Butler Studio alumna and celebrated soprano Nicole Heaston has performed with HGO many times, as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (2023), Liù in Turandot (2022), Mimì in La bohème (2018), Adina in The Elixir of Love (2016), Pamina in The Magic Flute (2015, 1997); Gilda in performances of Rigoletto (2001); Zerlina in Don Giovanni (1999); Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro (1998); the title role in the world premiere of Jackie O (1997); Mrs. Hayes in Susannah and St. Settlement in Four Saints in Three Acts (1996); and performances of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1995). In 2023 she returned to HGO as a vocal soloist for Giving Voice at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. During the 2023-24 season, she bows with Los Angeles Opera as Mary in Highway 1, USA, makes her debut in the title role of Thaïs with Utah Opera, and appears in a double bill of Errollyn Wallen's Dido's Ghost and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque. During the 2022-23 season, she created the role of Claire Devon in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek'sThe Listeners at Den Norske Opera (Oslo), returned to San Francisco Opera as Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and debuted with Philharmonia Baroque, appearing as Melissa in Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula. Her 2021-22 season included returns to San Francisco Opera, making a role debut as Despina in Così fan tutte, and a debut with Maryland Lyric Opera, singing Liù in Turandot. Other operatic highlights include Ilia in Mozart’s Idomeneo with the Metropolitan Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Glyndebourne Festival, and Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Festival in Aix-en-Provence.