Nicola Stonehouse - Soprano
Nicola Stonehouse studied at the Royal College of Music and was the Leverhulme Trust Scholar at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School. She now studies with Marie McLaughlin.
Roles at Opera Holland Park include most recently Diana in the 2009 production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld; Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata; Wowkle in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West and Lay Sister in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
Roles elsewhere include Angelina in Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury with Buxton G&S Opera Company in their 2009 festival; cover Megan in The Sacrifice (MacMillan) and Sian/Susan Another Life (Karen Wimhurst) both for WNO; Amour in Platee (Rameau) for English Bach Festival, Athens; Mrs Gobineau in The Medium (Menotti) at Wexford International Festival; Pamina for Dartington International Summer School’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (supported by a Joan Haward Bursary); the title role in Sāvitri (Holst) for the Montepulciano Festival.
Roles performed at college include Female Chorus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, Miss Jessel in Britten’s Turn of the Screw and Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte.
Nicola is an experienced concert soloist having sung in all the UK’s major concert halls. Last year she was privileged to be part of the RAF Benevolent Fund 90th Anniversary Gala celebrations at Bently Priory. Nicola also recently worked as an Opera Soloist aboard P&O Ships Oriana, Aurora and Arcadia as part of their 2010 World Cruise.
Last year Nicola was part of the ROH education project Voices of the Future called On the Rim of the World by Orlando Gough which was performed on the main stage at Covent Garden. In March 2010 she performed in workshops for Jonathan Dove's An Enchanted Pig at a primary school in Bury St Edmunds.
Forthcoming work includes the role of Frasquita in Opera Novella's touring production of Bizet's Carmen and Celia in Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe with Buxton G&S Opera Company. In October 2010 she will sing with the St Albans Choral Society as their soprano soloist in Vivaldi's Gloria and McDowell's Magnificat. In summer 2011 Nicola will sing the role of Bianca/Gabrielle in Opera Holland Park's production of Puccini's La Rondine.