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.
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.
Nina is also featured as a soloist on Stewart Lane's 2022 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). In February 2024, Anthony Esland's "The Amherst Chronicles", which Nina recorded with Neil Crossland, piano, was released on all major platforms. In March 2024, Nina is singing Britten's "Les Illuminations" with orchestra, and in June 2024, she is looking forward to performing Schoenberg's String Quartet No.2, as well as Schoenberg's 4 early songs, Op. 2.
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.
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
Rossini: Di vaghi raggi adorno
Anthony Esland: The Amherst Chronicles: 2: Dear March, Come in
Nina Kopparhed soprano, Neil Crossland, piano. Lyrics by Emily Dickinson. Released in Feb 2024
Rossini: Di vaghi raggi adorno (Mme Cortese, Il viaggio a Reims) Nina Kopparhed, soprano and Neil Crossland, piano. Recorded live in recital, September 2023
Stewart Lane: A Mouthful of Aqueducts
Dame Ethel Smyth: Suppose you mean to do a given thing
A Mouthful of Aqueducts from Stewart Lane's album "Radio Ghosts". The track is very ambient in style. The singing starts about 1min 30 into the track.
Dame Ethel Smyth: Suppose you mean to do a given thing
(Mrs Waters: The Boatswain's Mate).