About
Danielle de Niese has been hailed as “opera’s coolest soprano” (New York Times Magazine). A multi-faceted artist, she is known for her superb stagecraft, assured singing, and powerful communication. She regularly appears on the world’s most prestigious opera and concert stages and is also a prolific recording artist, television personality, and philanthropist.
In the 2025/26 season, de Niese returns to Opera Australia in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen, where last season she made her debut and makes her role debut as Jenny in Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with English National Opera. De Niese also makes her concert debut with the London Mozart Players in an all-Mozart programme, conducted by Jonathan Bloxham, performs in 'A Little Bit in Love' with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and returns to Melbourne for concerts with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Last season, De Niese made her debut as Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff with Hamburg State Opera. On the concert platform, De Niese performed Weill's Seven Deadly Sins with the New World Symphony, a double bill of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Seven Deadly Sins with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Poulenc's La Voix Humaine with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and gave a recital in The Master Series at King’s Place.
Recent operatic highlights include Dido in Dido and Aeneas and Seven Deadly Sins at Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia, a feature film of La Voix Humaine with Sir Antonio Pappano and the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Hanna Glawari in Lehár's The Merry Widow, Ciboulette in Offenbach's In the Market for Love, the title role in Massenet's Cendrillon, Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Concepción in Ravel's L’heure espagnole, L’enfant in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, and Adina in L’elisir d’amore — all for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She also returned to LA Opera to star in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice and made house debuts as Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare at Teatro alla Scala and Norina in Don Pasquale at Hamburg State Opera. Other roles include Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Norina in Don Pasquale for La Monnaie and Wiener Staatsoper, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow for Opera Australia, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Semperoper Dresden, Adina in L’Elisir d’amore at Opéra national du Rhin, the title roles in Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea at Teatro Real Madrid, Handel's Partenope and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at San Francisco Opera, Semele for Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Cavalli's La Calisto at Bayerische Staatsoper, and Poppea in Handel's Agrippina for Gran Teatre del Liceu.
On the concert platform, she premiered two new Macmillan works at The Cumnock Tryst, performed at the Brighton Dome Festival with pianist Matthew Fletcher, and presented her Baroque to Broadway programme with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights include Stravinsky's Perséphone with the Boston Symphony, her Edinburgh International Festival debut in A Grand Night of Singing, Bernstein's Wonderful Town with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO, opera galas with RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, multiple BBC Proms and Proms in the Park, as well as appearances at the Ravinia Festival, the Barbican, and Snape Proms.
West End highlights include Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum and recently starred alongside Michael Ball in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love at the Lyric Theatre.
A prolific recording artist, her debut recording for Decca Handel Arias was awarded the prestigious Orphée d'Or from and the much-coveted ECHO Klassik award, as well as earning her a Classical Brit Award nomination for Female Artist of the Year. The Mozart Album, Diva, and Beauty of the Baroque followed.
An Emmy Award-winning TV personality since age 16, de Niese has hosted BBC documentaries such as Diva Diaries, The Birth of an Opera, and Unsung Heroines, promoting opera to wider audiences.
Offstage, de Niese is passionate about music education, an advocate for children’s rights and has been named by Marie Claire magazine on its influential list of 'Women on Top'. She is an Ambassador for HRH The Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Children and the Arts, a patron of Future Talent and Pegasus Opera, and is an Artist Member of the Mannes Board of Governors. De Niese also serves as an official Ambassador of Voice for the International Rescue Committee.