Mezzo-Soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen

Hailed as a “richly powerful singing actress” (BroadwayWorld), GRAMMY® award-nominated Nina Yoshida Nelsen captivates audiences throughout North America and Europe with her world-class voice and magnetic stage presence.

Over the past two seasons, Ms. Nelsen has maintained an active performance schedule alongside her work as Artistic Director of Boston Lyric Opera, demonstrating a commitment to remaining grounded in the art form she now helps to lead. On the operatic stage, she has performed the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Utah Opera, Anchorage Opera, and Calgary Opera, as well as the role of Khanh in Huang Ruo’s Bound with Anchorage Opera. She has also appeared in concert, most recently as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Boise Philharmonic. In 2026, the artist received her first GRAMMY nomination for her performance of Chen’s mother on the recording of Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier.

In previous seasons, Nina joined Indianapolis Opera for the title role in Carmen and performed the role of Melissa in Alcina with Seattle Opera, Suzuki with Opera Carolina, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro with Utah Opera, and Mother Chen in An American Soldier at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, a role that she has previously performed with Bard SummerScape.

Ms. Nelsen has long been associated with the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and has performed the role with The Atlanta Opera, New Orleans Opera, Portland Opera, Manitoba Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, Sarasota Opera, and New York City Opera. She has also covered the role with Lyric Opera of Chicago. With her “home” company of Opera Santa Barbara, Ms. Nelsen has shared her interpretations of the role of Fricka in the Dove reduction of Die Walküre, a double bill of El Amor Brujo and Frugola in II Tabarro, and Tituba in The Crucible, as well as performing in the organization’s 25th anniversary concert. Ms. Nelsen also recently made a Boston Lyric Opera debut as Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana and has also performed the role of Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall.

An established interpreter of new works, Ms. Nelsen has performed the role of Mama in Jack Perla’s An American Dream with Opera Santa Barbara, Kentucky Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Anchorage Opera, and Seattle Opera. Of her performance as Queen Sophine in Mark Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus, Fran Zell of Splash Magazine reported, “Yoshida Nelsen, a seasoned artist making her COT debut, offers nothing less than perfection in her operatic interpretation of a tempestuous mother…a poignant, powerhouse of a mezzo…” The artist has also performed Khanh in Bound (Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera), Huang Ruo’s Angel Island (Santa Fe Opera), Woman in The Memory Stone (Houston Grand Opera), and created the role of Phoung Tran in Ruo/Hwang’s The Rift with Washington National Opera.

In concert, Nelsen’s experience includes selections of orchestrated lieder by Alma Mahler with the Toledo Symphony and the Uplifting Asian Voices concert with Boston Lyric Opera. She has performed as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Fe Concert Association, Southwest Florida Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall; Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Grand Junction and Flagstaff Symphony Orchestras, Mozart’s Requiem with the Santa Barbara and Southwest Florida Symphonies, Verdi’s Requiem with the Guelph Symphony and Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah with Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Santa Barbara Chorale.

Ms. Nelsen has won first prize in the Performing Arts Foundation, the Profant Foundation and the Santa Barbara Foundation vocal competitions. She was also a national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, a national finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Society Vocal Competition, and a finalist in the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition.

Ms. Nelsen is a graduate of Boston University and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.