Nora Fischer is challenging the way we listen to the voice. The Amsterdam-based singer is renowned for her adventurous approach to live performance and her creative projects fusing classical and contemporary repertoire. This can range from traditional concert programmes to genre-defying collaborations – such as her debut album HUSH, which was released on Deutsche Grammophon in 2018, and her work with Yo-Yo Ma’s world-renowned Silkroad.
Using her voice as a versatile instrument, Nora’s repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to the many compositions that have been written for her in the present day. Her “affinity with experimental classical styles and sharp dramatic instincts” (New York Times) have led to many collaborations with leading contemporary composers, including Osvaldo Golijov, David Lang & Louis Andriessen. During the 2017/18 season, Nora signed with Universal Music and was nominated by the Concertgebouw to perform in major concert halls across Europe for the ECHO Rising Stars Tour.
Nora’s unique approach has taken her around the globe, from the Philharmonie de Paris and Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Lowlands Pop Festival or a mysterious forest at the Oerol Theatre Festival. She has premiered many new operas, most recently working with the Dutch National Opera and Pierre Audi for the world premiere of Andriessen’s Theatre of the World. In February 2020, under the direction of Simon McBurney, Nora joins the LA Philharmonic to perform Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins. Other contemporary collaborations include performances with the Kronos Quartet, AskolSchönberg Ensemble and l’Arpeggiata.
In recent and upcoming seasons, Nora has projects at venues/festivals including the Lincoln Center (Mostly Mozart Festival), Barbican, La Jolla Chamber Music Festival and Lunalia, and has been invited on three tours with the Silk Road Ensemble, including her Australasian debut. In April 2019, Nora premiered a new Andriessen commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which she took to the BBC Proms and Musikfest Berlin with BBC Symphony Orchestra in September 2019, and to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in November 2019.
Nora regularly performs solo concerts and devises projects involving baroque, classical and contemporary vocal repertoire, ranging from traditional concert programmes to genre-defying collaborations. She also frequently partners with a number of theatre companies in order to explore the intersection between new music and theatre.
Born into a family with a rich musical tradition, Fischer trained at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and Complete Vocal Institute in Copenhagen, and holds a Masters in New Audiences and Innovative Practice from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Musicology and Philosophy, completed at the University of Amsterdam in 2009.
