She also performed with Christopher Hogwood’s Academy of Ancient Music, and Anthony Rooley's Consort of Musicke - in soprano duets together with Emma Kirkby.
Later she was one of the founding members of Nicholas McGegan's San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, specialising in Handel and Purcell.
In opera she made her debut in Brussels in 1979, in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea under Alan Curtis.
She was soprano for Christopher Hogwood's landmark 1980 recording of Handel's Messiah, recorded in Westminster Abbey and videotaped by the BBC.
Nelson died, aged 72, in Albany, California.