Nicole Car

Soprano

Australian soprano Nicole Car has established herself as one of the leading sopranos of her generation and has become a fixture at many of the top houses around the world. Often praised for her beautiful, rich timbre and her unique musicality, Nicole was recently made a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres de la république de France. 

Nicole’s 23/24 season engagements included her house debut at Teatro alla Scala as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Mimì in La bohème, Wiener Staatsoper as Blanche in Dialogue des Carmélites, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Marguerite in Faust, Desdemona in Otello as well as to Opéra National de Paris as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra. She sang Mimì with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Bravo! Vail Music Festival as well as the Orchestre National de Lille and returned home to Opera Australia for Puccini Gala Concerts with Orchestra Victoria in Melbourne. Future seasons include returns to Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Dallas Opera and San Francisco Opera, among others. In 2025, she returns to Opera Australia to make her debut as Rusalka.

Career highlights include Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Mimì in La bohème at The Metropolitan Opera, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at the Wiener Staatsoper and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Elisabetta in Don Carlo and Salomé in Hérodiade at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Opéra National de Paris as well as The Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and the title role in Luisa Miller at Opera Australia. Nicole’s concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied and works by Strauss with the Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras. She recently debuted Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Philippe Jordan, to great acclaim.

Nicole’s discography includes two solo albums The Kiss (ABC Classics) with The Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra and Heroines (ABC Classics) with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has also recorded André Messager’s Passionnément (Palazzetto Bru Zane), Massenet: Songs with Orchestra (Palazzetto Bru Zane) and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (ABC Classics).

Nicole was the first prize recipient of the 2013 Neue Stimmen Competition and the 2012 Australia Opera Awards and was nominated for Best Young Singer at the 2015 International Opera Awards. She won the Best Female Performer in an Opera category at the 2018 Helpmann Awards. She is currently the co-artistic director of L’Institut Canadien d’Art Vocal (ICAV) alongside her husband, operatic baritone Etienne Dupuis.