Nicole Smeulders
Sydney born Nicole Smeulders graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium with a Bachelor of Music Education majoring in Piano. She studied voice independently both in Sydney and in London and reached the finals of the Opera and Arts Support Group Vocal Scholarship, the Savage Club and Joan Sutherland Scholarship Prizes, as well as twice being awarded the Lauris Elms’ Contralto Award at the City of Sydney Eisteddfod.
Nicole has been involved with Opera Australia since 2001. Highpoints have included five Handa operas, Carmen on Cockatoo Island, The Ring Cycle in Brisbane and Tannhauser and Lohengrin in Melbourne (where she sang one of the Female Page roles).
During the 2025 Summer season, Nicole reprised her acting role as the Maid in La Traviata and covered the role of Second Witch in Dido and Aeneas. In 2024, she performed the role of the Second Lay Sister in Suor Angelica and was described by Limelight Magazine as: a “brilliant mezzo” for her two solos in Watershed.
Other cover roles for OA include La Badessa and La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica and the Third Lady in The Magic Flute.
Nicole’s roles with other companies include: Frederick (Mignon), Mrs Partlett (The Sorcerer), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), Edith (The Pirates of Penzance), Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas), Euryclea-understudy (Penelope) and Lady Jane (Patience).
Nicole has enjoyed an extensive career as an oratorio soloist in performances with ensembles including the Willoughby Symphony Choir, Haydn Ensemble, Newcastle University Choir and Penrith Symphony Orchestra. Repertoire performed includes: Haydn’s: Requiem, St Nicholas, Harmonie and Nelson Masses, Mozart’s: Requiem, Sparrow, Coronation and Credo Masses, JS Bach’s: Cantata BWV 39, Mass in F, Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Saint Saen’s Christmas Oratorio, Dvorak’s Mass in D, De Falla’s El Amor Brujo, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, CPE Bach’s Magnificat, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Handel’s Messiah, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Karel Loos’ Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Rutter’s Gloria, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.
Nicole’s concert engagements include performances at the Glebe Music Festival, Fisher’s Ghost Festival and The History of Emotions Seminar for the University of Western Australia. Broadcast highlights of her solo career include ABCFM concert recordings with the Song Company of Canberra’s Calling for You and Nigel Butterley’s 70th Birthday and Scarlatti’s Christmas Oratorio and Caldara’s Vaticini di Pace with the Sydney Consort.
As a chorister with Cantillation, she has performed on numerous CDs and films, and has been engaged in concert performances with the SSO and the ACO. With Pinchgut Opera chorus, Nicole has performed in the touring concerts of Women of the Pieta as well as Handel’s Athalia and Theodora, Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride, Rameau’s Castor and Pollux and Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo.