Artist Bio
Praised for “her natural warmth matched equally by innate lyricism” (Opera Canada), Canadian soprano Nicole Leung was most recently named a laureate of Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques for the 2024/2025 season. She is an alumna of the McPhee Artist Development Program at Calgary Opera, where she spent the past two seasons. While at Calgary Opera, she made her professional debut in the role of Adina in L’elisir d’amore, a role she first sang at The Yale School of Music and covered at Festival Napa Valley as a Manetti Shrem Vocal Fellow. She also performed the role of Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, under the baton of Maestro Jonathan Brandani. 2022/2023 season highlights included Pamina in The Little Opera Company’s production of The Magic Flute: The Trials of Tamino and Pamina, and Frasquita (Carmen), Delia in Joe Illick’s Stone Soup, and Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict) at Calgary Opera. This Summer, she joins the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in its workshop of The Handmaid’s Tale, singing the role of Ofglen.
A graduate of the Yale School of Music, Ms. Leung was seen as Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Morgana in Alcina. She sang the role of Amy in a workshop of the world-premier opera The Snowy Day by Joel Thompson and libretto by Andrea Davis Pinkney, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. Within the Yale Opera Scenes Program, she was seen in Falstaff (Nanetta), Le Comte Ory (Comtesse Adèle), Ariadne auf Naxos (Naiad), Béatrice et Bénédict (Héro), La Rondine (Lisette), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), and La Bohème (Musetta). In addition to operatic performances, Ms. Leung appeared as Soprano Soloist with Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in their Mozart Requiem performance and as Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy with the Yale Philharmonia.
She has also attended SongFest in Los Angeles, CA as both a Young Artist and Studio Artist, underwritten by the ArtSong Foundation of Canada. At SongFest, she had the opportunity to work alongside composers John Musto and Jake Heggie in curated concert performances. As a devoted interpreter of song repertoire, she was honored to receive Third Place in the Hal Leonard American Vocal Competition for Art Song in 2019.
Other operatic roles include Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Romilda (Serse). In addition to her operatic and song performances, she has appeared as Soprano Soloist in a variety of concert programs, including Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder. She has been named a semifinalist (Tier 2) with the James Toland Vocal Competition and has received support from The Jacqueline Desmarais Fundation. Ms. Leung holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (BM ‘19) and the Yale School of Music (MM ‘21, MMA ‘22). She splits her time between Calgary and her hometown, Toronto.
nicoleleungsoprano.com
Instagram: @nicoleeeung.soprano