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Laurie Nelson

Founder/Faculty Director and Voice Teacher

Laurie Nelson's singers are achieving success across the spectrum of musical genres, garnering multiple Broadway credits and successful careers in opera.  Ms. Nelson's compassionate leadership and expert guidance have led to coveted contracts with American Opera Houses, European Opera Festivals, Broadway National Tours and Tony Award winning theatre companies, making Laurie Nelson a highly respected and sought-after mentor in the field.

 

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Teaching: 

Laurie Nelson began teaching in 1986. She has served as a member of the auxiliary voice faculty at Catholic University in Washington DC. and she is the director of NM Productions in Virginia. Today, Ms. Nelson’s students perform professionally in opera, musical theater and jazz both nationally and internationally.

 

Competitions:

Student Awards:

  •  Winner, COSMIC Symphony Young Artist's Competition, Grand Prix Winner, Concert Festival International Competition, awarded solo concert appearance at Carnegie Hall, Finalist, Howard County Arts Council Rising Star Competition. Winners of: Helen Hayes Award (Weslie Woodley, Keegan Theatre), National Young Arts, Washington Post Competition, Signature Idol finalist, American Idol (finalist), The Sing Off, (finalist)

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Student Theatre Credits:

  • Broadway & National Tours:

    • Jesus Christ Superstar (present), Prom, Broadway, West Coast (present) , Lion King, Oliver, Spring Awakening 

  • Disney:  

    • Walt Disney World Performer - Mulan

  • Regional Theatre: 

    • Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre, 1st Stage Theatre, Musical Theatre of Wichita, Keegan Theatre, Round House, Ford’s Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Charter Theatre, Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, and The Shakespeare Theatre, Big Fork Summer Playhouse, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, Nashville Repertory Theatre, Street Theatre Company, Studio Tenn, Cortland Repertory Company, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Theatre at Monmouth 

  • Professional Cabaret: 

    • Signature’s Ladies, Capital Steps, Swing Time, the Musical

  • Regional Amateur Theatre:

    • Little Theatre of Alexandria, Arlington Players, City of Fairfax Theatre Company, Vienna Theatre Company, Encore, Mount Vernon Community Theatre, Good Shepherd Players, Capital Fringe Festival, Northern Virginia Players

 

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Student Opera Company Credits:

  • Roles and Features

    • New York City Opera, The Washington National Opera, The Virginia Opera, San Antonio Opera, Nashville Opera, Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds (Italy and USA), Opera Bel Cantanti, The Washington Savoyards, The Washington Concert Opera, Victorian Lyric Opera, The In Series, Riverbend Opera, Baltimore Lyric Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera

  • Student Recordings:

    • In 2006,  Ms. Nelson’s student Mr. Zachary Stains (tenor) recorded the role of Tiridate in Handel’s Radamisto on Virgin Classic records which was subsequently chosen by Opera News magazine as their “best pick” among new releases.

 

 

Universities and Conservatories:

  • Young singers trained in this studio have continued their studies in classical voice and musical theatre programs at fine schools such as Peabody Conservatory, Northwestern University, Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, Julliard, Eastman School of Music, Christopher Newport, Longwood College, Oberlin, New England Conservatory,  Belmont, Marymount Manhattan, Elon, Ithaca, Emerson, North Carolina School of the Arts, Temple, NYU, Catholic University,  Shenandoah Conservatory, UArts, Oklahoma City University, Rider, and more.

 

 

Educator Honors:

  • To date, Laurie Nelson has received three presidential citations for excellence in education by the Virginia Governor’s School for Visual and Performing Arts. She has been a featured teacher in the publication “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” annually since 2005.

 

 

Directing:

  • Laurie Nelson is the director of Virginia Concert and Opera Theatre. Credits include productions of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Mozart’s The Impresario and Edwin Penhorwood’s Too Many Sopranos. Laurie Nelson is also the director of the NM Productions' Summer Concert Series.

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Performance History - Laurie Nelson

Education

Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, Catholic University of America School of Music, Cum Laude; Benjamin T. Rome School of Music Performance Award.

 

Performance Credits

Laurie Nelson has performed extensively in the United States and in Europe.

 

Opera:

  • Apprenticeships in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Opera of the British Isles.

  • Opera Companies, Samples: Four Corners Opera Colorado, Baltimore Opera, Corkran English Theatre, Summer Opera Theatre Co., Washington, DC., Katoktin Opera In the Field, New Mexico, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, Opera of the British Isles.

  • Roles, Samples: Both the First Lady and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), both the Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro; Tour), Gilda, (Incomplete Education), Suor Angelica (Suor Angelica), Musetta, (La Bohème), Giulietta, (L’Ajo Nel Imbarazzo), Beatrix (Les Bavards), Venus (Who Am I), Yum Yum, (The Mikado), Aline (The Sorcerer), and Elsie (Yeoman of the Guard) Jackie Kennedy Onassis (Please Call Me Jackie). 

 

Soprano Soloist Concert and Oratorio:

  • Schubert’s Mass in G, Vivaldi’s Gloria,

  • Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Performance Rome, Italy CUA 100 Year Anniversary Tour)

  • Mozart’s Requiem

  • Mozart’s Vespers, (soprano soloist in performance at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II)

  • Handel’s Messiah, the Smithsonian’s Chamber Opera Concert Series

  • Anderson House Opera Series.

 

Contemporary Genres:

  • Vocalist and writer, Baby Face Nelson project. Soprano soloist with the interpretive ensemble Collage De Vie.

 

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