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Nicole Renaud is a classically trained soprano and accompanies herself on the accordion. Born in Paris in 1967 and based in New York City since 1990, Nicole describes herself as a "neo soprano", giving an elegant 21st century twist to classical music. Her ethereal, mystical voice blends with deep baroque strings and soothing ambient sounds. She wears original haute couture futuristic costumes reminiscent of Man Ray's avant garde glamour, Fritz Lang, Ridley Scott and Luc Besson's stylized science fiction (Metropolis, Blade Runner, and The Fifth Element). Nicole's use of light in her costuming enhances the mystery of her show which is often compared to Cirque du Soleil. She sings in French, English, Italian and German.
Nicole Renaud has performed extensively in the New York music scene (Joe's Pub, Knitting Factory, Galapagos, etc...), as well as at international events and private affairs thoughout the US, Italy, France, Japan, Switzerland, and Lebanon. She has been featured at the Davos-World Economy Forum; at fashion shows for Jean Paul Gaultier, Betsey Johnson, Cristiano Fissore; at the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's 50th anniversary; and at the Salvador Dali exhibit at the Philadelphia's Museum of Art. For the past few summers, Nicole has played in Capri, at the luxurious Capri Palace hotel. She has given numerous recitals on the island (Axel Munthe Foundation, etc...). This year, internationally renowned fashion photographer Iris Brosch invited her to be part of her Venice Biennale exhibit "Divinita", a tableau vivant.
Nicole's voice was chosen for the Volkswagen commercial "Big Day" (also known as "the wedding commercial") which premiered during Super Bowl 2001 and was later nominated one of the top ten television commercial scores of the year. She has scored and recorded music for films by Oscar-nominated cartoonist Bill Plympton, which have won prizes at the Cannes film festival and at the Festival d'Annecy. Recently, Nicole sang on French star Keren Ann's album, Nolita (EMI/Blue Note). She has also worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Towa Tei (formerly of Dee-Lite).
In 2003, Nicole self-produced a MAXI CD "Les Amants Solitaires" based on the melancholy poetry of a French aristocrat living in Capri at the turn of the century, and shot a music video in Super 8 film with art photographer Karine Laval. 2004 saw Nicole featured live on the French /German national cultural channel ARTE in their show Die Nacht/La Nuit. Last April, David Byrne chose her song "Tu Crois au Marc de Café" (produced in 2002 by Laurie Anderson's keyboardist, Peter Scherer) along with 30 other of his favorite tracks to launch his internet radio station, Radio David Byrne.
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