Agnes Nichols

Agnes Nichols
1876-1959
English Soprano
In 1894, she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where her teacher was Albert Visetti. During her student years she took the part of Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and sang three times in front of Queen Victoria at private functions. Nicholls sang with the Quinlan Opera Company during its 1912 tour of Australia. She was a frequent performer at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden until 1924, and was a principal of the British National Opera Company, appearing under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham and other leading conductors of the day. As well as performing in opera and delivering songs, Nicholls sang in many oratorios, including Parry's Judithand Bach's St Matthew Passion. Sir Henry Wood, the conductor and impresario, described her as "a great artist with a beautiful voice (which) seemed to have been made for Bach's arias. Her operatic roles ranged from major Wagner Among her celebrated Wagnerian roles were Venus in Tannhäuser, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Brünnhilde in Siegfried. In 1908, she participated in a notable production of Wagner's Ring Cycle, and Mozart parts through to the Dewman in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel