Emily Nelson

Available Monday-Thursday

Emily Nelson

Piano and Vocal Instructor

Emily is a lyric soprano with a Master of Music in Opera from the University of British Columbia, and a Bachelor of Music in Performance- Voice from the School of Music and Dance at University of Oregon, where she graduated summa cum laude. She has studied voice for over thirteen years, and is currently a student of Ruth Dobson. She has also studied voice with internationally-renowned soprano Heather Thompson-Price, and piano with Rosalie Justen.

Emily has a major background in solo vocal performance. Her master’s thesis was the role of Fiordiligi in UBC Opera’s production of Così fan tutte. She also peformed the same role as part of the European Music Academy in the Czech Republic. Throughout her graduate studies, she performed extensively as a soloist with the UBC Opera Ensemble, singing and studying roles in such works as The Crucible, Rusalka, Die lustige Witwe, and Dialogues des Carmelites.  Emily also performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Okanagan Symphony. She was a featured soloist on VSO’s recording of Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor, under the Naxos label. As a student at UBC, she also studied stage directing, theater techniques, and vocal pedagogy.
Emily has also performed extensively throughout Oregon. Under the direction of Luke Housner, she performed the roles of Gertrud from Hänsel und Gretel and Countess from Le nozze di Figaro in the Portland Summer Opera Workshop. For three years, she was also an Apprentice with the Astoria Music Festival. Besides performing in the Festival’s professional performances, she played the roles of Countess, Marcellina, Alice Ford, and Donna Elvira in the Apprentice Scenes Program. As a concert singer, Emily has sung with such groups as Chautauqua Community Chorus and University of Oregon- University Choir. Some of the most noteable works she has performed as a soloist have been Mozart- Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan-William’s Dona Nobis Pacem, J. S. Bach’sWeichnachtsoratorium, and Libby Larsen’s Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth. She has also sung as a member of many choral groups, including Portland State University Chamber Choir (under the direction of Dr. Bruce Browne) and Eugene Symphony Chorus.

Emily has received many awards and honors for her academic and performance work throughout her career. At University of Oregon, she was a recipient of the Music Dean’s Scholarship; at Portland State University, she received the Jeannine B. Cowles Scholarship. Emily was also a College 1 Division Winner of NATS (2006), a recipient of the Monday Music Club Scholarship (2007), and winner of the College division of the Lang Opera Awards (2006 and 2007).

If you have a question for Emily, or wish to contact her, please fill out the form below.  The message will be passed along to the Education Center and they will get back to you.