Nuria Rial studied voice and piano in her native Catalonia and was a member of Kurt Widmer’s class at the Basel Academy of Music. In 2003, she was awarded the “Preis der Helvetia Patria Jeunesse Stiftung” by the Pro Europa – for her exceptional achievements as a singer.
She has performed at all the leading music festivals in Europe and collaborates with such conductors as Ivan Fischer, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul Goodwin, Trevor Pinnock, Howard Griffiths, Gustav Leonhardt, René Jacobs, Thomas Hengelbrock, Laurence Cummings, Neville Marriner and Teodor Currentzis as well as notable ensembles, including Concerto Köln, The English Concert, Kammerorchester Basel, Collegium 1704,Il Giardino Armonico, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Elbipolis Barockorchester, Le Cetra Basel and L’Arpeggiata, Festival Lucerne Strings.
She appeared in important operatic productions in many of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses: Cavalli’s Eliogabalo (Eritea) at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels under René Jacobs; Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Euridice) at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin with René Jacobs and at theGrand Théâtre in Geneva with Giovanni Antonini; and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Pamina) at the Theatre Carlo Felice in Genova.Nuria Rial has been working a lot with Baroque music and performance practice.
Alongside she is also interested in other genres. In 2012 she persuaded, for example, in the role of Nuria in the contemporary opera Ainadamar by Golijovat the Teatro Real Madrid, directed by Peter Sellars. In 2015 and 2016 she will sing again the Pamina with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivan Fischer. As she is so inspired of chamber music, Nuria Rial looks after partnerships with ensembles such as “il pomo d’oro”, “Café Zimmermann” or the “Nash Ensemble”. In her recital programs she sings French and Spanish repertoire, but also German songs.
Nuria Rial enjoys a vast discography, having recorded for such labels as Harmonia Mundi France (award-winning recording of Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by René Jacobs or recently Traces to Anna Magdalena Bach). Since 2009, she has an exclusive recording agreement with Sony Classical / BMG Masterworks. Händel’s 9 German Arias with Michael Oman/ Austrian Baroque Company awarded the prestigious Orphée d’Or 2010. In 2009, the CD Haydn – Arie per un’amante with Michi Gaigg/ Orfeo Barockorchester won an Echo Classical Music Award, and she received a second Echo Award for her contribution to the CD Teatro d’Amore. 2010 followed the Echo Klassik for the CD Via Crucis with Christina Pluhar’s L’Arpeggiata and 2012 she was awarded for her CD Telemann with the Basel Chamber Orchestra in the category “Beste Opernarien CD”.
