“Nicholas Meyer superbly captured Muir’s dignity and vision for the great outdoors...Meyer’s beautiful mellow baritone was at its best in the upper range...”
bio
Nicholas Meyer is a Portland-based baritone, pianist, and educator with an active career as a performer, teacher, and arts leader. He is the founder and owner of Lydian Music Studios, a welcoming and creative space for music lessons, rehearsals, classes, and performances.
In addition to maintaining a private studio, Nicholas has taught voice at Willamette University and currently serves on the board of Renegade Opera. He made his music director debut with the company directing Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. His work spans performance, music direction, stage direction, production, and accompaniment, reflecting a broad and integrated approach to music-making.
As a voice and piano instructor, Nicholas has taught thousands of lessons to a wide range of students, including professional musicians, classical and operatic singers, rock and hip-hop artists, pianists, public speakers, teens, hobbyists, and singers discovering their voices for the first time. His teaching emphasizes healthy technique, musical curiosity, and long-term sustainability.
Nicholas is the former Co-Artistic Director of Opera Theater Oregon, where he produced and performed in several critically acclaimed productions. In 2017, he created the role of John Muir in the world premiere of the environmental opera Two Yosemites. Oregon ArtsWatch praised his “whiskey-smooth baritone,” noting that he “interpreted Muir to perfection,” while NW Reverb wrote that he “superbly captured Muir’s dignity and vision for the great outdoors.”
His operatic and concert credits include performances at the Aquilon Music Festival, Astoria Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Manhattan School of Music, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Friends of Chamber Music, and the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria. Operatic roles include Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), The Stranger (Martin’s Lie), and Indiana Elliot’s Brother (The Mother of Us All), as well as covering the role of Beaumarchais in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles.
An avid recitalist, Nicholas has performed extensively in art song, with a repertoire of more than four hundred works. He has produced and performed three original art song recitals through successful Kickstarter campaigns, frequently collaborating with composer Justin Ralls and pianist Robert Ainsley. He has also appeared in masterclasses with artists including Elly Ameling, Julius Drake, Dame Ann Murray, Warren Jones, and Thomas Hampson, and premiered a song cycle by Italian composer Paolo Marchettini for baritone, cello, and orchestra in New York City in 2012, with a return performance in 2016.
Nicholas holds a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. He currently studies voice with David Jones in New York City and piano with Susan McDaniel in Portland, and approaches music as a lifelong student, continually refining his craft through listening, curiosity, and collaboration.