Kelley Nassief

Kelley Nassief, soprano
“If the angels in heaven really sing, please let them do it like Nassief. Her voice combines the best of two worlds: It has bel canto size, warmth and height, and yet is svelte, with a youthful sparkle.” So wrote the Leipziger Volkszeitung when Kelley Nassief sang Elijah with the Gewandhausorchester and Kurt Masur on the occasion of the sesquicentennial of Mendelssohn’s death. In demand as a concert soloist, Kelley Nassief has recently sung Mozart’s Requiem with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) with the Tuscon Symphony Orchestra.
 
Kelley Nassief was soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Rio, Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with the Louisville Orchestra and in Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 (“Kaddish”) with Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Italy as well as Bardavon 1869 Opera House in New York. Other recent engagements include soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Grand Rapids Symphony and in her Dallas Symphony Orchestra debut; soprano soloist in Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony at Konzerthaus Berlin; with Richmond Symphony in Verdi’s Requiem, also with the Portland Symphonic Choir; with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; and with Nashville Symphony in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. 
 
Kelley Nassief was a featured soloist in Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 (“Kaddish”) with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, with Fundaçao Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Saõ Paulo (Brazil) under Marin Alsop, with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, at London’s Barbican Centre, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw (through the Fundacja Shalom of Poland), also with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and L’Orchestre de Paris; in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Columbus and Oregon symphony orchestras, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, in a return to the Pacific Symphony, and in her debut with Fort Worth Symphony; Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with Grand Rapids and Cincinnati symphony orchestras; Ravel’s Shéhérazade, plus selected opera arias, with the Richmond Symphony; Verdi’s Requiem with Louisville, Grand Rapids and Modesto symphony orchestras; Mozart’s Requiem with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra; and Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder” with Da Camera of Houston.
 
Other notable concert appearances have included Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Florida West Coast Symphony; the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in Elijah; the Eugene Symphony in Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder; Mozart’s Requiem with both the Jacksonville and Nashville symphony orchestras; Brahms’ Requiem with the Grand Rapids and New Bedford symphonies, also the Long Island Philharmonic; as soloist with Choral Arts Society of Washington DC in Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, also Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. She sang Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Washington’s Cathedral Choral Society; Verdi’s Requiem with Winston-Salem and Pasadena symphonies; returned to the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor; performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria; and was soloist with Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. She sang Chausson’s Poème de l'amour et de la mer with the Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Einhorn’s Voices of Light at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony, and Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5 with the Ruhr Triennale Festival. She also sings in recital regularly in North America and Europe, and has appeared on Japanese television.
 
In Nassief’s prolific career as a gifted concert artist she has appeared with the world’s leading conductors and orchestras: Beethoven’s Ah, perfido! with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony; Peer Gynt with Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Brahms’ Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under Neemi Järvi, and with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic as soloist in Peer Gynt, Elijah, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
 
Kelley Nassief was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was awarded a Sullivan Foundation Grant, is a Laureate of the Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Oratorio and Song Competition, and received a Richard Tucker Career Grant. 

Photo of Kelley Nassief by Annmarie Bain
Banner photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography