Nola Richardson

Making her mark as an “especially impressive” (The New York Times) soprano, Australian/American Nola Richardson is a rapidly rising star increasingly recognized for her performances which combine a voice of “astonishing balance and accuracy,” “crystalline diction,” and “natural-sounding ease” (Washington Post) with “spellbinding acting-singing… substantial powers of melisma, melodic agility, and timbre modulation.” (blogcritic.org)

After winning First Prize in all three major American competitions focused on the music of J.S. Bach (Bethlehem Bach, 2016; Audrey Rooney Bach, 2018; Grand Rapids Symphony Linn Maxwell Keller Award, 2019), Nola has been catapulted to the forefront of Baroque ensembles and orchestras around the country. Recent and upcoming performances include Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, Christmas Oratorio with the Washington Bach Consort at Strathmore Hall, BWV 51: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen with Seattle Symphony, and a performance at the Leipzig Bach Festival and tour of Germany and Austria with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. She will appear as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with Helena Symphony, Cleopatra in Hasse’s Marc’ Antonio e Cleopatra with Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, perform the title role in Theodora with Ars Lyrica Houston, and join the Twelfth Night Ensemble in two national tours of Handel cantatas Apollo e Dafne and Aminta e Fillide, among other performances.

Highly acclaimed in her concert appearances, Nola’s repertoire ranges from medieval to contemporary works – including several world premieres. With “a voice for which Handel might have designed the music” (Parterre Box), she has made debuts in Handel’s Messiah with the Pittsburgh, Seattle, Kansas City, Helena, and Colorado Symphonies, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra. The Seattle Times described her as “agile and crystalline-voiced…a stand-out” and as Dalila in Handel’s Samson at Carnegie Hall with Oratorio Society of New York, she was declared “The vocal star of the first half… who infuses an effervescent soprano with seductive character work” (blogcritic.org).

She has performed Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with Grand Rapids Symphony and Voices of Music, a Sondheim review with the Boston Pops, Haydn’s Creation with the Akron Symphony and the Master Chorale of South Florida, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Portland Symphony and Musica Angelica and numerous works of Bach with the Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati May Festival, Baltimore Symphony and the American Classical Orchestra among others. Her debut in Bach’s Coffee Cantata with Philharmonia Baroque was noted for her “graceful ebullience” (San Francisco Chronicle) and performances in Handel’s La Resurrezione and a program of French Baroque music with the American Bach Soloists drew praise for her “lusciously polished…exemplary impassioned singing” (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Nola’s operatic appearances such as her debut at the Kennedy Center with Opera Lafayette (Fraarte in Handel’s Radamisto) have drawn praise for her “particularly appealing freshness and directness” (Washington Post). As Oriana in Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula with Ars Lyrica Houston, she was acclaimed as “the most convincing actor of the night, her every expression true to character… [her voice] resolute and triumphant, with depth and clarity, powerful yet supple.” (Arts and Culture Texas). She gave a “standout” performance (Opera News) as the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte with the Clarion Music Society and made her debut with the Boston Early Music Festival in the summer of 2023 performing several roles in Desmarest’s Circé and as Oreste Nunzia in Francesca Caccini’s Alcina. Her repertoire includes several Mozart heroines in addition to early operatic works such as Eurydice/Proserpina in Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Apolo in a rare performance of the Baroque Zarzuela Apolo e Dafne by Sebastián Durón.

Nola’s recent recording of Bach’s St. John Passion with the Cantata Collective and conductor Nic McGegan was praised for her “elegant phrasing, radiant tone, and splendid ease in coloratura” (Early Music America). She can be heard in Mozart’s Requiem with the Baltimore Choral Arts, on the Boston Early Music Festival’s album of Desmarest’s Circé and in digital video releases with Voices of Music, Seraphic Fire, Sonnambula, Musica Angelica, and Colorado Bach Ensemble. Future album releases will include Bach’s Magnificat and Easter Oratorio with Cantata Collective and Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom with the Clarion Choir.

An Australian by birth, Nola has spent most of her life in the US. She holds a BM from Illinois Wesleyan University and dual MM degrees in Vocal Performance and Early Music from the Peabody Conservatory. She was a young artist with the Boston Early Music Festival, a vocal fellow at Tanglewood, a Marc and Eva Stern Fellow at Songfest, and a Carmel Bach Festival Virginia Best Adams Fellow in 2019. Nola attended the Institute of Sacred Music Program and in May of 2020 she was the first and only female singer to receive the prestigious DMA degree in Early Music Voice from Yale​.