Nicholas Tolputt
Countertenor
Nicholas graduated from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2014. Since then, he has firmly established himself nationally and internationally as one of Australia’s leading young operatic voices. In 2015 and 2016, he became the first countertenor to be accepted into the prestigious Melba Opera Trust as their Wright-Smith Scholar. He is the recipient of a Glover Music Trust Scholarship for overseas study and was also a 2016 Young Artist for Pacific Opera. In 2016, Nicholas became the first singer to ever with both the Australian Singing Competition and the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship in the same year. He regularly tours in Italy, New Zealand and Asia performing recitals to acclaim and has sung in some of the world’s most famous operatic venues. Nicholas has studied with several of Australia’s most accomplished operatic performers including Rosamund Illing, Susan Johnstone, Peter Coleman-Wright and Andrew Dalton. He currently studies in Italy with Sherman Lowe, one of the world’s greatest technicians and vocal experts.
Major engagements of the 2019 season include his Pinchgut/Opera Australia debut in the role of ‘Pisandre’ for Pinchgut Opera’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, the alto soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah with the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Philharmonia. Highlights of his 2018 engagements include the alto soloist in the New Zealand Festival’s The Orpheus Project, the alto soloist in Britten’s Chichester Psalms (Western Australian Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), and the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah (MSO). 2018 also saw Nicholas make his Opera House debut in the role of ‘David’ in Handel’s Saul (Sydney Philharmonia) to a packed concert hall.
