The versatile lyric soprano Nina Bennet studied Philosophy and English, before embarking on post-graduate study in singing and Early Music performance at the Royal College of Music, London.
Concert platform performances include Haydn’s Creation and Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and the C Minor Mass under Jeremy Backhouse in Guildford Cathedral. She has also performed Haydn’s Little Organ Mass and Faure’s Requiem with the City of London Sinfonia, Bach’s B Minor Mass and Monteverdi’s Vespers with Charivari Agreable in St John’s Smith Square, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Peter Schreier, also in St John’s, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently, she sang Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Tippett’s Child of Our Time in Cadogan Hall under Ben Palmer, and Mozart’s Requiem under Hillary Campbell in Bristol Cathedral.
Nina is becoming increasingly in demand in contemporary and 20th Century music, performing Birtwistle’s Nine Settings of Celan with Kokoro, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary group, and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Sequenza at the Oxford Lieder Festival. She performed the European premiere of Sebastian Currier’s Vocalissimus, also with Kokoro, and sang in a staged performance of Birtwistle’s Yan Tan Tethera at the Barbican with the Britten Sinfonia.
Nina made her solo Proms debut in the Royal Albert Hall last summer, singing in the UK premiere of Lera Auerbach’s The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar Menagerie with the BBCSO under Edward Gardner. Equally at home in both Jazz and Gospel, she performed in the Duke Ellington Sacred Concerts under Neil Ferris and Will Todd’s Mass in Blue in Cadogan Hall. She also recently performed with the composer and gospel choir conductor Ken Burton in his piece Take Time to Change, and performed a set of jazz standards with members of the Aurora Orchestra in King’s Place, London.
Moving into more dramatic repertoire, Nina recently sang Britten’s War Requiem in Haileybury College, Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Romsey Abbey, Verdi’s Requiem in Eberbach Abbey, Germany, and is making her first forays into opera with the part of Ortlinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and the title role in Verdi’s Aida. When Nina isn’t singing, she dabbles in choral conducting and leads singing workshops for both adults and children. She is also employed in raising two children and a cat called Billie Holiday.
Nina is proud to have been a permanent chorister at St Bride’s for the past 10 years.
