"Nie possesses a clear, sweet, beautifully trained voice and excellent musicianship."
The New York Amsterdam News, December 4, 2002
Lara Nie - mezzo soprano
Mezzo soprano, Lara Nie is one of the most versatile and accomplished young singers performing today. She is an active proponent of the chamber and recital repertoire, and her performances are recognized for their passionate interpretation and sophisticated musicality. Included among Ms. Nie's national and international recital and chamber venues are the Ravinia Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, the Washington Holocaust Museum Chamber Series, the Windermere Music Festival in Canada, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony's Edgar M. Bronfman Chamber Music Series, the Society for Ethical Culture, the Florida Arts Festival, and the Lawrence University Guest Artist Series.
She is equally at home on the concert and opera stages. Ms. Nie has been heard in concert at Orchestra Hall in Chicago with the Civic Orchestra, the Canadian Chamber Academy Orchestra, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and with the Orchestra du Monde. She was a soloist in the Mahler Eighth Symphony with the Manhattan School of Music at Riverside Church. On the opera stage, Ms. Nie has performed with many international opera companies including the Altenburger Musik Festival in Germany, Israel Vocal Arts, and the Kentro Musikis at the City Hall of Thessaloniki in Greece. She has sung major roles in operas ranging from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflote, Bastiene und Bastienne, and Cosi fan Tutte, to Brecht and Weil's Street Scene. She premiered the role of Dora in Saruy's The Pompei Exhibit at New York's avant-garde theatre, The Kitchen.
She has recorded widely from the Mozart and Schubert lieder repertory on the Silver Bay Label and has been heard live on Chicago's WFMT and New York's WQXR, and on Florida Public Radio.
Ms. Nie is a sought after collaborator and has appeared with members of the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the National Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, Ensemble du Monde and with many chamber groups in works that range from Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate to Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations.
Lara Nie began her vocal studies in Chicago with Gisella Goettling, and received a Master's Degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Trained as a lyric soprano, Ms. Nie recently has begun singing the mezzo soprano repertoire and will perform as a mezzo soprano at her Carnegie Hall debut on December 3, 2006 at Weill Recital Hall.
Upcoming performances include the Spring 2007 premiere at New York's Merkin Hall of a new work written for Ms. Nie by Hampson Sisler with the Ensemble du Monde. She also will appear in the summer of 2007 at the Sun Valley Summer Symphony Music Festival, and will perform with the Nie, Fredriksen, Miller Trio sponsored by the Enochian Foundation.
Ms. Nie lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.