VISI Faculty: Nancy Hermiston
Canadian-born
lyric coloratura Nancy Hermiston established herself as one of Europe’s
most versatile and exciting vocal artists. Her European debut in 1983
led to her permanent engagement at the prestigious Nürnberg Opera Company
with which she has maintained as association up to the present time.
She has also starred with Opera Companies in Innsbruck, Dussledorf and
Mainz as well as North American companies such as the Canadian Opera
Company, Edmonton Opera, Manitoba Opera, Vancouver Opera, Houston
Grand Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Opera and many more. Her
New York debut took place at Carnegie Hall with Marilyn Horne and Mario
Bernardi.
Parallel to her singing career, Miss Hermiston began her career as a stage director, in 1978, holding various appointments as voice teacher, stage director, and Co-ordinator with the University of Toronto’s Opera and Performance Divisions. In 1995 she joined the UBC school of Music as the Head of the Voice and Opera Divisions. Her Opera Ensemble, created in 1995, has performed in Europe five times and has begun an association with the Opera House in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, for regular summer performances there. They have also toured British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario and collaborated with the Vancouver Opera, the Vancouver Symphony and different community groups.
In Jan 2004, Nancy Hermiston became UBC’s first University Marshal taking the lead role at graduation ceremonies, acting as MC at such university events as building openings, recognition events, large meetings, and hosting Guest Artists and Speakers of the University.
Her directing credits include Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Cosi Fan Tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Gärtnerin aus Liebe and L’Oca del Cairo, Massenet’s Manon, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Puccini’s La Boheme and Gianni Schicchi, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Offenbach’s Monsieur Choufleuri, Vaughan-Williams Riders to the Sea, Hindemith’s Hin und Zuruk, and Menotti’s The Medium and The Telephone and Robert Ward’s The Crucible.
From 1994 to1997 she was a member of the stage directing staff of the International Opera Workshop in the city of Opava, Czech Republic where she directed La Boheme, Die Zauberfölte, and Cosi Fan Tutte. In March 2001, she directed Robert Ward’s opera The Crucible, which she repeated in September 2001, with the Opera House in Usti nad Labem, making the Premiere performance of this opera in Czech Republic. She returned there in May 2002 to direct a new production of Massenet’s Manon, and this summer will direct Mozart’s Die Zauberflote as well as remount Manon. In November 2001 she directed Die Fledermaus for the Vancouver Opera and appeared in their 2002-2003 Season as the Marquise of Berikenfield, in Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment. Directing engagements include Il Barbiere di Sviglia in Regina in February 2003, La Cenerentola for Opera Saskatchewan in February 2004 and La Traviata for the Vancouver Opera in 2004 and La Boheme in June 2004 in Usti nad Labem. Miss Hermiston appeared as Annina in Vancouver Opera's production of Der Rosenkavalier and directed The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro for the Opera Ensemble’s 2005-2006 season as well as HMS Pinafore for the Westben Theatre Festival’s 2006 Season in Ontario. In the UBC Opera Ensemble’s 2006/07 season she will direct, The Gondoliers (Dec), La Boheme (Feb.) and a staged version of the Johannes-Passion (Apr.).
In 1989 she founded the first women’s opera guild in Germany. Her Nurnberg Guild has given the Opera House gifts totalling 1,000,000 DM. Her Guild also sponsors young artists from the Nurnberg area. She has continued as President of the Guild to the present time.
Miss Hermiston is also a favourite guest of master classes throughout Canada and in her second home, Nurnberg, Germany. She has also given master classes in cities of Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Beijiing and Prague.