Praised for “her natural warmth matched equally by innate lyricism” (Opera Canada) and “glittering brilliance with her soaring top notes,” (Opera Canada), Canadian soprano Nicole Leung is thrilled to be an Emerging Artist with Opera on the Avalon for the 24/25 season, as well as laureate of Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyrqiues. She most recently debuted with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto City Opera as Adina in its production of L’elisir d’amore, and was featured soprano soloist in Ammolite Opera’s Holiday Pops Concert. In March 2025, Nicole covers the lead soprano role of Orsia in Opera Parallèle’s world premiere of The Pigeon Keeper in San Francisco. She then covers the role of Gilda in Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Rigoletto. She will also be premiering a newly commissioned work by Meilina Tsui and Lisa Moore, underwritten by Opera on the Avalon in the Spring of 2025. Nicole is an alumna of the McPhee Artist Development Program at Calgary Opera, where she spent the past two seasons. While at Calgary Opera, she made her professional debut as Adina in L’elisir d’amore, as well as sang the roles of Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Frasquita (Carmen), Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict), and Delia (Stone Soup). She is also an alumna of Festival Napa Valley as a Manetti Shrem Vocal Fellow, where she covered Adina, as well as an alumna of The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she sang Ofglen in a workshop of The Handmaid’s Tale.
A graduate of the Yale School of Music, Ms. Leung was seen as Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Morgana in Alcina. She sang the role of Amy in a workshop of the world-premier opera The Snowy Day by Joel Thompson and libretto by Andrea Davis Pinkney, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. Within the Yale Opera Scenes Program, she was seen in Falstaff (Nanetta), Le Comte Ory (Comtesse Adèle), Ariadne auf Naxos (Naiad), Béatrice et Bénédict (Héro), La Rondine (Lisette), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), and La Bohème (Musetta). In addition to operatic performances, Ms. Leung appeared as Soprano Soloist with Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in their Mozart Requiem performance and as Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy with the Yale Philharmonia.
She has also attended SongFest in Los Angeles, CA as both a Young Artist and Studio Artist, underwritten by the Art Song Foundation of Canada. At SongFest, she had the opportunity to work alongside composers John Musto and Jake Heggie in curated concert performances. As a devoted interpreter of song repertoire, she was honored to receive Third Place in the Hal Leonard American Vocal Competition for Art Song in 2019.
Other operatic roles include Pamina (The Magic Flute), Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Romilda (Serse). In addition to her operatic and song performances, she has appeared as Soprano Soloist in a variety of concert programs, including Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder. She has been named a semifinalist (Tier 2) with the James Toland Vocal Competition and has received support from The Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation. Nicole holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (BM ‘19) and the Yale School of Music (MM ‘21, MMA ‘22). She currently studies privately with renowned operatic tenor and acclaimed voice teacher, Jason Ferrante. She splits her time between Calgary and her hometown, Toronto.