Assistant Professor, Voice
Tyler.Nelson@uvu.edu
801-863-5420
Tyler S. Nelson is one of America’s most promising young tenors. Already enjoying success in a wide variety of concert repertoire, his recent engagements have included Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Saginaw Bay Symphony, the Mozart Requiem with Utah Chamber Artists, The Creation with Thomasville singers, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the California and Reno Symphonies.
Mr. Nelson also has a wide range of operatic experience. During successive seasons with Ohio Light Opera he sang Sancho in Man of La Mancha, Matthew in Maytime, Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus, Pietro in The Firefly, Philipe in New Moon, and Mr. Collins in the world premier of Pride and Prejudice. Arts blog CoolCleveland.com commented: “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 the same performances, called his singing “mellifluous”.
Mr. Nelson’s other operatic roles include: Male Chorus in Rape of Lucretia, Gherardo and Rinuccio in Gianni Schiichi, Maese Pedro in El retablo del Maese Pedro, Father in 7 Dedly Sins, and La Rainette in L’enfant et les sortileges, with Lorin Maazel and the Châteauville Foundation as well as the Mayor in Albert Herring, with both the Châteauville Foundation, and the Merola Opera Program.
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 this season 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 in a review of the production stated that: “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.”
This year, Mr. Nelson debuted in the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, with the national Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing China, under that baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel. Upcoming engagements include performances as the Tenor soloist in Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Requiem, and a return to Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia, with Maestro Maazel this summer.
A graduate of Florida State University where he earned his Doctor of Music degree with tenor Stanford Olsen, Tyler also holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Utah where he studied with Tenor Robert Breault and Soprano Lorna Haywood. He currently serves as the Chair of the vocal department at Utah Valley University.