Nicholas Lester
Nicholas Lester, now a UK citizen resident in London, studied at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and at the National Opera Studio, London where his studies were sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. He was also a recipient of an Independent Opera/National Opera Studio Postgraduate Voice Fellowship. Whilst at the National Opera Studio he appeared in concert with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra and covered Belcore L’elisir d’amore at Welsh National Opera.
Early in his career Nicholas Lester’s operatic engagements included The Foreman Jenůfa for Glyndebourne On Tour, Count Almaviva The Marriage of Figaro and Theseus A Midsummer Night’s Dream for English Touring Opera, Doctor and Shepherd Pelléas et Méllisande at Opera Holland Park, Diarte Erismena (Cavalli) with New College Opera, Oxford and Justizrat and cover Storch Intermezzo with Scottish Opera
Other roles Nicholas Lester has performed are Marcello La bohème, Onegin Eugene Onegin, Pietro Simon Boccanegra, Don Alfonso Cosi fan tutte, Speaker The Magic Flute, Malatesta Don Pasquale, Second Prisoner Fidelio, Miguel Betrothal in a Monastery (Prokofiev), Colonel Calverly Patience, Pirate King The Pirates of Penzance, and Sir Joseph Porter HMS Pinafore. His repertoire also includes Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, Leporello Don Giovanni, Pasha Selim Abduction from the Seraglio, Paris Roméo et Juliette, Kagler Wiener Blut, Brioche The Merry Widow, Kuligin Katya Kabanova, Fiorello Il barbiere di Siviglia, Flora’s servant La traviata and The Vicar Albert Herring.
Nicholas Lester has a busy concert diary. His recent engagements have included performances of Mendelssohn Elijah, Bach Cantatas, Rameau Motets and Mozart Requiem. He has sung Brahms Requiem in Beijing, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and the Fauré Requiem at St Martin-in-the- Fields and Messiah under Laurence Cummings.
Last season Nicholas Lester performed Schaunard La Boheme with the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands, a role he repeated with Glyndebourne On Tour last autumn. He is currently singing Onegin Eugene Onegin and Figaro The Barber of Seville for English Touring Opera. Future engagements include Marcello for the State Opera of South Australia and Der Sprecher Die Zauberflöte for Scottish Opera.
May 2012
Eugene Onegin (title Role) English Touring Opera – All reviews March 2012 unless indicated.
"With an impeccably cast Onegin at its head, English Touring Opera’s production is a real tonic"
"Tchaikovsky’s story comes across truthfully, not least because the cast has at its head a Eugene Onegin so tall and imposing that he looks the part to perfection. Add to that a strong baritone voice and an ability to get to the chilly heart of Onegin’s character, and Nicholas Lester is near ideal casting. His final scene with Tatyana sets the sparks flying..."Richard Fairman
Financial Times
“ …Nicholas Lester’s beautifully realised Onegin was rightly at the centre of attention, a figure drawn with subtlety and showing an understanding of exactly how to hold the audience’s interest….”
George Hall
Opera Now – May 2012
"…It was Nicholas Lester's tall, handsome, aloof Onegin who took the vocal honours in a role that retains a modicum of sympathy only if its singer, as here, is young. This was a performance of tremendous poise and confidence..."
Hugh Canning
Opera – May 2012
" . . .The first night of a revival of James Conway's 2007 ETO production of Eugene Onegin – still one of the best in recent years – was handsomely sung by Nicholas Lester . . ."
Anna Picard
The Independent
