A native of New York, lyric soprano Nicole Jenkins’s recent roles include Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Sister Rose in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and Sharon Graham in McNally’s Master Class. As a solo artist, Nicole has appeared with the Huntington Choral Society in New York as the guest soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana. Nicole began her international studies during a semester in Seville, Spain, while attending the University of Maryland at College Park, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Language and Literature and began her applied voice studies with soprano Carmen Balthrop. Nicole returned to New York and continued her private voice studies with soprano Irene Gubrud Finch, where she learned full body breathing, also called “The Life Breath,” and Alexander Technique. Nicole also performed in masterclasses in New York with soprano Amy Burton and with prompter at The Metropolitan Opera Joan Dornemann. After she received her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, Nicole attended the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, where she received an Encouragement Award from the 2005 AIMS Meistersinger Competition conducted by Maestro Edoardo Müller. The following year Nicole was among fourteen selected to attend the prestigious Renata Scotto Opera Academy in New York. She also received a personal invitation to attend the post-graduate program at the Universität (Uni) für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien in Vienna, Austria, where she studied with soprano Gabriele Lechner and performed in a masterclass with soprano Eiddwen Harrhy. After studying at the Uni in 2006, Nicole continued her private voice studies of the bel canto technique in Vienna with renowned tenor Ernst Häfliger and mezzo-soprano Glenys Linos. She returned to the United States after receiving a contract for the 2009-2010 Virginia Opera Spectrum Resident Artist Program. She made her Virginia Opera debut in 2010 as Clara in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess under the baton of conductor Peter Mark and later performed the role of Siegrune in Wagner’s Die Walküre with renowned conductor Joseph Rescigno.  

Currently serving as an adjunct instructor at James Madison University (JMU), Nicole has taught Group Voice for Musical Theater Concentration and currently teaches Applied Voice for The School of Music (SOM) and Private Voice for Musical Theater Concentrators for The School of Theater and Dance (STAD). She is also teaching Music and Culture, Diction for Singers I: English and Italian Lyric Diction, Diction for Singers II: French and German Lyric Diction, and Opera History and Literature. A candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice - Vocal Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature at JMU, Nicole was one of two chosen winners of the JMU School of Music 2020 Concerto/Aria Competition, and performed her winning aria, Donizetti’s “Piangete voi…al dolce guidami,” from the opera Anna Bolena with the JMU Symphony orchestra in March of 2022. Nicole was also the recipient of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) 2022 Emerging Leader Award and participated in their highly esteemed Class of 2022 Intern Program at Georgia Southern University. During the NATS Intern Program, she received a personal invitation to participate in the 25th Anniversary African American Art Song Alliance Conference at the University of California, Irvine, where she performed art songs by Margaret Bonds and gave a lecture entitled, Performance Anxiety: An Opera Singer’s Perspective. Nicole recently gave an online presentation on her doctoral thesis entitled, The Perceived Impact of Asthma and Allergies on Collegiate Voice Students’ Health and Performance Experiences: A Pilot Study at the 2023 NATS Mid-Atlantic Region Conference at Liberty University.