Tyler Nelson
Tyler Nelson is one of America’s most promising young tenors. Already enjoying success in a wide variety of concert repertoire, recent engagements have included performances with Irish National Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Opera on the James as Alfredo in La Traviata, Opera Saratoga as Paul in Rocking Horse Winner and the Magician in The Consul, New Orleans Opera and Opera on the James as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Dayton Opera as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Utah Symphony & Opera as Le théière/ Le petit vieillard in L’enfant et les sortileges, Opera Naples as Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Opera Omaha as Trin in La fanciulla del West, Opera Tampa and Wide Open Opera in Ireland as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and in Handel’s Messiah with Augustana College and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well multiple performances with Le Festival Lyrique International de Belle-Île en Mer as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ferrando in Così fan tutte and as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C and Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore and Requiem.
Mr. Nelson’s COVID-19 affected 2019-20 & 2020-21 seasons included cancelled performances of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance with Opera Tampa, Handel’s Messiah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Elijah with Master Chorale of South Florida, and Alfredo in La Traviata with the Chattanooga Symphony. Future seasons will see his return to Nashville Opera.
A frequent performer at the Castleton Festival, Mr. Nelson has performed Gonzalve in L’heure espagnole, and under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel: Male Chorus in Rape of Lucretia, Gherardo and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, the Mayor in Albert Herring, Maese Pedro in El retablo del Maese Pedro, Father in 7 Deadly Sins, La Rainette in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, which he performed at the Castleton Festival and with the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China.
Mr. Nelson has a wide range of operatic experience. During successive seasons with Ohio Light Opera, Arts blog CoolCleveland.com commented of his performance: “Tyler Nelson, as that erstwhile clergyman, could steal the show if he tried. As it was, he nearly brought down the house with I Aim to Please.” Opera News, reviewing a recording of Maytime, called his singing “mellifluous”. Additional highlights include performances of the Britten Serenade with the Utah Valley Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Saginaw Bay Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s St. John Passion with Salt Lake City Choral Artists, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the California and Reno Symphonies. He has also appeared as a soloist on the stages of the Kennedy Center and at Carnegie Hall.
His international debut was in Mazatlan, Mexico, performing the role of Shallow in Gordon Getty’s Plump Jack, under the direction of the composer. Robert Commanday of San Francisco Classical Voice said of Mr. Nelson’s performance: “Tyler Nelson, a young tenor living in Florida, did a captivating number on Justice Shallow. His diction was impeccable and his animation as the silly, ridiculous squire won for him alone laughs that were independent of the lines. His bright, keenly focused, vibrant tenor invites Mozart. He has a big future.”
Recent seasons have included debuts with Chicago Opera Theater in the role of Delfa for their production of Giasone, and a return for their production of Médée. Of his performance in Giasone, Mark Thomas Ketterson of Opera News commented: Tyler Nelson was hilarious as a travesti Delfa, managing the passaggio of his tenor with notable skill and looking for all the world like Mollie Sugden's Mrs. Slocombe on Are You Being Served?” Venus Zarris of Chicago Stage Review stated: “Tyler Nelson commits comic operatic highway robbery by embodying all that is hysterical about drag, as Delfa the maidservant to Medea, while simultaneously delivering some of the production’s most superb singing.”