Nina, an introduction
Nina made her professional UK singing debut in November 2011, performing Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate with the Dunblane Chamber Orchestra, and has since been building a career, working as an oratorio soloist, recitalist and opera singer. Nina has given performances in England, Scotland, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Brazil and Bolivia.
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Nina is an accomplished Baroque and Classical singer, and her operatic, concert and oratorio work is mostly in this field. Operatic roles include: Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Ilia (Idomeneo), First Lady and the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflote/the Magic Flute), Susanna (Le Nozze), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito).
Nina's oratorio work includes: Handel: Birthday ode to Queen Anne, Handel: As from the pow'r of sacred lays (St Cecilia), Haydn: Nelson Mass, Handel: Dixit Dominus, Mozart: Requiem, Handel: Messiah, Haydn: the Creation (and many others). Her Concert work has included a series of cantatas by Telemann, and plenty of Handel, Mozart, and Haydn. Nina is also a member of the Covent Garden Minuet Company, with whom she performs as a Baroque dancer at events around London and the South East.
Nina also has a passion for contemporary music, and recently performed as part of the world premiere of "Invisible Effect", written by Platon Buravicky, choreographed by Kirill Burlov. It was written for the Baltic100, and features contemporary ballet, accompanied by soprano, clarinet, cello and piano (and percussion, played by all of the musicians). It was performed at the Pleasance Theatre in September 2018. Recent premieres of song cycles include Anthony Esland's "The Amherst Chronicles" and Neil Crossland's "Songs of Travel and Rest", both at the Harrow Summer Music Festival. Nina makes sure to programme something by a living composer in all of her recitals. In February 2024, Anthony Esland's "The Amherst Chronicles", which Nina recorded with Neil Crossland, piano, was released on all major platforms. Nina also recorded Neil Crossland's "Songs of Travel and Rest" in summer 2024. In May 2024, Nina was featured as a soloist on Stewart Lane's latest album: Horton Voices", which will be released in December 2024. Nina is also featured as a soloist on Stewart Lane's 2022 award winning album "Radio Ghosts": she sings the track "A mouthful of Aqueducts".
Nina's more contemporary operatic roles include Britten: the Governess (the turn of the screw) and Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring) as well as, by Nino Rota: Lucia (I due Timidi). Concert work: In 2024, Nina sang Britten's "Les Illuminations" with orchestra, and in June 2024, Schoenberg's String Quartet No.2.
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Nina also is passionate about performing works by female composers: in 2022, she performed a very well received recital programme "Summer is the time for love" featuring music by female composers or with text by female poets. Since then, Nina has been steadily expanding her repertoire of works by female composer, and has added songs by, amongst others, Ethel Smyth, Lori Laitman, Amy Beach and Chaminade to her list, and now always features at least one female composer in all of her recital programmes.
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Nina's heritage and past also is a huge influence: she is Swedish by birth, but her parents are Finnish, and her family originates from the Karelia region. This has created a love of Swedish and Finnish composers, Sibelius and Stenhammar being only two of her favourites. Nina also lived and worked two years in Brazil (in her previous career as a viola player, she worked as principal viola of the Orquestra do Estado de Mato Grosso), where she came into contact with Brazilian music and rhythms.
Anthony Esland: Dear March, come in
Stenhammar: Mansken, Op. 20 no. 4
Anthony Esland: The Amherst Chronicles: 2: Dear March, Come in
Nina Kopparhed soprano, Neil Crossland, piano. Lyrics by Emily Dickinson. Released in Feb 2024
Nina Kopparhed, soprano and Jelena Makarova, piano performing Stenhammar: Mansken, Op. 20 no. 4 live in recital in St Mary's, Watford on Sep 12 2024.
Stewart Lane: A Mouthful of Aqueducts
Sibelius: "Till Kvallen" Op. 17 No.6
The multi award winning video "A Mouthful of Aqueducts", featuring Nina Kopparhed, soprano, from Stewart Lane's album "Radio Ghosts". The track is very ambient in style. The singing starts about 1min 30 into the track.
Sibelius: Till Kvallen/Illalle, Op. 17 No. 6: Nina Kopparhed, soprano and Jelena Makarova, piano. Recorded live in recital, Oct 1 2024 in St Mary the Virgin and All Saints, Potters Bar
Rossini: di vaghi raggi adorno
Rossini: Di vaghi raggi adorno (Mme Cortese, Il viaggio a Reims) Nina Kopparhed, soprano and Neil Crossland, piano. Recorded live in recital, September 2023
Chaminade: L'Ete
Cecile Chaminade: L'Ete: Nina Kopparhed, soprano and Jelena Makarova, piano. Recorded live in recital, Oct 1 2024 in St Mary the Virgin and All Saints, Potters Bar
Repertoire
Roles:
Britten: Albert Herring: Miss Wordsworth (ENG)
Britten: The Turn of the Screw: The Governess (ENG)
Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte: Despina (ITA)
Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte: Fiordiligi (ITA) (retired)
Mozart: Die Zauberflote: Die Konigin der Nacht (GER/ENG)
Mozart: Die Zauberflote: Erste Dame/Knabe (ENG)
Mozart: Idomeneo: Ilia (ITA)
Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito: Vitellia (ITA)
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro: Susanna (ITA)
Mozart: Don Giovanni: Donna Elvira (ITA)
Nino Rota: I due Timidi: Lucia (ITA)
Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Olympia (ENG)
Puccini: Suor Angelica Prima Cercatrice/Touriere (ITA)
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas: Belinda (ENG)
​R Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos: Zerbinetta (GER)
R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier: Marianne (GER)
Sullivan: Iolanthe: Celia (ENG)
Sullivan: Pirates of Penzance: Edith (ENG)
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta: Brigitta (RUS)
Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades: Prilepa (RUS)
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Concert/Oratorio
Bach, JS: Cantata 140 "Wachet Auf"
Bach, JS: Magnificat
Britten: Les Illuminations
Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri
Handel: 9 Deutsche Arien
Handel: Dixit Dominus Soprano 1
Handel: Messiah (the)
Handel: Ode on the Birthday of Queen Anne
Haydn: Kleine Orgelmesse
Haydn: the Creation
Haydn: Nelson Mass
Mendelssohn: Elijah
Mozart: Exsultate, Jubilate
Mozart: Mass in C minor Soprano 1
Mozart: Requiem
Telemann: Schmeckt und sehet
Telemann: Cantata: Zurne nur, du alte schlange
Telemann: Cantata: Warum verstellst du die Gebarden
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
Vivaldi: Cantata "Nulla in mundo, pax sincera"
Zipoli: Ad mariam
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Lieder (Selection)
Argento, Dominick: Spring
Beach, Amy: 3 Browning Songs
Bridge, Frank: Come to me in my dreams
Bridge, Frank: Love went a-riding
Bridge, Frank: So early in the morning, O!
