A Summer Speakeasy Soirée in San Francisco

Australian soprano Nicole Car has established herself as one of the leading sopranos of her generation and has become a fixture at many of the top houses around the world. Often praised for her beautiful, rich timbre and her unique musicality, Nicole was recently made a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres de la république de France.

During the 24/25 season Nicole will make four significant role debuts including Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffman at the Wiener Staatsoper, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Matréna in Mazeppa with the Münchner Rundfunk Orchester (to be recorded for the Palazzetto Bru Zane label), and the title role in Dvořák’s Rusalka at Opera Australia. Further on the operatic stage Nicole returns to the roles of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte and Elisabetta in Don Carlo all at the Wiener Staatsoper, as well as a return to Mimì in La bohéme at the San Francisco Opera. On the concert stage she will be heard in Faure’s La bonne chanson and Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle with the Ensemble Wien at the Musikverein.

Career highlights on the operatic stage include Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes for her recent debut with Teatro alla Scala, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Opéra National de Paris, Desdemona in Otello, Blanche in Dialogue des Carmélites and Marguerite in Faust at Wiener Staatsoper, Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte, Mimì in La bohème and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes at The Metropolitan Opera, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin and Mimì in La bohème at both the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Elisabetta in Don Carlo & Salomé in Hérodiade at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and the title role in Luisa Miller at Opera Australia. Concert highlights include Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Philippe Jordan and Mimì in La bohème in concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Bravo! Vail Music Festival under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In her home country of Australia, her concert appearances have included Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied and works by Strauss with the Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras as well as to Opera Australia for a Puccini Gala Concert with the Orchestra Victoria in Melbourne.

Nicole’s discography includes two solo albums The Kiss (ABC Classics) with The Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra and Heroines (ABC Classics) with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has also recorded André Messager’s Passionnément (Palazzetto Bru Zane), Massenet: Songs with Orchestra (Palazzetto Bru Zane) and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (ABC Classics).

Nicole was the first prize recipient of the 2013 Neue Stimmen Competition and the 2012 Australia Opera Awards and was nominated for Best Young Singer at the 2015 International Opera Awards. She won the Best Female Performer in an Opera category at the 2018 Helpmann Awards. She is currently the co-artistic director of L’Institut Canadien d’Art Vocal (ICAV) alongside her husband, operatic baritone Etienne Dupuis.

Marika Yasuda is a Japanese-American pianist and vocal coach based in San Francisco, CA. She has been on music staff at San Francisco Opera since 2022 where she played on productions of Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Gabriela Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber.  She frequently engages as a repetiteur at other major opera companies including Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera, and New Orleans Opera and has collaborated with conductors such as Eun Sun Kim, David Stern, Karen Kamensek, Ramon Tebar, Roberto Kalb, Joey Mechavich, Michael Christie, and others.  Marika also holds a position as vocal coach on the collegiate faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of music. Upcoming 2025 season engagements include working at Sante Fe Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

As a collaborative pianist, Marika maintains an active schedule of recitals and orchestral concerts appearing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Seiji Ozawa Hall, and Bennett Gordon Hall, as well as throughout the Bay Area at the War Memorial Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall, Taube Atrium Theater, Herbst Theatre, Mondavi Center, and the Green Music Center. She has performed with ensembles including the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, and with opera and vocal institutions such as Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, Yale University, Houston Grand Opera Butler Studio, Festival Napa Valley, Pocket Opera, Middlebury Song Fest, Concerts at Bradley Hills, and the Boulanger Initiative in Washington D.C. 

As a soloist, Marika has received top prizes in the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition, Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, Julia Crane International Piano Competition, and Music Teachers National Association competitions. She performed Samuel Barber’s piano concerto as a winner of the 2015 Oberlin Conservatory Concerto Competition, and has worked with artists such as Leon Fleisher, Peter Serkin, Robert McDonald, and Meng-Chieh Liu.

Marika earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Collaborative Piano at Indiana University under the guidance of Kevin Murphy and Anne Epperson. Marika is an alumna of the prestigious Merola Opera Program and the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera. 

Learn more at www.marikayasuda.com.