She also returned to Opera Santa Barbara as Tituba in The Crucible and sang in their 25th Anniversary Gala concert. Nelsen made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Mama in Jack Perla's An American Dream and reprised the same role at Anchorage Opera. Performances canceled due to COVID-19 included a return to the Santa Barbara Symphony to perform Beethoven's Mass in C and a reprisal of the role of Khanh in Huang Ruo's Bound at The Juilliard School.ĭuring the 2018-2019 season, Ms. Nelsen made her Portland Opera debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, performed in the world premiere of Blood Moon at Prototype Festival in New York City and returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover Suzuki in Madama Butterfly.

Nelsen will reprise the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Atlanta Opera and New Orleans Opera, perform selections of orchestrated lieder by Alma Mahler with the Toledo Symphony, return to Seattle Opera as Khanh in Bound and join her home company of Opera Santa Barbara as Mama in An American Dream and Fricka in the Dove reduction of Die Walküre. She also performed in the Uplifting Asian Voices concert at Boston Lyric Opera, joined Santa Fe Opera for a performance of Huang Ruo’s Angel Island, made her Washington National Opera debut as Phoung Tran in the world premiere of The Rift (Ruo/Hwang), sang Mama in Jack Perla’s An American Dream at Kentucky Opera and performed as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Rhode Island Philharmonic. Nelsen made her Boston Lyric Opera debut as Mama Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana and her Bard Opera debut singing Mother Chen in Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier, returned to Opera Santa Barbara for a double bill of El Amor Brujo and Frugola in Il tabarro, and made her Chicago Opera Theater debut singing Queen Sophine in Mark Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus. Hailed as a “richly powerful singing actress” (Broadway World), Nina Yoshida Nelsen captivates audiences throughout North America and Europe with her world class voice and magnetic stage presence.

Seattle opera gala