Edward Nelson

Nelson has recently made debuts at some of the world’s most important theaters. He starred in the title role of Philip Glass Orphée at Teatro Real Madrid and sang Dandini at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Semperoper Dresden in Damiano Michieletto’s production of La Cenerentola. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Terence Blanchard Champion, which won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. 
 
An alumnus of both the Merola Opera Program and the Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera, Nelson has made over 70 appearances on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House. In his final season as an Adler Fellow, he sang mainstage performances of Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and roles in the world premiere of Dream of the Red Chamber. He has since returned as the Bosun in Billy Budd. 
 
Nelson made his European debut in 2017 at the Norwegian National Opera as the title role in a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande and later returned to the company as Dandini in La Cenerentola and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He has since sung Pelléas at Ópera de Oviedo, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, and Des Moines Metro Opera. 
 
Other recent opera engagements include his return to Washington National Opera as Don Andrès in La Périchole, the Barber in Strauss Die schweigsame Frau at Bard Summerscape, his debut at Opera Philadelphia in Ne Quittez Pas: A Reimagined ‘La voix humaine,’ where he performed songs of Francis Poulenc alongside Patricia Racette; Il Barbierie di Siviglia at the Vancouver Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni at Palm Beach Opera, Maximillian in Candide at the Washington National Opera, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at the Detroit Opera, the title role in Hamlet at West Edge Opera, Schaunard in La Bohème at Cincinnati Opera, and a staged performance of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin at Chicago’s Harris Theater, in collaboration with Jessica Lang Dance. 

Nelson made his Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Kurt Weill Four Walt Whitman Songs. He also sang Sea Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony and has performed Carmina Burana with the Mobile Symphony, appeared in a recital of Schubert lieder at the Four Arts Society in Palm Beach, and sang both Schaunard in La Bohème and Papageno in The Magic Flute with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra at Boston’s Symphony Hall. 

Nelson is a decorated international vocal competitor. In addition to winning the 2020 Glyndebourne Cup, he was a finalist and encouragement award winner in Operalia 2021 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. He was awarded Third Prize at the 2021 Ottavio Ziino Competition in Rome and is the recipient of grants from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Shoshana Foundation. He was a National Semi-Finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.  
 
A native of California, Nelson is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received further training at the Tanglewood Music Center.  

2024/25 season / 618 words. Not to be altered without permission.