Bridge, Frank: Thy hand in mine
Canteloube, Joseph: 3 Bourrees (Chants d'Auvergne)
Canteloube, Joseph: L'Antouneo (Chants d'Auvergne)
Canteloube, Joseph: Pastourelle (chants d'Auvergne)
Chaminade, Cecile: Ecrin
Chaminade, Cecile: L'Ete
Chaminade, Cecile: Mots d'Amour
Crossland, Neil: 3 Bronte Songs
Crossland, Neil: Dream within a Dream
Crossland:, Neil How do I love Thee
Crossland, Neil: Songs of Travel and Rest, Op. 57 (2017: 7 songs)
Crossland, Neil: Spellbound (Lyrics: Emily Bronte)
Crossland, Neil: To a Sky-Lark
Dallapiccola, Luigi: Quattro Liriche di Antonio Machado
Esland, Anthony: The Amherst Chronicles (2018: 7 songs)
Finzi, Gerald: It was a lover and his lass
Finzi, Gerald: O fair to see
Head, Michael: A blackbird singing (Over the rim of the Moon)
Head, Michael: The Ships of Arcady (Over the rim of the Moon)
Ives, Charles: "The Swimmers"
Ives, Charles: Walking
Laitman, Lori: Early Snow (2003: 3 songs)
Lehmann, Lisa: But if the soul... I sent my soul through the invisible (From a Persian Garden)
Lehmann, Lisa: Each morn a thousand roses bring (From a Persian Garden)
Liszt, Franz: Die Lorelei
Puccini: E l'uccelino
Purcell, Henry: If music be the food of Love
Rachmaninoff, Sergei: Sireni
Rachmaninoff, Sergei: Spring Waters
Rachmaninoff, Sergei: Zdes Kharasho
Reger, Max: Maria Wiegenlied
Schubert, Franz: An mein Herz
Schubert, Franz: Die Abgebluhte Linde
Schubert, Franz: Gretchen am Spinnrade
Schonberg, Arnold: Erwartung, Op. 2 No. 1
Schonberg, Arnold: Waldsonne, Op. 2 No. 4
Sibelius, Jean: Flickan kom ifran sin alsklings mote
Sibelius, Jean: Till kvallen/Illalle
Sibelius, Jean: Varen flyktar hastigt
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: Flickan kom ifran sin alsklings mote
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: Flickan knyter i Johannenatten
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: I skogen
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: Melodi
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: Minnessang
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: Mansken
Stenhammar, Wilhelm: Skizz: Blas, blas du vintervind
Strauss, Richard: Die Nacht
Strauss, Richard: Morgen
Wilson, Mark: White in the moon
Wolf, Hugo: Gesegnet sei das Grun
Wolf, Hugo: Lied vom der Winde/Sausewind
Religious: for Weddings, funerals, Masses etc (Selection)
Bach/Gounod: Ave Maria
Caccini Giulio (attr.): Ave Maria
Franck, Cesar: Panis Angelicus
Handel, G.F: Eternal Source of Light Divine (Ode on the Birthday of Queen Anne)
Handel, G.F: Rejoice Greatly, O daughter of Zion (plus recits: there were shepherds in the field...)
Haydn, Joseph: Benedictus (Kleine Orgelmesse)
Mascagni Pietro: Ave Maria (Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana)
Mozart, W.A: Alleluia (Exsultate, Jubilate)
Mozart, W.A: Et Incarnatus Est (C Minor Mass)
Puccini, Giacomo: Salve Regina
Schubert, Franz: Ave Maria
with piano and another instrument
Argento, Dominick: To be sung upon the water
Beach, Amy. 3 Browning Songs, Op. 44
Schubert, Franz: Der hirt auf dem Felsen
Spohr, Ludwig: 6 Deutsche Lieder
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Lieder with an instrument other than piano​
Holst, Gustav: 4 songs for voice and violin
Vaughan Williams, Ralph: Along the Field: 8 songs for voice and violin
Vaughan Williams, Ralph: 3 Vocalises for clarinet and piano
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Soprano and string Quartet​
Schonberg, Arnold: String Quartet No. 2
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