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Nell Snaidas

Soprano

Grammy-nominated soprano Nell Snaidas has been praised by the New York Times for her “vocally ravishing” performances and “melting passion”. Her voice has also been described as “remarkably pure with glints of rich sensuality” (Vancouver Sun) as well as “powerfully at home in the works of Monteverdi” (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Of Uruguayan-American descent, Nell is recognized for her specialization in historical performance practice, in particular the repertoire of Italy, Latin America and Spain. Nell began her career singing leading roles in zarzuelas at New York City’s Repertorio Español and has sung in venues ranging from the Hollywood Bowl to Tanglewood, from Teatro Garibaldi (Palermo) to the missions of Bolivia. Favorite projects include singing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall, recording the movie-soundtrack of The Producers with Mel Brooks in the booth, the Iberian recital Vaya de Fiesta with Argentine duet partner Eduardo Egüez (conductor of La Chimera –Italy) on vihuela/baroque guitar, and collaborating with Alicia Keys on the musical arrangement and Italian translation of her song Superwoman for Kathleen Battle for the grand finale of the American Music Awards.

Baroque Operatic performances include Princess Olga in the world premiere of the baroque Boris Goudenow (Mattheson) Valletto and Amore in L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Il Ritorno di Ulisse (Monteverdi) at the Boston Early Music Festival, Queen Ottavia in the modern day premiere of Cleopatra(Castrovillari) with Ars Minerva San Francisco, and Lisetta in Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante with the Internazionale Festivale di Scarlatti in Palermo, Sicily.

Nell was featured on CBC radio as one of the leading interpreters of Spanish Renaissance/Sephardic song and has recorded for Sony Classical, Sono Luminus, Koch International and Dorian. Recent projects include collaborations as soloist/co-director /co-creator with Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra in Sephardic Journey (Cd release 2016, #2 World Music Billboard Chart), The Newberry Consort Chicago Sacred Love, The Bishop’s Band Codex Trujillo del Perú with Tom Zajac (Trinity Wall St. 12^th Night Festival) and a production of Latin American Baroque music inspired by the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz for the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Valérie St. Agathe, conducting. In addition to her busy performing career, Nell is highly sought for concert curations. Her award-winning programs have been called, “revelatory” (BBC Music Magazine), “innovative and brilliant” (Cool Cleveland), and having the effect of “painting a vivid portrait of secular and sacred everyday life” (Chicago Tribune).

Nell is the co-artistic director of GEMAS, a concert series in NYC devoted to the early music and musicians of the Americas and sponsored by Americas Society and GEMS.

“…the superb soprano Nell Snaidas.”–The New York Times

“Perfectly cast, Nell Snaidas sang with a voice that can languish, cajole, laugh and pout.”–The New York Times

“Nell Snaidas brought a beautiful soprano voice, a superb sense of line and a gift for physical comedy to the roles of Amore and Valletto” –The New York Times

“One of the world’s leading interpreters of Sephardic music… the American-Uruguayan soprano Nell Snaidas took the spotlight, with the confidence of a master teacher, she offered three love songs that brought a flexibility to the choir’s timbre and an earthy passion to the austere Fuentidueña Chapel (Cloisters Metropolitan Museum of Art).” –Commonwealth Magazine

“The concert was led by guest curator and performer Nell Snaidas — a captivating storyteller and crystalline singer in everything she sang”–The Chicago Tribune

“And vocally, the ravishing moments were many: Nell Snaidas, who proved a brilliant comic actress in “Poppea,” switched gears to give a wrenching account of “Lamento Della Ninfa”. –The New York Times

“And speaking of high notes, Nell Snaidas was the soprano of the evening and brought down the house with her “Glitter and Be Gay.” She is a brilliant soprano” –Playbill

“Snaidas’ voice has remarkable purity with glints of rich sensuality” –The Vancouver Sun

“Among the highlights were Soprano Nell Snaidas’ period-correct renditions of “Dido’s Lament” and “Bist du bei mir”, both of which transcended history with heartfelt music making” –The Milwaukee Journal

Nell Snaidas, the soprano, gave an emotionally charged reading of Scarlatti’s chromatic score, using carefully controlled dynamics and florid but thoughtfully applied ornamentation to evoke Orpheus’ desolation as it is transformed to determination. Ms. Snaidas has a sweet, tightly focused sound, and she has no hesitation about using vibrato, sometimes lavishly but always expressively. She invariably brings a clear sense of the drama within the music to her performances and inhabits her characters, even on a stage as small as Bargemusic’s (perfect for this music). Ms. Snaidas used both timbre and body language to convey coquettishness, frustration, anger, satisfaction and amorousness. Her account of Mazzocchi’s “Sdegno Campion” (“Anger, That Bold Champion”) was forceful but nuanced, and she brought melting passion to both Caccini’s “Amarilli” and Henri du Bailly’s “Yo Soy la Locura” (“I Am Madness”). –The New York Times

“Of the excellent cast, Nell Snaidas is the really talented singer and actress.” –The Boston Globe

“That and the soprano Nell Snaidas’s direct, beautifully modulated performance of the Purcell were probably the program’s highlights. But there were close contenders… Ms. Snaidas sang Monteverdi’s “Quel Sguardo Sdegnosetto” and Stölzel’s “Bist Du Bei Mir” with the same suppleness and warmth that she brought to the Purcell.” –The New York Times

“Madamoiselle Cunegonde, played and sung masterfully by Nell Snaidas… anchors the production with great vocal abilities, comedic timing and commanding stage presence.” –Provincetown Magazine

“Soprano Nell Snaidas, who is picture perfect as Cunegonde, has a set of pipes on her that won’t quit. Her “Glitter and Be Gay” is terrific.” –Stagebuzz

Nell Snaidas brought life to music through her clear and beautiful soprano that needed no mic (every word was clear). Her smart, sassy, and sexy rendition of the bawdy “My Thing is My Own” showed feminism was alive and laughing even in “ye olde” days. But it wasn’t all cakes and ale as she showed in the touching “Barra Faustus’s Dream” and “The Poore Man Pays for All.” –Cool Cleveland

Soprano Nell Snaidas made her first appearance last weekend with Viscera and provided the best singing heard in both evenings. Her vocal control delivered just the right opulence for this early/middle Baroque period, plus it should be recalled that Snaidas appeared in two Early Music programs last summer. After dominating in a sequence with the title, “Punishments, Minor and Major” and the song “Galeritas de España,” Snaidas highlighted the evening with — as translated: “Old Ballad of the Confession of a Lady Accusing Herself of Breaking the Ten Commandments,” by Luis Briçeño from 1626. Nell Snaidas is welcome back any time — with any group. –nuvo-Indy’s alternative voice

Nell Snaidas

Nell Snaidas, soprano.

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