©
Mezzo Soprano, Alto
Kseniia Nikolaieva
Represented by
ARTIST OVERVIEW - ARTIST PROFILE
Artist Profile
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Upcoming Past
Aug 2025
16.
19:00
19:00
Antonio Pappano, Conductor
Oct 2025
17.
20:00
20:00
Marcus Bosch, Conductor
Ben Barnes, Stage Director
Oct 2025
21.
19:30
19:30
Marcus Bosch, Conductor
Ben Barnes, Stage Director
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Dec 2024
22.
15:30
15:30
Francesco Lanzillotta, Conductor
Denis Krief, Stage Director
Dec 2024
20.
20:00
20:00
Francesco Lanzillotta, Conductor
Denis Krief, Stage Director
Dec 2024
18.
20:00
20:00
Francesco Lanzillotta, Conductor
Denis Krief, Stage Director
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Biography Highlights
Upcoming & Recent
Debut at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Mavra and Zita Gianni Schicchi, debut as Principessa Suor Angelica at the Edinburgh Festival and the Proms Festival, return to the Royal Ballet and Opera as Mary Der Fliegende Holländer and debut at Teatro di San Carlo as La Cieca La Gioconda, Amneris Aida at Oper im Steinbruch St. Margarethen.
Previous
A former member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, where she performed as Suzuki Madama Butterfly, Giovanna Rigoletto, Annina La Traviata, Emilia Otello.
Recent engagements include A Voice from Above Die Frau ohne Schatten at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Berliner Philharmoniker, return to the Royal Opera House as Suzuki Madama Butterfly and Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte, The Third Magd Elettra at Accademia di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Maestro Pappano*.
Engagements elsewhere include Hivria The Fair at Sorotchynsi, Marta Iolanta, Olga Eugene Onegin, Maddalena Rigoletto, Lyubasha The Tsar’s Bride, Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte.
[*- canceled]
Portraits
© Jamila Di
Voce di Donna
A. Ponchielli - La Gioconda
Voce di Donna
A. Ponchielli - La Gioconda
Lyubasha's Aria
N. Rimsky-Korsakov - Tsar's Bride
Lyubasha's Aria
N. Rimsky-Korsakov - Tsar's Bride
Not love alone
R. Shchedrin
Not love alone
R. Shchedrin
Juke Box - Recital at the Royal Opera House
Juke Box - Recital at the Royal Opera House
Reviews & Press
Ponchielli - La Gioconda - La Cieca
In the role of La Cieca, Ukrainian contralto Kseniia Nikolaieva was superb. She brought an earthy and dark tone to the role showcasing the brooding quality of the character. Nikolaieva displayed a gorgeous vocal roundness in “Voce di Donna i d’angelo,” delivering smooth lines. It was one of the most moving moments of the evening as the voice rang with authority and nostalgia into the auditorium. Her opening song in the third scene of the opera “Tu canti agli uomini” was also quite beautiful and on the repeat, when she sang with Netrebko, the two voices gorgeously blended, the soprano’s slightly sweeter timbre contrasting with Nikolaieva’s darker tone. The final phrases of the first act were also splendidly sung between the two. Both voices rang nicely and showcased a spectacular comradery.
- Francisco Salazar , Operawire
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Brava to Kseniia Nikolaieva with great command of the low notes (excellent in “Woman's Voice”) in the contraltic role of a painful and very dramatic Blind Woman, even disturbing at times, as in the final apparition
Connessi all’Opera
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Mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva, for her part, is an impressive Cieca. If her voice is not far from characterising a contralto tessitura, the way she knows how to soften it and call upon very clear high notes makes her great aria, “Voce di donna o d’angelo” where she gives her rosary to Laura, extremely moving.
