Stage
Yanofsky began her professional singing career by performing at the 2006 Montreal International Jazz Festival. Only 12 at the time, this performance made her the youngest performer ever to headline at the festival. She has returned each year since, including a special outdoor performance for the festival’s 30th Anniversary in 2009 and a performance with l'Orchestre Métropolitain in 2011. Her other Canadian festival performances include Toronto (Luminato and Downtown), Ottawa (Jazz and Blues), Vancouver, Victoria, Quebec, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Fredericton. Her international festival appearances include two visits to The Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, several European festivals including the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival as well as the Ginza International Jazz Festival in Japan where she played to a full house at Tokyo's historic Kabuki-za.
On February 8, 2008 – her fourteenth birthday – Nikki kicked off a multi-city tour with famed composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch at Carnegie Hall. This tour included appearances at other world-class venues such as Avery Fisher Hall, in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, also in New York, as well as The Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. This tour included stops in Seattle, San Diego, Milwaukee and her hometown of Montreal. In November 2008 she made her Canadian orchestral debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and since then has gone on to sing with the Vancouver Symphony, the Edmonton Symphony and the Calgary Philharmonic. Nikki has also performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for a tribute to Oscar Peterson as well as the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra – both conducted by Canadian pianist, Senator, and Order of Canada officer Tommy Banks.
Yanofsky has performed the Canadian and American National Anthems at several sporting events including Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre, Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center, Florida Panthers at the BankAtlantic Center, a Montreal NASCAR event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the 2008 Grey Cup at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
With Herbie Hancock on piano, Nikki sang "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" at the 2011 MusiCares Person of the Year awards honouring Barbra Streisand. MusiCares is the foundation arm of Grammy.org, the organization responsible for The Grammy Awards.
Other interesting venues where Yanofsky has performed are the Bell Centre in Montreal for both an appearance with Wyclef Jean as well as a solo performance at UNICEF’s Unite Against Aids benefit and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto for WE Day. She also performed a private concert for The Globe and Mail in front of the Library of Celsus at the 2000-year-old Ruins of Ephesus in Turkey.
In 2010 and 2011, Nikki toured extensively through Canada the United States and Europe. Her latest tour was a 9-city tour of France which included a performance at Toulouse's Halle aux Grains and culminated with a sold-out show at the legendary Olympia Theatre in Paris.
Nikki toured with jazz luminaries, Dianne Reeves and Jane Monheit in mid-2011. They were billed as "Larry Rosen's Jazz Roots - Three Generations of Divas".
Nikki performed as the opening act for the 2012 Canadian tour of acclaimed international singing quartet, Il Divo.
Yanofsky was a guest performer at the all-star tribute to Carole King at the Dolby Theatre in L.A. on Dec. 4, 2012. Other performers included Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Vince Gill, and Amy Grant. The show was hosted by Jack Nicholson, Quincy Jones and Danny DeVito.
Nikki joined Jason Mraz on stage for a duet of his hit song "Lucky" at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto on September 9, 2012.
On April 13, 2013, Nikki and Stevie Wonder sang together "Let The Good Times Roll" at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The star-studded event was a night honouring the joint 80th birthday celebration of Quincy Jones and Sir Michael Caine with all proceeds going to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Other stars performing that evening included Bono, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Jennifer Hudson, Patti Austin, James Ingram, Siedah Garrett, BeBe Winans, Will.i.am, Jordin Sparks, and Snoop Lion.
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—Barbara Ward (1914–1981)
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—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“There is but one stage for the peasant and the actor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)