Zachary Nelson

Zachary Nelson, a native of Annapolis, Maryland, has been praised for his rich and powerful baritone, as well as his ability to embody dramatic and comic characters on the operatic stage.

This season Mr. Nelson will make his debut with New Orleans Opera as Escamillo in Carmen, with Chicago Opera Theater as Doug in Everest, and with Fort Worth Opera as Marcello in La bohème. He makes his return to Palm Beach Opera, singing Ping in Turandot. During the summer of 2020, he joins Des Moines Metro Opera as the title role in Sweeney Todd.

2018-2019 highlights include his return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Marcello in Richard Jones’ acclaimed La Bohème, debuts the role of Leporello in Don Giovanni with Palm Beach Opera, his debut in Arizona Opera as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and returning to the Santa Fe Opera for his fifth season as Marcello in La Bohème.

The 2017-2018 season starts with a joint recital with Soprano Leah Crocetto and Pianist Mark Markham. Then he has returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Ping in Turandot and the title role in Dresden Semperoper’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Then Mr. Nelson will debut at the Pittsburgh Opera as Belcore in L’Elisir D’Amore and will be the baritone soloist in Bloch’s lush sacred piece, “Sacred Service (Avodat Hakodesh)” with the Voices of the Ascension.

The 2016-2017 season brings debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Donner in Das Rheingold and Enrico Ashton (cover) in Lucia di Lammermoor, Escamillo in Carmen with Den Norske Opera, and a fourth season with the Santa Fe Opera as Enrico Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor.

2015-2016 began with a return to the Dresden Semperoper as Figaro in both Le Nozze di Figaro and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He performed the role of Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya. He made debuts at the Salzburg Landestheater, Palm Beach, and San Francisco Opera in Carmen as Escamillo, and returned to the Canadian Opera Compnay as Escamillo.

His 2014-15 included the title role of Le nozze di Figaro with the Aix-en-Provence Festival on tour in Manama, Bahrain. Additionally, he makes his debut with Canadian Opera Company as Masetto in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Don Giovanni. He debuted the roles of Paolo in Simon Boccanegra, Escamillo in Carmen. He reprised the roles of Gugliemo in Cosi Fan Tutte, Belcore in L’Elisir D’Amore, Marcello in Bohéme, and Figaro in both Barbiere di Siviglia and a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro all with the Dresden Semperoper,

In the 2013-2014 season, Mr. Nelson joined the ensemble of the Dresden Semperoper, where he performed the roles of Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Bohème, Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Guglielmo in a new production of Così Fan Tutte. He also returned to the Santa Fe Opera as Malatesta in Laurent Pelly’s Don Pasquale.

Other notable performances include: Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Santa Fe Opera, Germont in La Traviata with Lyric Opera of Virginia, Angelotti in Tosca and Mandryka (cover) in Arabella with Santa Fe Opera, Quinault in Adriana Lecouvreur with Opera Orchestra of New York, Sciarrone in Tosca with Glimmerglass Opera, and a soloist in Steven Blier’s “Killer B’s” with the New York Festival of Song.

A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, PA, Mr. Nelson performed many roles including: Belcore in L’Elisir D’Amore, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, the title role in Falstaff, Michele in Il Tabarro, Sancho Panza in Don Quichotte, Mandryka in Arabella, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, and Masetto in Don Giovanni. Mr. Nelson is also a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Awards Mr. Neslon has garnered are: The George London Award from the 2012 George London Foundation, 1st prize prize from the 2012 Opera Index Competition, The 2012 Liederkranz Foundation Competition (General Opera Division), and the 2012 Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation. Also, 2nd prize from the 2011 Gerda Lissner Competition, the 2011 Giulio Gari Foundation, and the 2011 Loren Zachary Competition.