Nishla is a singer and songwriter who defies easy categorisation. Her live sets include a breathtaking variety of material, from celebrated originals to dark jazz standards and devastating ballads. She is currently working on a staged song cycle produced by Opera North: ’What Happened to Agnes’ is an immersive, cross-disciplinary collaboration with artist Luca Shaw and pianist Tom Harris, and will tour the UK in the 19/20 season.

Over the course of the 2017/18 season, Nishla wrote, performed, and produced a major commission for Manchester Collective — ‘Cabaret’ received a national tour, was performed live on BBC3 In Tune, and was featured at Home MCR’s PUSH festival. She rejoined the Collective last summer for the Cubitt Sessions, a set of live shows produced by Kings Place in London.

Outside of her solo work, Nishla heads up the Nishla Smith Quintet, who have recently performed at the Manchester and Lancaster Jazz Festivals, NQ Jazz, The Vortex in London, and recently joined Jazz North’s Northern Line roster. She will be releasing new music in 2020.