SOPRANO
Nikola Hillebrand
Representation: World
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
German soprano Nikola Hillebrand is one of the most sought-after sopranos of her generation, praised by the international press for the brilliance and elegance of her voice, the warmth of her timbre, her effortless technique, and her richly expressive interpretations. She now appears regularly on Europe’s leading operatic stages.
Following her studies in Munich she began her career at the Mannheim National Theatre, before joining the Semperoper Dresden, where she was an ensemble member from 2020 to 2024. There she appeared as Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zdenka (Arabella), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) and Musetta (La bohème).
She has since celebrated appearances as Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Adele (Die Fledermaus) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Pamina at the Opéra de Paris, Zdenka and Susanna at the Opernhaus Zürich, as well as Pamina, Adele and Aspasia (Mitridate, re di Ponto) at the Hamburg State Opera. Highlights of the 2025–2026 season included two major debuts as Sophie at the Berlin State Opera under Christian Thielemann and at the Vienna State Opera under Alexander Soddy. Further prominent role debuts in previous season include Kunigunde in Bernstein’s Candide at the Theater an der Wien and as Agathe in a new production of Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Bregenz Festival in 2024.
Following her highly successful debut at the Vienna State Opera, Nikola Hillebrand becomes a frequent presence there this season, appearing in a number of her signature roles: as Konstanze and Pamina, as well as Adele, Zdenka and once again Sophie – a role she will also sing on tour in Shanghai with the Berlin State Opera under Christian Thielemann.
Equally in demand on the concert stage, Nikola Hillebrand returns in summer 2026 to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for her debut appearance at the Tanglewood Festival. This time she sings Susanna in a concert performance of Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Andris Nelsons. Highlights of her 2025-26 season included Strauss’ Frühlingsstimmen-Walzer with the Vienna Philharmonic under Tugan Sokhiev, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Berlin Philharmonic under Raphaël Pichon, Mendelssohn’s choral works with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle.
The 2026–27 season features performances of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri in Strasbourg under Antonello Manacorda, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Tonkünstler Orchestra under Giovanni Antonini, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, as well as his “Lobgesang” Symphony No. 2 with the Orchestre National de France under Eun Sun Kim, Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 with the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Robin Ticciati, and Bach’s St Matthew Passion on tour in Asia with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andreas Reize.
Further notable musical partners to date include Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion, Giovanni Antonini and the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Markus Poschner and the Basel Symphony Orchestra, David Afkham and the Orquesta Nacional de España, Herbert Blomstedt and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Gottfried and Concentus Musicus Wien. She has appeared in addition at the Salzburg Festival with Roberto González-Monjas and Adam Fischer.
Since winning the 2019 edition of the prestigious “Das Lied” international song competition in Heidelberg (chaired by Thomas Quasthoff), Nikola Hillebrand has devoted herself intensively to lied performance, giving recitals in Europe and overseas. Notable appearances include at the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, the Leeds Song and Oxford Song Festivals, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Essen Philharmonie, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the International Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart, Musikverein Graz and Brucknerhaus Linz, as well as in Japan and Korea. She most recently returned to the Heidelberger Frühling and the Schubertiade in Austria, while this season she appears at the Boulez Saal in Berlin for a quartet concert with Sir András Schiff at the piano, and is welcomed back to the Vienna Konzerthaus for a duo recital alongside André Schuen. She gives solo recitals at London's Wigmore Hall and the Schubertiade and makes her debut appearance at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.
2026 | 2027
www.nikolahillebrand.com
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DISCOGRAPHY
Magische Töne
Operetta and opera melodies by Emmerich Kálmán, Franz Lehár, Paul Abraham, Ferenc Erkel, Fred Raymond, Nico Dostal, Jenö Huszka, Karl Goldmark
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Nikola Hillebrand (soprano)
Hungarian State Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Dirk Kaftan
Label: Sony | 2026
Gustav Mahler: Symphony Nr. 2 in c minor ‹Resurrection›
Nikola Hillebrand, Wiebke Lehmkuhl
Sinfonieorchester Basel, MDR Radio-Choir Leipzig
Conductor: Markus Poschner
Label: Prospero | 2026
Arias and Duets by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
Andrè Schuen · Avi Avital
Daniel Heide · Nikola Hillebrand
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg
Roberto González-Monjas
Label: Deutsche Grammophon | 2025
Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz
Mauro Peter, Nikola Hillebrand, Christof Fischesser, Katharina Ruckgaber, Moritz von Treuenfels
Chor der Bregenzer Festspiele, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Wiener Symphoniker
Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
Label: CMajor | 2024
VIDEOS
CALENDAR
Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod
Richard Strauss: Lieder
Richard Strauss: "Don Juan" Symphonic Poen op. 20
Richard Strauss: The Woman Without a Shadow: Symphonic Fantasy TrV 234a
Nikola Hillebrand, Soprano
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Fabien Gabel, Conductor
Nikola Hillebrand, soprano
Kyiv Symphony Orchestra
Stephan Frucht, conductor
Helge Fuhst, moderator
Under the patronage of Hamburg’s First Mayor, Dr Peter Tschentscher, and with Wladimir Klitschko, Michael Otto, Sigmar Gabriel and Rainer Esser acting as sponsors, the major charity concert entitled »Concert for Humanity« is taking place. The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra (KSO), conducted by Stephan Frucht, will perform masterpieces and rare gems of the classical repertoire. Since August 2024, the KSO has found a temporary home in Monheim am Rhein and has become part of Monheimer Kulturwerke GmbH.
FURTHER INFORMATION & TICKETSNikola Hillebrand, soprano
Alexander Fleischer, piano
This recital demonstrates that Nikola Hillebrand is not only perfectly suited to Richard Strauss' opera roles, such as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and Zdenka in Arabella, but that his song repertoire also suits her exceptionally well. The soprano, who won the Heidelberg Spring Competition ‘Das Lied’ in 2019, now brings her very personal selection of Strauss songs to the song festival together with her piano partner Alexander Fleischer: their magic unfolds in the fine interlocking of voice and richly tonal piano accompaniment and in the sweeping melodic arcs. And Richard Strauss shows himself to be an extraordinarily profound observer of the emotional worlds of women in his songs, as he does in his operas.
Selected lieder by Franz Schubert
Nikola Hillebrand, Soprano
Malcolm Martineau, Piano
Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
Nikola Hillebrand, soprano
Sunnyboy Dladla, tenor
John Brancy, baritone
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Choirs from Bavaria
Choir of the Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio
CONTACT
Representation: World
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
