Nikola Hillebrand

German soprano Nikola Hillebrand — while still in the early stages of her career — has already sung at the world's leading opera houses and concert halls including at the Bavarian State Opera, Glyndebourne, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Musikverein, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Vienna Konzerthaus, Hamburg Laeizshalle, the Cologne and Paris philharmonic concert halls, and at the Bremen Music Festival, and with conductors such as Adam Fischer, Fabien Gabel, Stephan Gottfried, Roberto González-Monjas, Manfred Honeck, René Jacobs, Vaclav Luks, Antonello Manacorda, Raphaël Pichon, Andris Nelsons, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Jérémie Rohrer, Alexander Soddy, Robin Ticciati, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Upon completing her studies in Munich, Hillebrand was employed by the Mannheim National Theatre, and from 2020 to 2024 was a member of the ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden, where she appeared in roles such as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Musetta (La Bohème), Zdenka (Arabella), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Adele (Die Fledermaus).

Additional highlights have included Zdenka in Richard Strauss' Arabella at the Bonn Theatre and Zurich Opera House, 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 in Strauss' Fledermaus at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich for the first time.

In the 2024-25 season, Hillebrand sang Pamina in her debut at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and at the Bavarian State Opera, Aspasia (Mitridate, re di Ponto) at the Hamburg Opera and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Zurich Opera. Concert performances in the latter role took the soprano to Luxembourg, Paris, Hamburg, and Basel with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Giovanni Antonini. Hillebrand can also be heard in concert performances of Der Freischütz (Ännchen) with the Kammerakademie Potsdam and under Antonello Manacorda in Potsdam, Paris, Baden-Baden, and Berlin.

On the concert stage, Hillebrand can be seen performing works by Mozart during the traditional advent concert in the Frauenkirche and has performed Mendelssohn’s Lobgesangs Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Herbert Blomstedtand. She performed Mahler's Symphony No. 4 under Roberto González-Monjas in A Coruña, and with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons in Vienna and Budapest. Joining Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried she performed as a soloist in Mozart's Mass in C minor with at the Vienna Musikverein, sang Mahler's Symphony No. 2 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.

Hillebrand is a passionate singer of German Lieder in addition to her opera and concert activities. She is the winner of the international "Das Lied 2019" song competition in Heidelberg and recently celebrated her song recital debuts at the Heidelberger Frühling Festival, the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, the Leeds Lieder Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, London's Wigmore Hall, the Essen Philharmonie, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Musikverein Graz, and the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg.