Ursula Yovich sings Nina Simone is the solace for the soul

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Throughout Ursula Yovich sings Nina Simone, powerful is a word that often springs to mind, whether it be to describe Ursula Yovich’s voice, or the women she speaks of (Nina Simone and herself). Entranced is another. The audience sat in complete silence for many of her songs. Yovich doesn’t try to be Nina but brings her own interpretation, her own pain, sorrow, passion and strength.

REVIEW Ursula Yovich sings Nina Simone Photo: Claudio Raschella — Photo: Claudio Raschella

Ursula Yovich sings Nina Simone opens strongly with Sinnerman, a song that sets the scene and showcases Yovich’s powerful voice. It, and Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair which follows demonstrate Yovich’s ability to completely inhabit songs and mesmerise the audience with her emotional delivery.

Between songs, Yovich relates Nina Simone’s stories to her own life as a Black woman. In Nina, she found a voice she could relate to, and one offering strength, compassion, and understanding. Of Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair, Yovich says it “could heal the inner child in me” who was told that black is not beautiful. Yovich also shares Nina Simone quotes related to some of the songs, including that “we should be challenged”.

Yovich reimagines several songs as medleys. Ne me quitte pas merges into I Loves You Porgy—an unexpected pairing that works both musically and thematically. Yovich brings her own voice to the French Ne me quitte pas, singing in a language that’s not her own yet capturing the same tenderness and sadness as the original, then blending beautifully into I Loves You Porgy, a desperate plea for protection from a former lover. Later, Ain’t Got No, I Got Life (from Broadway’s Hair) blends into To Be Young, Gifted and Black, another empowerment anthem. Audience members pointed to the body parts mentioned in the song: “got my ears, got my eyes, got my nose, got my mouth, I got my smile.”

Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood allows Yovich to recount being completely misunderstood by her teacher at age 7, who didn’t appreciate her underwater world where characters communicated differently. She never wrote again as a child after that experience. Yovich shares her own message “The tragedy is not that we don’t know how to understand, but that we really don’t want to try”, a potent reminder that understanding is a choice.

Strange Fruit is haunting and poignant—the point where several audience members start to tear up. Yovich connects it to contemporary atrocities, referencing Kumanjayi Walker’s death at 19 in Alice Springs: “we normalise atrocities when we stay silent.” She reminds us that “resistance isn’t always violence or a fist”—it’s in choices like consuming ethically.

Four Women, which Yovich performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival Variety Gala, received the same stunned, entranced reception here. The haunting critique of racism and misogynoir traces generational trauma through four Black female archetypes, building to a raging crescendo with the final line “My name is Peaches.” Yovich handles the immense emotional and vocal weight with absolute ease. Everything Must Change also showcases Yovich’s wide dynamic range, starting softly and building into a soaring crescendo.

Stars explores the isolation and transient nature of fame. Yovich speaks of truth-tellers whose legacies refuse to fade: Nina Simone, Martin Luther King, and Eddie Mabo all paid a heavy price. She reminds us that fear can turn ordinary people violent, but with hope, the historical pendulum swings back.

Ursula Yovich sings Nina Simone Photo: Claudio Raschella — Photo: Claudio Raschella

The show closes with I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement. It’s the uplifting, hopeful song we needed to send us back out into the world because it turns a deep desire for freedom into something expansive, encouraging, and full of resolve.

It’s great that Yovich introduces her band and tells us about their other projects—a sign she’s genuinely collaborative and invested in her fellow musicians. Her band—Adam Ventoura (bass), Daniel March (guitar), Fabian Hevia (drums), and Daniel Pliner (piano)—provided tight, dynamic support that elevated every song, from the fiery intensity of Sinnerman to the tender resolve of I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free.

Ursula Yovich Sings Nina Simone is much more than a tribute. It’s a transcendent act of truth-telling, resilience, and love. In a world that still needs Nina’s message as urgently as it did in the 1960s, Yovich delivers it with a voice that is both commanding and tender, grounding the songs in her own lived experience as a Black woman. From the haunting weight of Strange Fruit to the soaring resolve of I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, the show leaves you not just moved, but called to action. With a tight, dynamic band and a set list that balances rage, grief, and hope, Yovich proves that art can be both solace and weapon. This is a performance that lingers long after the final note: it’s essential, unforgettable, and deeply necessary.