Nicola Said Maltese Soprano London

"The Lucia of Nicola Said was no fragile creature, but a spontaneous young woman. By the time she entered for her Mad Scene, wielding a large knife and wearing her husband’s bloodied dress shirt, she seemed genuinely deranged and dangerous."

- Yehuda Shapiro, Opera Magazine

BIOGRAPHY

Maltese Soprano Nicola Said recently performed the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Festival Lyrique-En-Mer Belle-Île, and covered the role of Nannetta (Falstaff) with The Grange Festival. Last year, she premiered the role of Maria in the first Maltese opera cycle Belt il-Bniedem - City of Humanity, composed and produced by Maltese composer Reuben Pace as part of Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture. In 2018, Nicola reprised the role of Lucia Lucia di Lammermoor in a revival of Fulham Opera's production with Grimeborn at the Arcola Theatre. Nicola has sung the roles of Adele Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, Adina Elixir of Love with New Sussex Opera, Blondchen Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Warsaw Chamber Opera, Zerlina Don Giovanni with Teatru Manoel, Queen of the Night The Magic Flute with Charles Court Opera, Zerbinetta Ariadne auf Naxos with Opera Project at West Green House Opera, and she has worked with Grange Park Opera where she sang Hlas in Jenufa. She studies with Yvonne Kenny and completed the Guildhall School Opera Course where she performed the title role in Ariane, Lucia The Rape of Lucretia and Rosaura Le Donne Curiose. Other performed roles include Barbarina Le Nozze di Figaro, La Fée Cendrillon, and Olympia Les Contes d’Hoffman.

Nicola coaches with Juliette Bisazza in Malta and has studied at CSULB with Shigemi Matsumoto. A Talent Unlimited Artist, Peace and Prosperity Trust Young Artist, a Drake Calleja Trust Scholar, Samling Scholar, and a BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation Scholar, Nicola has received support from the Walter Hyde Memorial Trust, London Syndicate, Malta Arts Scholarship, Ian Tomlin and Janatha Stubbs. She was nominated by Joseph Calleja, with whom she has performed in concert, to attend the Salzburg Mozarteum in summer 2014 where she won Second Prize in the Strauss Competition. Nicola won First Prize and Audience Prize for the Fulham Opera Robert Presley Memorial 2017.

Nicola has performed in Cadogan Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Barbican Hall, and at the Royal Opera House as Echo in Laurence Osborne’s opera Narkissus and the Reflektions. Nicola has recorded and premiered works by Paul Carroll at Abbey Road Studios with the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra, has given recitals for HRH The Earl of Wessex in a Duke of Edinburgh event and at St. James’s Palace. She gave a recital with James Baillieu in the Three Palaces Festival, Barrandov Opera, and the President’s New Year’s Concert with Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. Nicola is the Ambassador for the Malta Airport Foundation. In June Nicola will cover the role of Nannetta (Falstaff) at The Grange Festival, and in August she will sing Lucia with Festival Lyrique-en-Mer in Belle-Île. Nicola will sing Madeline in the World Premier of City of Humanity 2 - The Island Fortress composed and produced by Reuben Pace in 2020.