We are delighted to share that the Stephen Oliver Award 2025 has been awarded to composer Nishla Smith to assist with the cost of bringing her show “Super” to life.
Nishla Smith is a composer-performer influenced by the musical language of jazz and driven by
storytelling across her diverse practice. Nishla is a Peter Whittingham Jazz Award Winner,
International Songwriting Competition Award and an alumni of London Jazz Festival’s flagship
Take Five programme. She played the titular bird in Atri Banerjee’s acclaimed production of ‘Kes’,
for which she won a UK Theatre Award for ‘Best Supporting Performer’, and in 2024 originated
the role of ‘The Jazz Singer’, in Emma Baggott’s production of ‘A Taste of Honey’ at the Royal
Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
Nishla’s original musical show ‘What Happened to Agnes’, commissioned by Opera North, Leeds
Playhouse & HOME Mcr, toured the UK in 2020 and was reprised in 2023 for the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe. She devised & directed a staged adaptation of Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye for 4-
handed piano, contemporary dancers and storyteller for Opera North’s 2023 Christmas offering
in the Howard Assembly Room, and returned in December 2024, to direct BAFTA-nominated
actress Julie Hesmondhalgh and the orchestra of Opera North, in ‘Christmas Tales’ a show she
devised and wrote for the company. Nishla’s original musical show ‘Super’ received its first R&D
in July 2025 as part of Antipodes Theatre ‘Winter Lab’ programme, in Melbourne, Australia.
Outside of her work in theatre Nishla is an internationally touring jazz artist. 2025 will see her
perform throughout the UK, Europe, Australia and Asia.
To learn more about the award and Stephen Oliver’s life visit: Stephen Oliver Award