Nazan Fikret Soprano
ABOUT Me
Awards and Prizes
International Opera Awards Development Fund 2017/18, 2018/19
International Opera Awards Bursary Recipient winner 2015/2016
Help Musicians Career Development Bursary winner 2016/17
Das Lied International Song Competition Finalist 2017
Making Music PADG Winner 2015
English Song Prize, GSMD Winner 2012
Susan Longfield Award, GSMD Winner 2012
The National Mozart Competition Highly commended 2011
Sponsorship & Thanks
Leslie Macleod-Miller
The Nicholas Boas Trust
The Opera Awards Foundation
Talent Unlimited, Canan Maxton & the late Keith Beresford
Help Musicians
Felicity Guinness
The Headley Trust
David Harman
The late Serena Fenwick
Nazan Fikret was born in the UK to Turkish and Irish parents and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is a former Britten-Pears Young Artist, recipient of an International Opera Awards Bursary, finalist in the Das Lied International Song Competition, and former Making Music Young Concert Artist and Talent Unlimited musician.
For the 22/23 season, after a short pause for maternity leave, Nazan made a critically acclaimed return to stage as Teofane in Handel's Ottone for English Touring Opera, and also in her Welsh National Opera debut as First Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute. In this 23/24 season, Nazan returns to English Touring Opera; firstly as Clorinda in Rossini's Cenerentola and thereafter, in a major role debut as Anne Trulove in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. Further ahead, she will perform as Suor Genovieffe in Puccini's Suor Angelica for West Green Opera, in recital for The Royal Opera House with duo partner Rebecca Cohen, before finishing the season as Asteria in Pergolesi's L'Olympiade for the Vache Baroque Festival.
During the pandemic and in the midst of many COVID cancellations, Nazan was extremely fortunate to perform as Queen of the Night for Glyndebourne in Autumn 2020 and record for Royal Opera's Digital series, 8bit, in April 2021. In the same year, she also performed live on air on BBC Radio 3's In Tune, with new works by Ella Jarman-Pinto commissioned for the day. Just prior to maternity leave, Nazan made her television debut as Queen of the Night for English National Opera's/Sky Arts children's drama Abracadopera!
Pre-pandemic career highlights include: Blonde The Seraglio (English Touring Opera), Queen of the Night Die Zauberflöte (Opera på Skäret, Garsington Opera and Rota das Artes, Lisbon), her Glyndebourne debut as Elin in Agreed, (Glyndebourne community opera with the OAE), Arasse Siroe, re de Persia and Handel’s Messiah (Nederlandse Reisopera), Euridice Orfeo ed Euridice (Longborough Festival Opera) and Handel's Theodora (Snape Maltings: Britten-Pears, with Christian Curnyn/Sarah Connolly).
Nazan made her operatic debut aged thirteen singing Flora The Turn of the Screw in Elijah Moshinsky’s production at Wilton’s Music Hall. She went on to sing the role in Aix-en-Provence (Luc Bondy / Daniel Harding), subsequently touring to La Monnaie, Le Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Wiener Festwochen and Edinburgh Festival. She also performed the role for Nederlandse Reisopera (Stephen Langridge) and whilst a student at the GSMD for English National Opera and Teatro Real (David McVicar).
Since leaving the GSMD, further operatic roles have included Diane Disney The Perfect American by Philip Glass (world premiere: Teatro Real/ English National Opera), Ninetta La Périchole (Garsington Opera), Fiordiligi Così fan tutte (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / European Opera Centre), How the Whale Became by Julian Philips (Royal Opera House).
Also a passionate educator, Nazan regularly participates in education projects with Garsington Opera, English National Opera and Glyndebourne Education departments, as well as running a small private teaching studio.
First Lady / The Magic Flute / Welsh National Opera / 2023
Cond. Paul Daniel / Dir. Daisy Evans
“The Three Ladies, Nazan Fikret, Kezia Bienek and Claire Barnett-Jones, were vocally a fearsome trio...” (Opera / Rian Evans)
Teofane / Ottone / English Touring Opera / 2022 Cond. Gerry Cornelius / Dir. James Conway
“Nazan Fikret gives a standout performance as the deceived and bewildered princess, captivating throughout both vocally and dramatically.”
(The Stage / Inge Kjemtrup)
“Of the solo sextet, soprano Nazan Fikret sang with a luminous beauty that sent my eyebrows northwards. She plays Teofane, a Byzantine princess who’s engaged to the Saxon Emperor Ottone but is stolen away by Adelberto, who’s engaged to Ottone’s sister Matilda... Do keep up. Or, alternatively, just revel in Fikret's voice. Already an established talent, she's en route to the top and on this showing she’s practically there.”