- Paul Fourier , Opera online
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Puccini - Madama Butterfly - Suzuki
The ever-faithful, ever attendant maid Suzuki was performed on this occasion by Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva, who joined the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the start of the 2020-21 Season. In this, one of her first major roles, she shows much promise, singing with real beauty and conviction. Her ‘”Il cannone del porto!” duet with her Mistress was sublime, allowing her to show off her gorgeous, dark resonance. Her devotion to Cio-Cio-San and her angst at her Mistresses’ refusal to accept the truth of her situation was utterly convincing and, in turn, heart rending.
- Mike Hardy , operawire.com
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Kseniia Nikolaieva asserts her deeply rich and sumptuous mezzo-soprano to excellent effect as Suzuki
- Sam Smith , opera-online.com
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Concert for Ukraine
Nikolaieva, a rich-toned mezzo who brought warmth to everything she sang, shone in a heartbreaking lullaby by Yevhen Stankovych and an unaccompanied lament by Leopold Yaschenko.
- John Allison , The Telegraph
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Verdi - La traviata - Annina
…She’s alone with her maid, Annina, played with great emotional maturity and vocal skill by Kseniia Nikolaieva, a Ukrainian singer who is currently a Jette Parker artist at the Royal Opera House.
- london-unattached.com
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Verdi - Rigoletto - Giovanna
With even the smaller roles impressing Giovanna only gets a few notes to sing, but Kseniia Nikolaieva made the most of them.
- David Karlin , bachtrack.com
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JPYA Summer Performance
…to give an irresistibly funny Mistress Quickly, her booming dramatic mezzo surprisingly adept at comedy.
- Kevin W Ng , bachtrack.com
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… Nikolaieva’s ‘Veil Song’ gave evidence that she has a sultry sound of incredible potential…
- Jim Pritchard , Seen and Heard International
Concert Meet The Young Artist Week
… but the temperature rose only with the appearance of the Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva. Blessed with an imposingly large and fruitily resonant voice that reminded me of those awesome Russian contraltos of the old school such as Irina Arkhipova and Elena Obraztsova, she flung herself into songs by Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky (including the chestnut None but the Lonely Heart) to the manner born.
- Rupert Christiansen , The Telegraph
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… None more so than from the singer new to most of us, Ukrainian mezzo/contralto Kseniia Nikolaieva. Hers is a big voice unleashed with enough power to tell us that with careful handling she will undoubtedly go where her compatriots Olga Borodina and Ekaterina Semenchuk have already trod, in roles with very specific voice-type requirements like Verdi’s Azucena in Il trovatore. She got to launch in her native language, feeling the pain of Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky; you won’t have heard “None but the lonely heart” ever delivered more operatically, but at that pitch the cut of the chest voice on the second note was thrilling.
- David Nice , theartsdesk.com
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Mozart - Die Zauberflöte - 3rd Lady
… While, of the three ladies, it was Kseniia Nikolaieva’s plummy Third Lady that made the strongest impression by some way.
- Colin Clarke , seenandheard-international.com
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Strauss - Die Frau ohne Schatten - A Voice From Above (Stimme von oben)
… und Kseniia Nikolaieva als Stimme von oben trugen Entscheidendes zum exquisiten Klangkolorit der Aufführung bei...
Der Opern Freund
The Jette Parker Young Artists at 20
The heartbreaking third act of Madama Butterfly under Jette Parker Michael Papadopoulos brought with it the finest of the Jette Palker singers on display: the force of nature that is Kseniia Nikolaeva, who performed previously as Giovanna in Pappano’s superb Rigoletto in February this year. Takingteh role of Suzuki here, her fine, strong yet rounded voice, almost a contralto, is capable of the most profound statements.
- Colin Clarke
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The highlight of the first half, and of the entire evening, was the Act Two Quartet from Verdi’s Luisa Miller, with Msabane Cecilia Rangwanasha in the title role, Nikolaieva as Federica, Blaise Malaba as Walter and Chuma Sijeqa as Wurm. To have Pappano in Verdi, the composer he surely is at his greatest, is a treat for both audience and singers (in spite of the fact that there is a long passage of the four singers minus orchestra – how accurate was the return of the orchestra, and how well the singers kept pitch)
