Madame Butterfly

Conductor / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002

Conductor / The Barber of Seville

May 2001

Conductor / La traviata

December 2000

Conductor / La Cenerentola

Mar/Apr 2000

Conductor / Le nozze di Figaro

Jan/Feb 2000

Conductor /
Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci

October 1999

Conductor / Madama Butterfly

May 1999

Conductor / Il trovatore

January 1999

Conductor / The Merry Widow

December 1998

Conductor / Don Pasquale

February 1998

Conductor / Così fan tutte

January 1998

Conductor / Tosca

September 1997

Conductor / Don Giovanni

January 1997

Conductor / La bohème

Nov/Dec 1996

Conductor / Carmen

August 1996

Conductor / La traviata

July 1995 (debut)

Artistic Director

1999–2008

Carmen / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)

Rémendado / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002 (debut)

Zuniga / Carmen

Jan/Feb 2002

Marullo / Rigoletto

March 1997

Schaunard / La bohème

Nov/Dec 1996

Zuniga / Carmen

August 1996 (debut)

Secret Police Agent / The Consul

April 2014

The Bonze / Madama Butterfly

October 2003 (debut)

Mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen has been hailed as a “rich voiced, expressive mezzo-soprano” by San Francisco Classical Voice and “appealingly direct and honest in tone and bearing” by Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe. Nina was most recently seen at Opera Santa Barbara as the Secretary in The Consul (2014). Previous performances with the company include both Kate Pinkerton (2003) and Suzuki (2012) in Madama Butterfly. Her Suzuki has also been heard at New York City Opera, Utah Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Sarasota Opera, Manitoba Opera, the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, and at Royal Albert Hall in London. Ms. Nelsen has performed leading roles in the world premieres of several important new operas, including the role of Mama in Jack Perla's An American Dream with Seattle Opera, Khanh in Huang Ruo's Bound and the role of Woman in Marty Ragen's Memory Stone (both with Houston Grand Opera). Other operatic highlights include the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors at Avery Fisher Hall and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Utah Opera. Ms. Nelsen is also in-demand as a concert soloist. She has sung the alto solo in Beethoven’s Symphony #9 at Carnegie Hall, with the Santa Fe Concert Association, the Southwest Florida Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. She has sung Verdi's Requiem with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra and the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Southwest Florida Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Nashville Symphony, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Peoria Symphony, and Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with the Grand Junction and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestras. Ms. Nelsen has received awards and recognition from the Gerda Lissner, Profant, and Santa Barbara's Performing Arts Scholarship Foundations; she was a National Finalist in the vocal competitions of the Jensen Foundation, the Loren L. Zachary Society, and the Metropolitan Opera. She is a 2009 graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, where she studied with Bill Schuman; she is also an alumna of the Opera Institute at Boston University.