Nadine Rohanda Smith Wray Willow Benjamin is a British

lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and ...

singer.Jury, Louise (30 October 2014)
"Singer who quit City stars in slave trade opera"
''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

''.

Biography

She was born Nadine Rohanda Smith in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th centu ...

, south London, of Jamaican-Indian heritage. Leaving St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls when she was 16, she joined the

Youth Training Scheme The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was the name in the United Kingdom of an on-the-job training course for school leavers aged 16 and 17 and was managed by the Manpower Services Commission. The scheme was first outlined in the 1980 white paper ''A Ne ...

, which led to her working with a corporate finance company in the City for seven years.Browne, Malika (23 February 2018)
"Nadine Benjamin: ‘I’m hungry to be a great singer’"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''. Realising that she wanted to be a singer, she attended

Tech Music School The British and Irish Modern Music Institute, now styled as the BIMM Institute, is a group of eight independent colleges which specialise in the provision of creative education in Brighton, Bristol, London, Dublin, Manchester, Berlin, Birmingh ...

in west London, before deciding to focus on opera. She was the recipient of a Voice of Black Opera Award for the most promising voice, and subsequently set up a mentoring agency called Everybody Can! Benjamin was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to opera.

References

External links

Official website

"Black History Month: Nadine Benjamin, Soprano"
Incorporated Society of Musicians.
"A snapshot of British Soprano Nadine Benjamin's journey to opera - nadinebenjamin.com"
YouTube video, 25 January 2016. * Glover, Julian (24 September 2018)

''Evening Standard''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Nadine Living people English sopranos English people of Jamaican descent English people of Indian descent Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of the British Empire