Opera Scotland

Agnes Nicholls Suggest updates

Lady Hamilton Harty.

Born Cheltenham, 14 July 1877.

Died London, 21 September 1959.

Agnes Nicholls studied in London for six years from 1894 at the Royal College of Music, making her debut as Purcell's Dido in 1895 at the Lyceum.

She worked at Covent Garden from 1901 to 1908. Early roles included Donna Elvira and Venus, before singing Sieglinde and the Siegfried Brünnhilde in that last season. She went on to perform a range of dramatic soprano roles with the Denhof, Beecham and BNOC companies. Her repertoire ranged through Mozart (Countess, Pamina) to Verdi (Aïda, Alice Ford), Wagner (Brünnhilde, Isolde) and Strauss (the Marschallin).

Throughout her career she maintained an extensive concert career, with Messiah and Elijah featuring early on. She was renowned for her interpretation of the Blessed Virgin in Elgar's Kingdom.