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The American baritone and music pedagogue, Nikolas (Nik) Nackley, obtained his Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.
As a solo vocal artist, Nikolas Nackley is in demand for his work on both the concert and operatic stage in California, the East Coast, and abroad. He has been heralded by the San Francisco Chronicle as “sonorous and heroic” and praised by the Boston Globe for his ability to “continually impress with his beautiful voice and acting.” Recently featured in the title role of West Edge Opera’s critically acclaimed Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (August 2015), his other recent credits include the role of Captain Bouchardon in the West Coast premiere of Mata Hari, (August 2018), Joe Pitt in Péter Eötvös's West Coast premiere of Angels in America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (January 2013), Adonis in Blow's Venus and Adonis with Marin Baroque (June 2014); J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245 (May 2018), Cantata BWV 140 and George Frideric Handel's Ode for the Birth of Queen Anne with the San Francisco Bach Choir, Figaro in Paisiello’s Barber of Seville with West End Opera's Opera Medium Rare (February 2016), J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 with Marin Oratorio (December 2015), the West Coast premiere of Kaija Saariaho's The Tempest Songbook with Cal Performances (October 2015) and a recital series in New Castle, England.
Other recent engagements include the world premiere of Stacy Garrop’s Terra Nostra with the San Francisco Choral Society (April 2023); J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245 (March 2018), Carmina Burana (November 2017) and W.A. Mozart's Requiem (March 2018) with the Bay Choral Guild; the role of Pallante in G.F. Handel's Agrippina (July 2016) and the Badger/Parson in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen (August 2016) with West Edge Opera; the West Coast premiere of Jocelyn Hagen's Ashes of Roses with Symphony Silicone Valley (May 2016); J. Haydn's Paulkenmesse and the Maurice Duruflé's Requiem with the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers; W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Johann Christian Bach's Magnificat, Marianna Martines' Dixit Dominus (San Francisco Bach Choir: May 2019). He has worked as a featured soloist under such conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Roger Norrington, Joana Carneiro, Bruno Weil, Craig Smith, Harry Christophers, John Harbison, and Pablo Heras Casado.
Nikolas Nackley is the Coordinator of Vocal Studies and a private vocal instructor at UC Berkeley (since August 2016). He has served as a full time and visiting lecturer at universities around the greater Bay Area and is sought after as a master vocal and choral clinician and competition adjudicator. He is also currently a member of the vocal/opera and choral faculty at San Francisco State University’s School of Music (since August 2014) where he conducts the university’s Chamber Singers ensemble, teaches lyric diction and phonetics, opera workshop, vocal pedagogy, and private vocal instruction. In the last academic year he lead SF State’s Chamber Singers in the school’s first performance of Heinrich Schütz's St. Matthew Passion as well as Michael Haydn's Missa Tempore Quadragesimae, Igor Stravinsky's Mass, Charpentier's Messe Pour Minuit de Noël, Haydn's Part Songs, and the Johannes Brahms' Zigeunerlieder. As a stage and music director of opera, he has directed and or conducted that university’s opera program in productions including W.A. Mozart La Finta Giardiniera, Strauss' Fledermaus, G.F. Handel's Alcina, Cavalli's La Calisto and To Hell and Back in 400 Years, a composite Orpheus pastiche-opera that he arranged and directed.
From 2016-2018 Nikolas Nackley conducted the UC Berkeley University Chorus in performances including Benjamin Britten’s Gloriana Choral Dances, Purcell’s Come, Ye Sons of Art, Charpentier’s Messe de Morts, De Lalande’s De Profundis Clamavit, Berlioz' Apotheose from Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale, and Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria, Arvo Pärt's Two Slavic Psalms and Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms in collaboration with ensembles including UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Contra Costa Wind Symphony, and the Jubilate Orchestra. In addition, he led a joint concert of songs of protest, resistance, and praise from around the world performed with the University Gospel Chorus. He currently lives in Gloucester, California. |
