JessicaNiles

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Soprano
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For availability and general enquiries:

Charlotte Bateman

Charlotte Bateman

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

About Jessica

Noted for her “prodigious energy and clarity” American soprano Jessica Niles is quickly making a name for herself internationally in the creation of new opera productions. Lauded for her unconditional powerful playing as a vocal emotional force, Niles is an alum of The Juilliard School where she trained in Anne Bogart’s method of Physical Viewpoints, a technique that acts as a medium for thinking about and acting upon movement, gesture, and creative space.

Niles’ 2024-25 season includes the title role in Handel’s Partenope at Oper Frankfurt, a return to La Monnaie/ De Munt as Impazienza in I Grotteschi, a new drama based on Monteverdi’s madrigals and three surviving operas, and Sandra in Bernard Foccroulle’s Cassandra, which makes its debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin.Opening the 2023-2024 season at La Monnaie / De Munt, Niles crafted and premiered the role of Sandra under the direction of Marie-eve Signeyrole, delivering “a remarkable performance as Sandra, a touching and courageous figure to whom the soprano brings conviction, freshness, and profundity”(ConcertoNet). She was featured in the Internationale Händel-Festspiele2021 reprising the sorceress Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo, a role which brought her much acclaim; 2021 also marked the return of international performances of Handel’s Aminta e Fillide with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, bringing her semi-staged portrayal of Aminta to the 40th annual Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie, The Queen’s Theatre at The Royal Palace of Versailles, the Muséedes Impressionnismes, Festival Castell de Peralada, and multiple venues across New York City.

A member of the Bayerische Staatsoper Opernstudio from 2021-2023, Niles performed roles ranging from contemporary to baroque including Iris in Claus Guth’s new production of Handel’s Semele where she “provided much of the show’s levity, through musical delivery and physical comedy” (New York Times), Sandrina in the new production of Haydn’s L’infedeltàdelusa where she was hailed as the “highlight of the evening” (OperaOnline, ConcertoNet), Schwester Jasmin in the new production of Georg Friedrich Haas’ Thomas, Echo in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Clorinda in Rossini’s la Cenerentola, and una Voce dal Cielo in Verdi’s Don Carlo.

In 2023-24, Niles returned to the Staatsoper reprising Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Bayerische Staatsoper at the 2024 Hong Kong Arts Festival, making her role debuts of Marzelline in Calixto Bieito’s production of Beethoven’s Fidelio and der junger Hirt in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and reprising Clorinda in la Cenerentola with an all-star cast including Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, and colleague and friend Emily Sierra. Niles also performed the role of Musetta in a new production of La Bohéme by director Juana Inés Cano Restrepo.

In recent concert repertoire, Niles has performed and recorded CDs with the Bayerische Rundfunk (Mendelssohn’s Elias) and the MünchenerKammerorchester (chamber pieces for soprano, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra by Gloria Coates); having performed Bach’s Matthäus-Passion last year with the Armenian National Philharmonic, she returns again this season for Bach’s Johannes-Passion.

Jessica is based in Munich

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Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Nov 2024
Oper Frankfurt
Partenope (title role) George Petrou (conductor) Julia Burbach (director)
Dec 2024
The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Handel's Messiah John Butt (conductor) The Hallé (orchestra)
Apr 2025 - May 2025
La Monnaie / De Munt, Brussels
I Grotteschi (Impazienza) Leonardo García Alarcón (conductor) Rafael R. Villalobos (director) World premiere

Photos

Selected Repertoire

BeethovenFidelio (Marzelline)
Bernard FoccroulleCassandra (Sandra)
BrittenThe Burning Fiery Furnace (The Angel)
DonizettiL’elisir d’amore (Adina & Giannetta)
HaasThomas (Schwester Jasmin)
HandelRinaldo (Armida)   •   Semele (Iris)
HaydnL’infedeltà delusa (Sandrina)
HumperdinckHansel und Gretel (Taumännchen)
MozartDon Giovanni (Zerlina)   •   Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna)
NicolaiDie lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Anne Reich)
OffenbachOrpheus in the Underworld (Eurydice)
PucciniLa bohème (Musetta)
PurcellDido and Aeneas (Belinda)
RameauHippolyte et Aricie (Une Matelote)
RossiniLa Cenerentola (Clorinda)
StraussAriadne auf Naxos (Echo)
VerdiDon Carlo (Una voce dal cielo)

News

Press

  • Partenope (Title Role)

    Frankfurt
    Nov 2024
    • Jessica Niles keeps the ball melancholically low as the title heroine, Partenope never loses sight of the state's interests. Niles' golden, rich soprano can erupt and cascade, but mostly she is the calm pole around which the suitors lurk. The dark timbre of her voice is all the more striking because she is the only soprano far and wide.

    • First of all, there is Jessica Niles in the title role. In the foreword to the in-house opera magazine, artistic director Bernd Loebe describes the young singer as the "Brenda of the future". He is taking his cue from Brenda Rae, who launched an international career from the ensemble and can currently be seen again as Lulu in the main house. The parallel is intended to express that Jessica Niles also has a fresh, clear soprano voice with astonishing technique and, in particular, flawless coloratura fluency. But if one is to draw comparisons, then one must acknowledge that the young singer's tone is rounder, her timbre is warmer, and her middle to low range has more power and volume than is the case with Brenda Rae. There is no need to describe her as "someone of the future", because her voice, her creative ability and her stage presence show that she is the "Jessica Niles of the present", an artistic personality who, with engagements at the State Operas in Munich and Berlin, the Salzburg Festival and a busy concert schedule with renowned conductors, can no longer be described as an "insider tip". But since contracts in the opera business are signed well in advance, the Frankfurt Opera can be congratulated on having engaged this fabulous singer in time before the steep career that has already begun makes her fee unaffordable.

    • The American soprano Niles portrays the title character with nobility and vocal strength.

    • Jessica Niles as Partenope, who sings incredibly casually but with majestic lyricism, faces the warrior with ready grace...

    • Jessica Niles has the ideal voice [for the title character]; she performs coloratura arias in all their splendour and sings cadenzas magnificently.