Barbara, Ms. Nelsen has leant her interpretations of the role of Fricka in the Dove reduction of Die Walküre, a double bill of El Amor Brujo and Frugola in Il Tabarro, and Tituba in The Crucible, as well as their 25th anniversary concert. Ms. Nelsen made her Boston Lyric Opera debut as Mama Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana. She has also performed the role of Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall.

 

An established interpreter of new works, Ms. Nelsen has performed the role of Mama in Jack Perla’s An American Dream with Opera Santa Barbara, Kentucky Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Anchorage Opera, and Seattle Opera. Regarding her performance as Queen Sophine in Mark Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus, Fran Zell of Splash Magazine writes:  “Yoshida Nelsen, a seasoned artist making her COT debut, offers nothing less than perfection in her operatic interpretation of a tempestuous mother…a poignant, powerhouse of a mezzo…” She has sung Khanh in Bound (Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera), Huang Ruo’s Angel Island (Santa Fe Opera), and Woman in The Memory Stone (Houston Grand Opera). World premieres include Phoung Tran in Ruo/Hwang’sThe Rift (Washington National Opera).
 

In concert, she recently performed selections of orchestrated lieder by Alma Mahler with the Toledo Symphony and performed in the Uplifting Asian Voices concert at Boston Lyric Opera.  She has performed as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, the Santa Fe Concert Association, Southwest Florida Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall, Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with the Grand Junction and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestras, Mozart’s Requiem with the Santa Barbara and Southwest Florida Symphonies, Verdi’s Requiem with the Guelph Symphony and Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah with Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Santa Barbara Chorale.

Ms. Nelsen has won first prize in the Performing Arts Foundation, the Profant Foundation and the Santa Barbara Foundation Vocal Competitions. She was also a national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, a national finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Society Vocal Competition, and a finalist in the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition.

 

Ms. Nelsen is a graduate of Boston University and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.