O c t a v i o V a z q u e z

Nicholas Cotellessa

Tenor

Tenor Nicholas Cotellessa performs as a soloist in opera, oratorio and art song.  He has been a member of the Young Vocal Artists Program of the Caramoor International Music Festival under the direction of Will Cruthfield for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.  Recent performances include the title role in Lehar’s Paganini with Concert Operetta Theater in Philadelphia.  He has also sung as a soloist with New York Cantata Singers and Dicapo Opera Theater in New York, Crystal Opera Consortium and Danbury Music Centre in Connecticut, and Commonwealth Opera in Western Massachusetts. In addition, Nicholas also sang for two seasons in opera and oratorio with Boston Baroque and Handel Haydn Society under the direction of Christopher Hogwood.  Operatic credits include lead roles in several operas of Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini as well as most of the principal tenor roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory.  He has won several competitions and grants and was a finalist in the 2002 Friedrich Schorr Memorial Prize in Voice and a semi-finalist in the New York Oratorio Society Auditions.  Upcoming performances include performances of Die Schöne Müllerin in New York, Connecticut and in Spain. An alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Accademia Musicale La Chigiana in Siena, Italy, Nicholas holds degrees in music from Indiana University and Boston University.