Laurie Nelson, soprano, graduated with honors from the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University in Washington, DC where she received the Dean’s Performance Award for her graduating class. Ms. Nelson has performed extensively in opera throughout the United States and in Europe. Her operatic resume includes: Operatic Apprenticeships: Santa Fe, New Mexico and Opera of the British Isles.
Sampling of Roles: Both the First Lady (Die Zauberflöte, Katoktin Opera, New Mexico) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte, Four Corners Opera, CO), both the Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro; Tour, Opera of the British Isles) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro, Four Corners Opera, CO), Gilda, (Incomplete Education, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia), Suor Angelica, (Katoktin Opera, NM), Musetta, (La Bohème, Four Corners Opera, CO), Giulietta, (L’Ajo Nel Imbarazzo, OTNV), Beatrix (Les Bavards, OTNV), Venus (Who Am I, OTNV), Yum Yum, (The Mikado, Corkran English Theatre), Aline (The Sorcerer, CET), and Elsie (Yeoman of the Guard, CET). Ms. Nelson has also performed extensively in concert and oratorio. Recently she appeared on the Smithsonian’s Chamber Opera Concert Series and on the Anderson House Opera Series receiving critical acclaim from Joe McLellan of the Washington Post.
Laurie Nelson began teaching in 1986. She is the director of NM Productions and has served as a member of the auxiliary voice faculty at Catholic University in Washington DC. Today, Ms. Nelson’s students perform professionally in opera, musical theater and jazz both nationally and internationally. In 2006, her student Mr. Zachary Stains (tenor) recorded the role of Tiridate in Handel’s Radamisto on Virgin Classic records. The recording was chosen by Opera News magazine as their “best pick” among new releases. Her students have performed major roles with New York City Opera, The Virginia Opera, San Antonio Opera, Nashville Opera, Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds, Italy, Opera Bel Cantanti, The Washington Savoyards, Victorian Lyric Opera, and more. Her students pursuing careers in Broadway are performing nationwide.
Young singers who began their training in this studio have graduated from or continue their studies in voice and musical theater at fine schools such as: Peabody Conservatory, Northwestern University, Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, Julliard, Eastman School of Music, Elon, James Madison University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Ithaca College, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, NYU, Emerson College, Catholic University, Northwestern University, and more.
Laurie Nelson has received 3 presidential citations for excellence in education by the Governor’s School for Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Richmond and she has been a featured teacher in the publication “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” since 2005.
Laurie Nelson is the director of Northern Virginia Concert and Opera Theatre. She has directed productions of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Der Schauspieldirektor, as well as Gian Carlo Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief and Too Many Sopranos by Edwin Penhorwood.
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