American Baritone Nicholas Pallesen has received international praise for his “authority and tonal beauty”, “handsome, stylish singing”, “depth of feeling”, and his “formidable portrayal in bearing and voice”. He is a 2012 recipient of a Richard Tucker Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and a 2013 Award winner of the George London Foundation Competition. He is also a former Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and can be seen in the documentary, “The Audition”.

This past season, Nicholas returned to the New Orleans Opera to sing Falke in Die Fledermaus and to the Metropolitan Opera roster for various operas. In the upcoming 2016-2017 season, Nicholas returns to the English National Opera to sing the title role in Rigoletto and makes his German debut singing Ford in Falstaff with Opera Köln. He also sings Ford with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner.

In the 2014-2015 season, Nicholas reprised the role of Germont in La Traviata at the Fort Worth and Shreveport Operas. Further to his great personal success at his English National Opera debut, Nicholas returned to that company as Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades. He also appeared in recital for the George London Foundation with soprano Angela Meade at the Morgan Library and took part in that year’s Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Avery Fisher Hall.

Previously, Nicholas made a string of important debuts with the Metropolitan Opera as Lysander in The Enchanted Island, the English National Opera as Fieramosca in Benvenuto Cellini and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Baron Douphol in La Traviata. He also reprised the title-role in Marschner’s Der Vampyr with the New Orleans Opera and sang Sam in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti with the Göteborg Symphony and Kent Nagano.

Nicholas is also a winner of the Giulio Gari, the Sullivan Foundation, the Opera Index, and the National Federation of Music Clubs Competitions. He has also won awards from the Loren L. Zachary Society, the Liederkranz Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Opera Birmingham Competition, the Santa Fe Opera, and a Richard Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, among others.

Concurrent to his work as a performer, Nicholas is a passionate advocate for mental health and wellness among performing artists. He has worked for over a decade as a Board Certified Hypnotist, helping performing artists get out of their own way, both on stage and off. He is the Founder of Whole Artist Hypnosis, where his clients include established artists in the world’s top orchestras, opera companies, and musical theater stages, students at several of the top conservatories in the world, and high school students looking to pursue a career in the arts. He is on the faculty at the Wolf Trap Opera Company and Seagle Music Colony, and he is a frequent guest lecturer on mental health and wellness at many of the top conservatories in the US.