Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee was a member of LA Opera's young artist program from 2014 to 2017.
He is a first prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the zarzuela prize at Operalia, and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions grand prize winner. He is a member of the ensemble at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe where he appears during the 2018/19 season in new productions of Der Freischütz (Kaspar) and The Tales of Hoffmann (Villains), as well as revivals of Simon Boccanegra (Paolo) and Anna Bolena (Enrico VIII). In his first season, he sang in new productions of Anna Bolena, Simon Boccanegra, Melisso in Alcina, and as Frère Laurent in Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette.
Recently, Mr. Brownlee made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the First Soldier in Salome conducted by Johannes Debus.
His numerous appearances with LA Opera include Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers, the Speaker in The Magic Flute, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly and Captain Gardiner in Moby-Dick, all conducted by James Conlon. He also sang Colline in La Bohème conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at LA Opera, and he debuted at Atlanta Opera in the same role. He debuted at Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon as Escamillo in Calixto Bieto’s production of Carmen. He has been seen at Santa Fe Opera singing the First Soldier in Salome and as Don Fernando in a new Stephen Wadsworth production of Fidelio conducted by Harry Bicket.
Mr. Brownlee debuted with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Dvorák’s Te Deum conducted by Andres Orozco-Estrada and with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Kent Nagano. He made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut under Gustavo Dudamel in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and returned for performances of a new multimedia staging by Netia Jones of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland under Susanna Mälkki, which traveled to the Barbican in London with the BBC Symphony. Also with the LA Philharmonic, he was seen as the Doctor in Pelléas et Melisande with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. He sang Stravinsky’s Les Noces with the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
Mr. Brownlee received his Master of Music degree from Rice University where he studied with Dr. Stephen King. He was part of the inaugural Young Artist Vocal Academy with Houston Grand Opera, apprentice artist with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, and winner of the 2014 Palm Springs Vocal Competition. He was awarded the 2016 Sara Tucker Study Grant and 2017 Richard Tucker Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.
