German soprano Nikola Hillebrand is widely acclaimed by the press for her bright, luminous voice with its elegant timbre, her effortlessness and polished technique, together with her captivating and nuanced interpretations. 

Upon completing her studies in Munich, Nikola Hillebrand began her career at the Mannheim National Theatre, before joining the Semperoper Dresden as an ensemble member from 2020 to 2024, where she appeared as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Nozze di Figaro), Musetta (La Bohème), Zdenka (Arabella), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Adele (Die Fledermaus).

Highlights of the previous seasons include Zdenka in Richard Strauss' Arabella at the Bonn Theatre, concert performances of Die Fledermaus in Lyon, as well as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Adele (Die Fledermaus) at the Hamburg State Opera. In January 2024, she made her acclaimed debut as Kunigunde in Bernstein's Candide at the Theater an der Wien. In summer 2024, she made her debut as Agathe in a new production of Weber's Der Freischütz at the Bregenz Festival and sang Adele, and later that season Pamina, for the first time at the Bavarian State Opera. In autumn 2024 she made her debut at the Opéra national de Paris as Pamina, before celebrating great successes as Susanna (Nozze di Figaro) at the Zurich Opera House and as Aspasia in a new production of Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto in Hamburg. This was followed by concert performances on tour as Susanna with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Giovanni Antonini and as Ännchen (Der Freischütz) with the Kammerakademie Potsdam and under Antonello Manacorda.

In the 2025/2026 season Nikola Hillebrand can be heard on the opera stage as Konstanze (Entführung aus dem Serail), Pamina and Musetta (La Bohème) at the Semperoper in Dresden, and Gretel (Hänsel & Gretel) at the Bavarian State Opera. Taking on the role of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, she makes her debut at the Vienna State Opera and subsequently at the Berlin State Opera under the baton of Christian Thielemann.

To date, Nikola Hillebrand has worked with conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Herbert Blomstedt, Adam Fischer, Fabien Gabel, Stephan Gottfried, Roberto González-Monjas, Manfred Honeck, René Jacobs, Václav Luks, Andris Nelsons, Cristian Măcelaru, Jun Märkl, Antonello Manacorda, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Raphaël Pichon, Markus Poschner, Jérémie Rohrer, Alexander Soddy, Robin Ticchiati and Franz Welser-Möst. Concert tours have taken her to the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Hamburg Laeizshalle, the Elbphilharmonie, the Paris, Cologne, Essen and Berlin Philharmonie, the Salzburg Mozart Week, the Bremen Music Festival and the Salzburg Festival, among others.

Further highlights included a Brahms‘ Requiem with Raphaël Pichon and the Ensemble Pygmalion, concerts with Roberto González-Monjas and Adam Fischer at the Salzburg Festival, Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Basel Symphony Orchestra and Markus Poschner, Mendelssohn's Paulus with Fabien Gabel in Grafenegg, Haydn's Creation with the Basel Chamber Orchestra under Giovanni Antonini, Mahler's Second, Fourth and Eighth Symphonies with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, Brahms’ Requiem with the Orchestre national de France under Cristian Măcelaru in Paris, Mendelssohn's Lobgesang Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt, as well as Mozart's Mass in C minor with Concentus Musicus under Stefan Gottfried at the Vienna Musikverein.

Last season Nikola Hillebrand performed Mahler's Second Symphony under Marin Alsop at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Orff's Carmina Burana under Markus Poschner in Lugano and Schumann's Faust Scenes under David Afkham in Madrid, while this season she performs Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons in Boston and Strauss' Frühlingsstimmen Walzer with the Vienna Philharmonic under Tugan Sokhiev in Vienna. Further performances include Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder with the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich under Fabien Gabel, Bach's Mass in B minor with the Berlin Philharmonic and Raphaël Pichon in Berlin, Mahler's Second Symphony with the Netherlands Philharmonic and Lorenzo Viotti in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Brahms' Requiem with Christian Thielemann in Berlin and Hamburg – and with Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried in Vienna. She performs works by Mendelssohn with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Andris Nelsons in Leipzig, Strauss Lieder with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Fabien Gabel, Orff’s Carmina Burana with Sir Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a work that she also performs with Cristian Măcelaru for the opening of the Grafenegg Festival.

Nikola Hillebrand is a passionate Lied singer in addition to her opera and concert work. A winner of the 2019 “Das Lied” international song competition in Heidelberg (chaired by Thomas Quasthoff), she recently celebrated her recital debuts at the Heidelberger Frühling, the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, Leeds Lieder Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, London's Wigmore Hall, the Essen Philharmonie, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the International Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart, Musikverein Graz and Brucknerhaus Linz. In recent seasons, she took to the stages of the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, the Heidelberger Frühling festival, in Würzburg, at Leeds Lieder Festival, Teatro Felice in Genoa, the Tongyeong Festival in Korea and the Vienna Konzerthaus. This season she returns to London’s Wigmore Hall, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and gave her debut at the Oxford International Song Festival and at the Operahouse in Frankfurt.

2025 | 2026

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