(Bachtrack / Mark Valencia)
“Nazan Fikret made a delicate seeming Teofane. Subject to much yet always surviving, Fikret might have drooped elegantly and effectively in her 'pathetic' arias, but she engaged us musically and suggested Teofane had stoic qualities of her own, underneath. Fikret had an engaging way with her music and always held the stage even when not being very positive, a fine performance indeed.”
(Planet Hugill)
“Soprano Nazan Fikret makes a fearful yet beautifully crystalline princess Teofane.” (The Guardian / Stephen Pritchard)
“...all three female soloists sang with terrific poise and intensity, persuasively defining and developing their characters.”
(Opera Today / Claire Seymour)
“Nazan Fikret proved a charming Teofane...” (Opera / Hugh Canning)
“Soprano Fikret is stand-out as the bewildered would-be bride with tremendous control and restrain...”
(British Theatre Guide / Karen Bussell)
Queen of the Night / The Magic Flute / Glyndebourne / 2020 Cond. Leo McFall / Dir. Donna Stirrup
“Nazan Fikret sparkled through the Queen of Night’s high-wire acrobatics...” (The Telegraph / Rupert Christiansen)
“...the real surprise was Nazan Fikret's Queen of the Night, ready to be heard on opera stages all round the world.”
(The Arts Desk – Best of 2020: Opera / David Nice)
“...this fast-rising soprano had all the notes and flexibility the part requires.” (Opera / Mark Valencia)
“...she nailed all the notes in both arias, flinging out stonking F sharps into the stratosphere. She sings the role so well, one hopes she won’t be typecast, because she is a fine comic actor too.”
(The Sunday Times / Hugh Canning)
“The young Nazan Fikret was a particularly stunning, ferocious Queen of Night.”
(New Statesman / Emily Bootle)
Blonde / The Abduction from the Seraglio / English Touring Opera / 2019 Cond. John Andrews / Dir. Stephen Medcalf
“Nazan Fikret’s glorious Blonde... Fikret is exceptional, wonderfully secure over the role’s exacting range...”
(The Guardian / Tim Ashley)
“Rather more florid, aptly, was the fast-rising Fikret as Blonde. What pipes this young artist has! As she massaged her unguents into Stiff’s naked back it was easy to see why he desired her: he was like putty in her hands. My, but the go-to child Flora of the early noughties has come a long way. On this evidence her burgeoning career as a coloratura soprano is going to make quite a noise.”
(Opera / Mark Valencia)
“As Blonde, Nazan Fikret has the finest voice in the cast, clear and rich, with plenty of character. The production makes the most of her many comic moments, like her second act aria “With smiles and kind caresses,” complaining about Osmin’s advances, here sung as she gives him a massage, and takes out all her frustrations on his back.”
(The Arts Desk / Gavin Dixon)
“Nazan Fikret’s Blonde was another powerful piece of characterisation, salacious and wily, with a voice in full gleam. Strong acting and movement again followed musical excellence: the torturous ‘massage’ she gives Osmin whilst singing of women’s capacity to manipulate men was full of risqué mischief.”
(Bachtrack / Benjamin Poore)
“In the role of the English maid Blonde, Nazan Fikret’s gale-force performance is a brilliant comedy turn...”
(The Independent / Michael Church)
“There are strong vocals throughout... Nazan Fikret’s sparky Blonde having fun as she deals effectively with Osmin’s importunate bullying.”
(The Stage / George Hall)
Königin der Nacht / Die Zauberflöte / Opera på Skäret/ 2019 Cond. Lorenzo Coladonato / Dir. Roberto Recchia
“Nazan Fikret not only delivers the murderous coloratura, but a genuine and resounding passion. A world class Queen of the Night!”
(Dagens Nyheter / Camilla Lundberg)
“The Queen of the Night has two of the most formidable arias in the opera literature and requires vocal chords of steel and stratospheric height.... Nazan Fikret was the most formidably brilliant. A voice for the grand opera houses..."
(Seen & Heard International / Göran Forsling)
“Nazan Fikret’s Night Queen is a mother, witch and egocentric primadonna, with powerful acting, and supremely devilish coloratura...”
(Svenska Dagbladet / Karin Helander)
“The Queen of the Night has her great aria in Act II and soprano Nazan Fikret swings freely and easily into the highest soprano heights in “Der Hölle Rache”.”
(Dala-Demokraten / Anne Pettersson)
