Nancy Argenta

Nancy Maureen Argenta (born Nancy Maureen Herbison on January 17, 1957) is a Canadian soprano singer, best known for performing music from the pre-classical era. She has won international acclaim, and is considered by many as the leading Handel soprano of her time.

She was born in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. She spent her early years in the settlement of Argenta, from which she later took her professional name (to avoid being mistaken for another Canadian soprano, Nancy Hermiston.)

At the age of 11 she started formal voice lessons with Dr. Amy Ferguson of Nelson, and sang with one of the school choirs at L.V. Rogers High School in Nelson. By that time, she was frequently making trips to Vancouver, British Columbia, so she could hear musical events and have additional singing lessons. After graduation from high school in 1975, she was a student of Jacob Hamm in Vancouver and of Martin Chambers at the University of Western Ontario, graduating in 1980. The same year she won 1st prize in the Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition. After further training with Jacqueline Richard in Düsseldorf from 1980 to 1981, and with Gérard Souzay, in 1982 she settled in London, England and completed her studies with Vera Rozsa, and Sir Peter Pears. In 1990, she won Canada's Virginia Parker Prize. n

Her soprano voice is light, clear, and flexible, with a sound that is regarded as ideal for classical-era and earlier music.

Her professional operatic debut was in two roles in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie at the 1983 Aix-en-Provence Festival. In 1990 she received the Virginia P. Moore Prize, an annual award from the Canada Council for development of the career of a young Canadian classical musician.

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