Mary-Ellen Nesi is a Canadian-born Greek mezzo-soprano noted for her rich tone, skillful coloratura and powerful stage presence. She concentrates on baroque, classical and bel canto music, having portrayed over 35 roles, and has recorded extensively in this repertoire. Her main roles include the title roles in Carmen and La Cenerentola, Oktavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Charlotte (Werther), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dorabella (Così fan Tutte), Idamante (Idomeneo), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Sifare (Mitridate), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Adalgisa (Norma), Ramiro (La finta giardiniera), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Muse/Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann).
She particularly distinguished herself in principal roles in baroque operas by Monteverdi, Handel, Vivaldi. Porpora, Hasse, A. and D. Scarlatti, Pergolesi and Paisiello, and in operas by contemporary composers. Her extensive list of performance credits include appearances at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Frankfurt Opera, the Dresden Semperoper, the Theater des Champs-Élysées, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Theater an der Wien, the Greek National Opera, the Operas of Bologna, Ferrara, Rome, Versailles, Nice, Strasbourg, Lisbon, Bilbao, Nurnberg, Wiesbaden, Mannheim and venues such as the Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Bozar in Brussels, the Montreal Place-des-Arts, the Kolner Hall in Toronto, the Cadogan Hall (BBC Proms ind London), Chungmu Art Hall (Seoul), Strathmore Hall (Washington DC) and the Kölner Philharmonie (Cologne). She has worked with conductors such as René Jacobs, Alan Curtis, George Petrou, Ivor Bolton, Ottavio Dantone, Charles Dutoit, Bruno Weil, Frans Brüggen, Julia Jones, Teodor Currentzis, Diego Fasolis, Andrea Marcon, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Federico Maria Sardelli, Emmanuelle Haim, J. Reilly Lewis, Ruben Dubrovsky, Vaclav Luks, Christopher Moulds, Stephen Stubbs and Paul O’Dette.
She has recorded for labels such as Decca, Sony, MDG, Virgin, Arkiv, DHM, Dynamic, Berlin Classics, Tafelmusic Media and Naxos. For her solo album Archetypon under George Petrou (MDG) she was nominated as “Singer of the Year” at the 2019 Opus Klassik awards.
