Recent operatic highlights include her return to Opera Australia in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen, her role debut as Jenny in Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with English National Opera, Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff with Staatsoper Hamburg, Dido in Dido and Aeneas and Anna in Seven Deadly Sins at Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia and Venus in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s The Judgement of Paris at the Napa Valley Festival. Other operatic highlights include a feature film of La Voix Humaine with Sir Antonio Pappano and the Royal Opera House Orchestra, the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice for LA Opera, Cleopatra in Handel Giulio Cesare at Teatro alla Scala, Musetta in Puccini La bohème at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Norina in Don Pasquale for La Monnaie, Staatsoper Hamburg & the Wiener Staatsoper, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow for Opera Australia, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Semperoper Dresden, Adina in L’elisir d’amore at Opéra national du Rhin, the title roles in Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea at Teatro Real Madrid, Handel in Partenope and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at San Francisco Opera, Semele for Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Cavalli’s La Calisto at Bayerische Staatsoper and Poppea in Handel's Agrippina for Gran Teatre del Liceu. De Niese’s association with Glyndebourne has seen her appear as Hanna Glawari in Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Ciboulette in Offenbach’s In the Market for Love, the title role in Massenet's Cendrillon, Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Concepción in Ravel's L’heure espagnole, L’enfant in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Adina in L’elisir d’amore.
On the concert platform, de Niese’s recent plans include appearances with Rufus Wainwright & Residentie Orkest in the Netherlands, the Winter Gala with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Jaime Martin), Valentine’s Day Concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart concert arias with the London Mozart Players (Jonathan Bloxham), Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the New World Symphony (Stéphane Denève), a double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Jaime Martin), her Baroque to Broadway programme with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ravel’s Sheherazade with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Stravinsky’s Perséphone with the Boston Symphony (Thomas Adès) and Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO.
Recent recital appearances have included The Master Series at King’s Place, the premiere of two new Macmillan works at The Cumnock Tryst, the Brighton Dome Festival and her Edinburgh International Festival debut in A Grand Night of Singing, alongside multiple BBC Proms and Proms in the Park, as well as appearances at the Ravinia Festival, the Barbican and Snape Proms.
West End highlights include Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum and starred alongside Michael Ball in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love at the Lyric Theatre.
A prolific recording artist, her debut recording for Decca Handel Arias was awarded the prestigious Orphée d'Or from and the much-coveted ECHO Klassik award, as well as earning her a Classical Brit Award nomination for Female Artist of the Year. The Mozart Album, Diva, and Beauty of the Baroque followed.
A TV and media personality, De Niese won an Emmy at the age of 16 as host of a weekly art showcase for teenagers at a Los Angeles local television studio. Her many TV appearances received widespread attention, whilst her BBC documentaries such as Diva Diaries, The Birth of an Opera and the highly praised Unsung Heroines attest to her extraordinary passion for the art form she represents, and her tireless commitment to bringing new audiences to it. In 2018 Sky Arts featured Danielle as the subject of her own Southbank Show presented by British TV icon Mervyn Bragg and she was also a guest on the iconic Desert Island Discs. In 2020 and 2021 she presented the Glyndebourne Opera Cup with comedian/writer Chris Addison for Sky Arts. Her highly acclaimed film version of Poulenc’s single hander La Voix Humaine (produced by David Parfitt for Trademark Films) for BBC 2 was nominated for Prague Golden Globes and the Venice TV awards. She returned to Sky Arts in 2024 with The Three Sopranos and in 2026 featured in a Sky Arts documentary on Mozart and will present and sing in her own documentary on Handel’s Messiah to be broadcast in September. For BBC TV she presented and performed in the Cardiff Singer of the World Gala.
Offstage, de Niese is passionate about music education, an advocate for children’s rights and has been named by Marie Claire magazine on its influential list of 'Women on Top'. She is an Ambassador for HRH The Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Children and the Arts, a patron of Future Talent and Pegasus Opera, and is an Artist Member of the Mannes Board of Governors. De Niese also serves as an official Ambassador of Voice for the International Rescue Committee.
2026/27 season / 1003 words. Not to be altered without permission.