Nina Bennet | Soprano
Nina Bennet studied at the Royal College of Music, London, before spending the next 20 years performing around the world with choral groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, Britten Sinfonia Voices, and the BBC Singers.
Having since uncovered a much larger voice, Nina is now becoming established as an exciting dramatic soprano, performing Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Romsey Abbey, Britten’s War Requiem in Haileybury College, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony in De Montford Hall, Leicester, Tippett’s Child of Our Time in Cadogan Hall, and Verdi’s Requiem in Eberbach Abbey, Germany. Nina made her solo Proms debut in the Royal Albert Hall in 2018, singing in the UK premiere of Lera Auerbach’s The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar Menagerie with the BBCSO under Edward Gardner, and returned there in 2022 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the televised Earth Prom.
Equally at home in both Jazz and Gospel, she regularly performs Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts and Will Todd's Mass in Blue with the Will Todd Trio. Recently she performed with the composer and gospel choir conductor Ken Burton in his piece Take Time to Change, crooned a set of jazz standards with members of the Aurora Orchestra in King’s Place, London, and made her yodelling debut in a Rogers and Hammerstein bonanza with the Southbank Sinfonia.
Nina has made her first forays into opera with the parts of Ortlinde and Gerhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre, Lia in an adaptation of Debussy’s L’enfant Prodigue for the Grimeborn Festival, Kathy in Her Day for Coventry’s City of Culture Festival, and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for Surrey Opera at the Minack Theatre.
Plans for 2024 include a recital recording of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, three performances of Mahler’s 8th Symphony, and Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck.
When Nina isn't singing, she dabbles in choral conducting and leads singing workshops. She is also employed in raising two children and an excellent cat called Billie Holiday.
"Nina Bennet's stratospherically inclined soprano made the strongest impact"
| The Guardian |