American soprano Nicole Chevalier, educated at Indiana University and the Juilliard School in New York, was one of the highlights of the 2019 Musikfest Bremen. Having stepped in at short notice for the ill Patricia Petibon, she triumphed as Violetta in Verdi’s »La traviata«. »World class«, wrote the Weser-Kurier, saying that Nicole Chevalier »moved the audience in the Glocke to tears«. She first performed the role of Violetta at the Hanover State Opera in the 2011-12 season and it has since become a staple in her repertoire. She sang it several times at the Theater Basel in recent seasons, most recently in 2025-26 in the critically acclaimed solo-»La traviata« production by Benedikt von Peter, which focuses entirely on the character of Violetta.

Chevalier made her international breakthrough at the 2019 Salzburg Festival as Elettra in Peter Sellars’ production of Mozart’s »Idomeneo«, conducted by Teodor Currentzis . This was followed by debuts at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Staatsoper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, English National Opera, and Theater an der Wien.

During her five-year tenure with the Komische Oper Berlin ensemmble, she worked closely with Barrie Kosky, winning the German theatre award »Der Faust« in 2016 for singing all four heroines in his production of Offenbach’s »Les Contes d’Hoffmann«. She performed the title roles in Handel‘s »Semele« and Offenbach‘s »La belle Hélène«, Cunegonde in Bernstein‘s »Candide«, Donna Elvira in Mozart‘s »Don Giovanni«, Fiordiligi in »Così fan tutte«, Tytania in Britten’s »A Midsummer Night’s Dream«, Rosalinde in Johann Strauss’s »Die Fledermaus« and, most notably, the title role in Aribert Reimann’s »Medea« in a Benedict Andrews production.