Bass-baritone Ari Nieh brings interpretive depth and musicality to her career as a solo and choral artist. She embraces a wide variety of styles, with a repertoire that ranges from medieval plainsong to premieres by living composers.
Oratorio solo highlights include Handel's Messiah and Bach's Magnificat with the Byrd Ensemble and Seattle Baroque Orchestra, as well as Bach's St. John Passion with Ensemble Musica Humana. Other favorite concert solo performances include Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Coffee Cantata, and John Tavener's Lament for Jerusalem.
As a historical performance specialist, Ari frequently collaborates with early music ensembles. She has appeared with Schola Cantorum of Boston, Seven Times Salt, Meravelha, Cappella Clausura, Long and Away, and Musical Offering. She co-founded MIRYAM Baroque Ensemble with soprano Lev DePaolo to bring Jewish early music to New England audiences.
Known for her precise musicianship and clear tone, Ari also performs as a choral artist throughout the country. She has sung with a variety of acclaimed choirs, including Seattle's Byrd Ensemble, AVE and Volti in San Francisco, The Thirteen in Washington, DC, and GRAMMY-nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra in Tucson. As a church musician, she is a long-time regular at Church of the Advent and former staff singer at Grace Cathedral.
She can be heard on the albums Christmas in Harvard Square with St. Paul's Choir of Men and Boys, Turn the Page with Volti, and Pacific Collegium's recording of Britten's A Boy was Born.
Ari's favorite stage roles span many centuries, including Theseus in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lowell House Opera), Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore (Nahant Music Festival) Medoro in Handel's Orlando (BASOTI), and Devil in the Ordo Virtutum (Ensemble Musica Humana). She has trained in baroque movement, gesture, and dance under Ken Pierce and Drew Minter.
Ari began singing professionally in the Bay Area while studying mathematics at UC Berkeley. After finishing her doctorate, she did what any sensible young academic would do: applied to conservatories. She completed a Master of Music in historical performance at Longy School of Music in 2010. She also attended Oberlin's Baroque Performance Institute, the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and Amherst Early Music's Baroque Academy Opera Project. Her voice teachers include Laurie Monahan, Pamela Dellal, and Nancy Zylstra.
When not singing, Ari works as a game designer. In her spare time, she enjoys crossword puzzles, romance novels, and cooking the perfect potstickers.