Nicole Paiement
Internationally acclaimed conductor Nicole Paiement has performed with orchestras, festivals, and opera companies around the world, including the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Italy, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Atlanta Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal, The Dallas Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania. Some of her notable performances include Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers with The Dallas Opera, Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life with English National Opera, Joby Talbot’s Everest with the BBC Symphony, John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Volksoper Vienna, George Benjamin’s Written on Skin and Janáček’s Jenůfa with L’Opéra de Montréal, and Debussy’s La Mer with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra.
Paiement is the Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Parallèle, a leading opera company based in San Francisco which is committed to contemporary works. Under her baton, Opera Parallèle has brought to the stage numerous world premieres, commissioned many operas, and reorchestrated several larger operatic works for chamber orchestras. Her leadership and expertise in contemporary opera has been recognized with numerous awards, including the “Champion of New Music” award from the American Composer’s Forum.
Paiement’s work can be found on many recordings and spans a wide range of instrumental and operatic repertoire. In addition to being a leader in the world of contemporary music, Paiement is a specialist in early twentieth-century French music and regularly conducts music from the Baroque and Classical repertoire.