NICOLE HEASTON

Soprano Nicole Heaston, a versatile artist who is equally at home in opera, concert and recital, is quickly coming to the attention of American and European opera companies and orchestras for her outstanding vocal talent. She is the recipient of a 1999 Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and winner of the renowned ARIA Award.

Nicole Heaston made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2002/2003 season in the role of Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and returned in 2003/2004 to sing the same role there. In Kansas City she bowed to audiences as Musetta in La Boheme and in Grand Rapids as Gilda in Rigoletto. Ms. Heaston performed in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC in April 2003. She was heard in recital this November in Austin, Texas. In 2003/2004 she debuted as Despina in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte at the Dallas Opera and returned to Detroit to perform the role of Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Ms. Heaston appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 2004/2005 for a third consecutive season, as Pamina in Die Zauberflote conductor by James Levine. She returned to Kansas City for performances of Un Ballo in Maschera in the role of Oscar. Ms. Heaston also appeared in the Spoleto Festival performing the role of the Princess in La Bella Dormente nel Bosco and performed this role in the 2005 Lincoln Center Festival. This spring, she was heard in recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Recent appearances have also included her return to the Met as Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos. Ms. Heaston performed Mozart’s opera Zaide in Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NY University.

The 2001/2002 season included covering Ilia in Idomeneo at the Metropolitan Opera, returning to the Houston Grand Opera for her role debut as Gilda in Rigoletto. Miss Heaston performed the role of Gilda also with the Nashville Opera. Nicole Heaston also returned to Detroit for performances of Le Nozze di Figaro in the role of Susanna. The artist was heard in recital at William Jewell College in Kansas City this September.

Engagements for the 2000/2001 season included Nicole's debut with the New York City Opera performing La Boheme in the role of Musetta. This exciting production was telecasted live nationwide on PBS. In May, Nicole debuted in Detroit in her first Nanetta in Falstaff. She appeared this season in concert as soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony and with the Detroit Symphony as soloist in their Christmas Concert. Miss Heaston performed the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro in her debut with the Glimmerglass Opera.

In the season 1999-2000, Nicole Heaston performed in Un Ballo en Maschera as Oscar with the San Francisco Opera. Miss Heaston was heard with the Baltimore Symphony as soloist in Handel's Messiah in December and returned to the Houston Grand Opera for her first Adina in l'Elisir d'amore and to sing Zerlina in Don Giovanni. She made her debut in Vienna as Drusilla in l'Incoronazione di Poppea a role Nicole also performed in Aix-en-Provence and with the Musiciens du Louvre in Paris. In Aix Miss Heaston also performed the role of Virtu. Nicole appeared in concert with the Fort Worth Symphony under the baton of Jahja Ling performing Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and Mahler's Symphony No. 4. Nicole was heard in recital at the Art Song Festival in Cleveland.

The artist added two roles to her repertoire during the 1998-99 season: Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Dallas Opera and Drusilla in Monteverdi's Incoronazione di Poppea which she will sing for her debut with the Festival of Aix-en-Provence. She also appeared as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Dusseldorf Opera. The artist sang (and recorded for Teldec) Bach's B minor Mass with Boston Baroque and the Mozart Requiem with the Honolulu Symphony. Ms. Heaston appeared in recital at the Kosciuszki Foundation in New York City (sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation), as well as in Little Rock, AK, Jacksonville, FL and Grenoble, France.

Ms. Heaston launched her 1997-98 season with performances of Eve in Haydn's Creation for the opening of the season of the Flanders Opera in Belgium and made her European operatic stage debut in Montpellier as Anne Truelove in The Rake's Progress. In the United States, she appeared as Pamina in The Magic Flute with the Washington Opera and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with Houston Grand Opera. Ms. Heaston sang the soprano solos in Handel's Messiah with the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor and appeared in a movie based on the work, for which she also recorded the soundtrack under the baton of Marc Minkowski.

During the 1996-97 season, Ms. Heaston sang performances of Gluck's Armide with Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of Marc Minkowski -- the work was subsequently recorded by Archiv Production Deutsche Grammophon. Later that season the artist collaborated again with Maestro Minkowski in performances of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in Grenoble, France. Ms. Heaston created the role of Jacqueline Onassis in the world premiere of Jackie O with Houston Grand Opera (the recording is available on CD on the Argo label) and appeared with the company as Pamina in The Magic Flute. In the summer of 1997, she sang her first Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and Ismene in Mozart's Mitridate with Wolf Trap Opera.
During the 1995-96 season, Nicole Heaston made her Houston Grand Opera debut as Juliette in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. She also performed the role of Saint Settlement in Virgil Thomson's Four Saints In Three Acts and Mrs. Hayes in Susannah with the company.

Ms. Heaston has performed the roles of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Susanne in the world premiere performance and recording of Schubert's opera Der Graf von Gleichen, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Miss Silverpeal in The Impressario, and Anna Gomez in The Consul. In the summer of 1995, Ms. Heaston performed in Europe with Maestro Marc Minkowski, in Handel's La Ressurrezione as Angelo and Dido and Aeneas as Belinda and the First Witch.

Equally at home on the concert stage, the artist has performed the soprano solos in Handel's Messiah, Bach's B minor Mass and St. Matthew Passion, Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, A Song of Thanksgiving and Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughan Williams.

Nicole Heaston recorded Bach's Bminor Mass with Boston Baroque which was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Choral Album in 2000.

Ms. Heaston's many awards and prize winning competitions include the 1999 Richard Tucker Award - Jacobson Study Grant, the Shoshana Foundation Grant, the Robert Weede Corbett Award, the Oper Guild of Dayton Competition, the Opera/Columbus Competition, the San Antonio Opera Guild Competition, the Metropolitan Opera Regional Audition-Encouragement Award, and Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Award Competition.

Nicole Heaston completed her Masters Degree in Voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She received her undergraduate degree in music at the University of Akron.