At only 30, the soprano is fast becoming an in-demand operatic globetrotter.

When I catch up with Nicole Car she’s enjoying her last two weeks being 29. “Don’t worry, I’ll always be under 30,” she jokes over Skype from her apartment in London. She’s just made her Royal Opera House debut in Carmen, the work that launched her Opera Australia career in 2011 at the age of 25 and earning her a Helpmann Award into the bargain. “What draws you in is the fluid, liquid tone of her voice. Even as a character as demure as Micaëla she holds the stage with a strong vocal and emotional presence,” said Limelight’s London critic of that Covent Garden performance.

A few days later and she’s blown the London reviewers away in Eugene Onegin. “She’s a wonderful Tatyana, among the best ever,” said the Guardian; “Car’s passionate Tatyana has a bright and silvery purity,” raved the Independent.

Covent Garden’s Director of Opera Kasper Holten had no doubts that Car had the operatic chops for London after working with her on the production in Sydney in 2014. “From the first moment, it was clear to me that this was an exceptional singer,”...