RebeccaNelsen

Bio//

 

Operatic soprano, Rebecca Nelsen, does not shy away from challenging roles, having recently performed Lulu, Violetta, Konstanze, Rosina, Marilyn Monroe, Susanna and Countess Almaviva as well as roles like Pamina, Gretel,  Clara in Porgy and Bess - Operetta roles like Laura in Der Bettelstudent, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow -  and even forays into the Broadway repertoire with lead roles in musicals like Kismet, Vivaldi the Musical, and Brigadoon, as well as concert repertoire like Carmina Burana, Beethoven 9, and Mozart's Exultate Jubilate.  Rebecca is also a specialist in modern opera and has performed lead roles in many critically-acclaimed European and world premieres. 

 

Rebecca Nelsen's performance highlights include principal roles in the Bavarian State Opera, the Dresden Semperoper, the Salzburger Festspiele, the Vienna Volksoper, the Cologne Opera, La Fenice in Venice, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Leipzig Opera, the Perm Opera in Russia, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Oper Angers/Nantes, the Malmö Opera, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Neue Oper Wien, the MUPA in Budapest, and Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra as well as a concert tour with the London Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen performing the Lulu-Suite by Alban Berg in venues like London Royal Festival Hall, the Philharmonie Luxembourg and the The National Music Auditorium in Madrid,

 

She has sung major roles with conductors Teodor Currentzis, Fabio Luisi, Myung-whun Chung, Stefan Soltesz, Alexander Joel, Peter Eötvös, Hans Graf, Julia Jones, Anja Bihlmaier, Evan Rogister, Rafael Payare and Alfred Eschwé.

 

Rebecca celebrated her successful role debut as Mimi in La Boheme at the Vienna Volksoper under the baton of Omer Meir Wellber in the fall of 2022. She also starred in a critically-acclaimed production of The Merry Widow in Theater Dortmund - named by the OPER! Magazine as best opera house of the year 2022. Other important recent house debuts include Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow at the Frankfurt Opera in 2022 and Konstanze in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Gran Theatre de Geneve in 2020 and at Opera Monte Carlo in 2019.  She has also recently made successful role debuts as Antonia in Offenbach's Les contes d'hoffmann and Erydike in Offenbach's Orpheus in der Unterwelt. 

 

In her 22/ 23 Season, in addition to her role debut as Mimi, Rebecca starred in the Vienna Volksoper‘s critically- acclaimed production Mozart‘s The Magic Flute in one of her favorite roles; Pamina. She also sang Hanna Glawari in the Merry Widow in her home house and is looking forward to her first Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.

She will also star in two premieres at the Volksoper Vienna: as Konstanze in a new production of Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail") by star director Nurkan Erpulat. as well as as Lara Lechner in the world premiere Operetta The Final Conspiracy (Die letzte Verschwörung") by Moritz Eggert.

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Rebecca Nelsen earned her Bachelor‘s degree in Vocal Performance (summa cum laude) and her Master’s degree in German Literature at Texas Tech University.  She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship Grant that enabled her to continue her studies at the University for Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, where she has lived and worked ever since.