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Nicole Car (born 1985)[1] is an Australian operatic soprano. She has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra national de Paris, The Dallas Opera, and Opera Australia.[2] Car is particularly associated with the roles of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Mimì in La bohème, Marguerite in Faust, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Micaëla in Carmen, and has also given noted performances as Marguerite de Valois in Don Carlos, and the title roles in Luisa Miller and Thaïs.[3]

Nicole Car
Nicole Car, 2018
Born	1985 (age 36–37) Melbourne, Australia
Occupation	Opera singer (soprano)
Years active	2009–present
Website	nicolecar.com

Early life and education

Car attended Strathmore Secondary School, where she performed in school musicals. In Year 12 she sang at the Victorian Schools' Spectacular, singing jazz songs from the 1930s and 40s.[4]

At age 17, Car saw her first opera, Tosca, in her final year of high school in Melbourne. She then completed a Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts, rather than the legal degree her parents had hoped for.[5]

Career

Car's debut in a major role was Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Victorian Opera in 2009.[6] She began performing with Opera Australia from 2014 debuting a number of roles including the title parts of La traviata, Thaïs and Luisa Miller (winning her first Helpmann Award for the latter); Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Micaëla (Carmen), Mimi (La bohème), Marguerite (Faust), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Leila (The Pearl Fishers), and both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni).[2]

She made her American debut singing the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at Dallas Opera in 2014, a role previously performed for Opera Australia.[2] Car made her Covent Garden debut in 2015, singing Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, followed by Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and a new production of La bohème as Mimì in the 2017/18 season. In 2020 she returned to the Royal Opera House as Mimì.[4] Car had previously performed the role of Micaëla for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in 2013.[7]

In a review of her first recording, The Kiss, Car is described as possessing "a lovely lyric soprano".[8]

In 2019 Car visited Australia to sing the role of Ellen in a recital version of the Benjamin Britten opera Peter Grimes with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In Sydney she was joined by her husband Étienne Dupuis [fr] and sang a series of concerts together.[9] In the 2019/2020 season, she performed Tatyana to Étienne Dupuis' Eugene Onegin for Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House. The duo went on to sing in Eugene Onegin in at Montreal Opera House in 2019, with Car making her Canadian debut.[10]

In Germany, Car has performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tatyana, Fiordiligi, Marguerite.Verdi Gala, Thaïs), the Semperoper Dresden (Mimì, Fiordiligi) and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Tatyana).

Car made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the role of Mimì (La bohème) in September 2018, receiving critical acclaim from The New York Times for her "fine-grained tone and nuanced acting".[11][12] She returned to the Met in 2020 as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.

Performances at the Paris Opera have included Tatyana, Mimì, Micaëla and her role debut as Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlos in the 2019/2020 season. She also sang the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in a new production at the Paris Opera which was broadcast by many international cinemas.[13]

In April 2020 Car launched the Freelance Artist Relief Australia fund, a crowd-sourced trust dedicated to supporting Australian freelance artists during the Covid-19 pandemic.[14]

Opera roles

• Adalgisa, Norma (Bellini)[15]
• Countess, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)[2]
• Donna Anna, Don Giovanni (Mozart)[6]
• Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni (Mozart)[2]
• Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte (Mozart)[15]
• Leïla, The Pearl Fishers (Bizet)[2]
• Luisa Miller, Luisa Miller (Verdi)[2]
• Micaëla, Carmen (Bizet)[4][7]
• Mimì, La bohème (Puccini)[16]
• Pamina, The Magic Flute (Mozart)[15]
• Tatyana, Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)[4]
• Thaïs, Thaïs (Massenet)[2]
• Violetta Valéry, La traviata (Verdi)[17]

Recognition and awards

• At 21, while in her final year at the Victorian College of the Arts, Car won the 2007 Herald Sun Aria, performing arias by Verdi and Puccini. In making the announcement, chief adjudicator Anson Austin said she has "a wonderful talent and a most beautiful voice".[18]
• In 2013 Car won joint first prize in the Neue Stimmen vocal competition held in Germany.[19]
• Car won a Helpmann Award in 2016 for Best Female Performer in an Opera for her role in Luisa Miller for Opera Australia.[20]
• Car was to have been pictured on the March 2018 issue of Limelight magazine.[21] The issue was cancelled when the magazine changed owners.[22]
• She won the 2018 Helpmann Award for Best Female Performer in an Opera for La traviata, Opera Australia.[23]

Discography

• The Kiss with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Andrea Molino (conductor), ABC Classics, 2015
• Heroines with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti (conductor), ABC Classics, 2018

Personal life

Car is married to Canadian baritone Étienne Dupuis. They have one child, Noah.[24] Car was previously married to engineer Robin Stephenson.[25]

References

External links

• Official website
• Profile at Opera Australia
• Video on YouTube, "Sì, mi chiamano Mimì" from La bohème, Royal Opera House, 2018

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