Nicola Said

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Reviews

TATYANA Evgeny Onegin

“Nicola Said brought satisfying sheen and substance to the role of Tatyana, tracing her development from girl to woman with finely calibrated phrasing. Her closing scene with the Onegin of Ambrose Connolly… became quite hair-raising as Tatyana’s physical restraint finally gave way and both singers (skilfully) pulled out the stops.“
– Opera Magazine

“Moving unmistakeably, yet not without regret, from girl to woman, Nicola Said’s Tatiana likewise matched dramatic, verbal, and ‘purely’ musical qualities to a degree that would have impressed on any stage.“
– Seen and Heard International

“Onegin was sung by Ambrose Connolly and Tatyana was sung by Nicola Said. Both were excellent…Said was in equally fine voice and more than managed the testing “letter song” in the first act – and the transition from country girl to Princess Gremina in the second…the tormented duet between Tatyana and Onegin at the climax of the opera was all one could have wanted, The brief moment when they sing “happiness was so close” was marvellous.“
– Plays To See


LIÙ Turandot

“Nicola Said’s portrayal of the tragic Liù was at times affecting, giving the role due tenderness.”
– Mark Aspen


MUSETTA La bohème

“ The singers’ vocal performance was excellent, with peaks of excellence in Nicola Said’s Musetta. The Maltese soprano makes a disruptive entrance on stage at Caffè Momus, playing splendidly with the libertine sensuality of her character and characterizing her with an excellent vocal performance from every point of view. Lively phrasing and ringing voice – masterfully controlled – make her the most successful character in the production.”
– Opera Click


VIOLETTA La Traviata

“As Violetta, Nicola Said matched spontaneity and warmth with plangency and refinement — she can spin a fine legato — expressing herself most richly in the final act.“
– Opera Magazine
“Nicola Said’s spontaneity and warmth as Violetta are matched with singing of sweetness, refinement and plangency, most richly varied in the final act.”
– The Stage

MIMÌ La bohème

“From Mimì’s first Buona sera, I was transfixed by Maltese artiste Nicola Said. Her graceful lyrical soprano voice is clear as a bell, with a certain tenderness, and she balances the sadness and playfulness in Mimì’s character.”
– Mark Aspen

LUCIA Lucia di Lammermoor

“Said’s vocal performance, rising consistently to the technical demands of the role, has grown in subtlety and nuance, and the mad scene…glistens with pathos and intensity.”
– The Stage

“Likewise, Nicola Said, is flawless in the role of Lucia Ashton.  She too takes her audience on a roller coaster of emotions ranging from joy and happiness to the depths of pain, sorrow and despair.  She and Mukerjee are perfectly matched as the ‘star-crossed’ lovers.  Her voice is exquisite, singing with a silvery purity of tone and line.  She is breathtakingly accurate in her upper registers as observed throughout all her arias and duets and especially in her Ophelia-like mad scene, Act Three, Scene I when she sings Il dolce suono mi colpi di au voce.  Spellbinding is her ability to switch back and forth between joy and horror and hallucinating that Edgardo is there, present with her.  She again sees the ghost that in Act 1 foretold the bloody end of her romance with Edgardo.  After failing in her attempt to find the ring that Edgardo threw away when he found she had married Arturo, she sings that she will wait for Edgardo in heaven.  It is all too much for her and she falls to the ground, dying.  Said gives a performance that will stay long in this reviewer’s memory.”
– Mark Aspen

“The Maltese soprano Nicola Said embodies the accursed Lucia and gradually builds the tilt of her character to madness. The singer proposes a woman at once fragile, spontaneous and touching. The multiplicity of expressions is also found in the brilliant voice, powerful, agile, sharp treble. The effects “delirious” (trills, superacute) are dosed so as not to dilute the tragic essence of the character. The voice gradually becomes lighter (end of Act 2 and Act 3) as if to denote its moral transfiguration.”
– Olyrix

“The applause and applause have long resonated, reflecting the enthusiasm and emotional intensity felt in front of the artistic quality of this creation is served by exceptional voices, including that of soprano Nicola Said, who literally embodies Lucia. From end to end, she carries this particularly demanding opera role. The Ensemble she forms with its male partners is serving with strength this tragic love story, behind which is the political story of a totalitarian system that false human relations.”
– The Telegram

“The young Maltese soprano Nicola Said is an amazing Lucia: unity of the registers, richness of the timbre, highs sovereigns, vocalizations soft and easy…a deeply moving performance. The actress is no less touching than the singer, making credible the misguidance of the young woman torn between duty and feelings.”
– Forum Opera

“Said made an appealing and rather sparky Lucia, at first quite together yet very much a live wire. In her opening solo, she revealed a finely vibrant voice which coped admirably with the tessitura. Technically strong, she was also a neat stylist and throughout the evening there was much to enjoy. In her solo in Act Two, with Said singing at a quieter, less vibrant level, there was great beauty too. Of course, everyone was waiting for the Mad Scene and Said did not disappoint. This was a very traditional version, rather than one of the modern editions, and Said included all of the ultra-high notes. She has all these, but I felt that she might want to investigate some of the modern editions. What I liked about the Mad Scene was that it felt all of a piece with the opera, rather than Said’s party piece. This was very much Lucia as drama, and that helped enormously.”
– Planet Hugill

“Nicola Said seems a delightful singer with her laser-bright top notes and hers was a nuanced, tensely eerie – and very bloody – ‘Mad Scene’. She had by this point elicited much sympathy for her plight especially in our current #MeToo world.”
– Seen and Heard International”Nicola Said’s Lucia copes with Donizetti’s challenging soprano writing, producing a ravishing “Egli è luce ai giorni miei”, the very image of a headstrong teenager in love, and a musically lyrical Mad Scene; Said’s Lucia is a lost little girl in a vortex of male vendetta, a not unjustified interpretation.”
– Theatre Cat

“The Lucia of Nicola Said was no fragile creature, but a spontaneous young woman. By the time she entered for her Mad Scene, wielding a large knife and wearing her husband’s bloodied dress shirt, she seemed genuinely deranged and dangerous.  Lyrical and sensuous of timbre…her staccatos were brilliant and the highest notes full-toned and integrated with the rest of her voice.”
– Opera Magazine

MARIA City of Humanity – Swar (Reuben Pace)

Mediterranean Conference Centre, 2018“Pace, who clearly knows how to write for voices, seemed to find his muse in the succulent, soaring soprano of Nicola Said and her compassionate character Maria”
– Opera Magazine
“Excelente la María de la maltesa residente en Londres Nicola Said”
– Ritmo Magazine