Laurie Nelson

Education: Carnegie Mellon University, Catholic University of America. Performance: Laurie Nelson has performed extensively in opera throughout the United States and in Europe. Her operatic resume includes: Operatic Apprenticeships in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Opera of the British Isles. Opera Companies, Samples: Four Corners Opera, CO, Baltimore Opera, Corkran English Theatre, Summer Opera Theatre Co., Washington, DC., Katoktin Opera In the Field, New Mexico, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, Opera of the British Isles. Roles, Samples: Both the First Lady and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), both the Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro; Tour), Gilda, (Incomplete Education), Suor Angelica (Suor Angelica), Musetta, (La Bohème), Giulietta, (L’Ajo Nel Imbarazzo), Beatrix (Les Bavards), Venus (Who Am I), Yum Yum, (The Mikado), Aline (The Sorcerer), and Elsie (Yeoman of the Guard). Soprano Soloist Concert and Oratorio Samples: Schubert’s Mass in G, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Knoxville Barber’s Summer of 1915 (Performance Rome, Italy CUA 100 Year Anniversary Tour), Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Vespers, (performance in Rome at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II) Handel’s Messiah, the Smithsonian’s Chamber Opera Concert Series and Anderson House Opera Series. Ms. Nelson is the soprano with the interpretive ensemble Collage De Vie.

Teaching: Laurie Nelson began teaching in 1986. She has served as a member of the auxiliary voice faculty at Catholic University in Washington DC. and she is the director of NM Productions in Virginia. Today, Ms. Nelson’s students perform professionally in opera, musical theater and jazz both nationally and internationally.

Student Companies and Credits include: opera chorus, supporting roles and major roles with New York City Opera, The Washington National Opera, The Virginia Opera, San Antonio Opera, Nashville Opera, Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds (Italy and USA), Opera Bel Cantanti, The Washington Savoyards, Victorian Lyric Opera, The In Series, Broadway National Tours (Lion King, Oliver, and in 2011, Spring Awakening), Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre, 1st Stage Theatre, Musical Theatre of Wichita, Keegan Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Charter Theatre, Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, and The Shakespeare Theatre. In 2006, her student Mr. Zachary Stains (tenor) recorded the role of Tiridate in Handel’s Radamisto on Virgin Classic records which was subsequently chosen by Opera News magazine as their “best pick” among new releases.

Young singers training in this studio have continued their studies in classical voice and musical theatre programs at fine schools such as Peabody Conservatory, Northwestern University, Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, Julliard, Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, Elon, Ithaca, Emerson, North Carolina School of the Arts, NYU, Catholic 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” annually since 2005. Directing: Laurie Nelson is the director of Virginia Concert and Opera Theatre. She has directed productions of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Mozart’s The Impresario and Edwin Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos.