BIOGRAPHY
Scottish mezzo-soprano Nicola Wemyss graduated with honours from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and completed her postgraduate degree specializing in Early Music and Historical Performance Practice at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.
Nicola began her solo career by winning the first Chimay International Competition for Baroque Singing (now superseded by Le Jardins des Voix), with a jury chaired by William Christie. She has since been invited to perform with various leading orchestras and ensembles across Europe and beyond, including: Les Arts Florissants, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Musica ad Rhenum, the Netherlands Bach Society, the Apollo Ensemble, The Brigantes Orchestra, the Huelgas-Ensemble, the Apotheosis Orchestra, etc, working with directors such as Korneel Bernolet, Frans Brüggen, William Christie, Quentin Clare, Richard Egarr, Ton Koopman, Paul van Nevel, Jos van Veldhoven, Jed Wentz...
Next to a broad oratorio and concert repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the 20th Century, Nicola has also performed several operatic roles which include Hébé in Rameau’s ‘Les Indes Galantes’ (with Brüggen and the Orchestra of the 18th Century), the title roles from Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ (with Wentz and Musica ad Rhenum) and Rossi’s ‘Orfeo’ (with van Veldhoven and Capella Figuralis).
Nicola has recorded several discs including music by Charpentier with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants for Erato; Dido in Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’, Dafne in ‘Apollo e Dafne’ by Handel, Diana in Galliard’s ‘Pan and Syrinx’, and the Mozart roles of Silvia in ‘Ascanio in Alba’, and Annio in ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ with Jed Wentz and Musica ad Rhenum for Brilliant Classics; The Queen of Sheba and First Woman in Handel’s ‘Solomon’, Dejanira in Handel’s ‘Hercules’, and Eliakim in the pastiche oratorio ‘Gideon’ by Handel/Smith, with Joachim C Martini and the Junge Kantorei Frankfurt for Naxos, discs of music by Padovano and Demantius with Paul van Nevel and the Huelgas-Ensemble for Harmonia Mundi, and music of Monteverdi/Cassol for Outhere Music.