Erik Nordstrom (Baritone) 

Erik Nordstrom, is a third-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 2026-27. In past seasons, his roles included Cesare Angelotti in Tosca, Ubaldo in Armida, Schaunard in La Bohème, Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, The Ferryman in Curlew River, and Tyson in Time to Act. This season, his roles include Marullo in Rigoletto, Ormonte in Partenope, Macbeth in Working for the MacBeths, and Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet. 

Praised for his “indelible” and “fine-honed baritone” (The Business Journals), Erik Nordstrom is emerging as an exciting and versatile singing actor. A Minnesota native, Erik began the 2025–26 season at the Glimmerglass Festival where he sang Boatman/Charles in Sunday in the Park with George. Summer 2026 sees Erik return to the Glimmerglass Festival as Jud Fry in Francesca Zambello’s new production of Oklahoma! and as Tommy McIntyre and Hawkins Fuller (cover) in Kevin Newbury’s production of Fellow Travelers.  

In summer 2024, Erik joined Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist where he covered Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Lieutenant Gordon in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night.

Erik made his professional debut in 2019 as a Studio Artist with Central City Opera (CCO), covering Second Mate in Billy Budd. He returned to CCO in 2021 to perform Marullo in Rigoletto. He debuted at Cincinnati Opera in 2022 where he workshopped the Interrogator/Customs Officer in Scott Davenport Richards’ Robeson in Moscow and appeared in the ensemble for their summer season. He has returned to the company to workshop Greg Spears’ The Righteous and Carlos Simon’s In the Rush.

Possessing a rare sensitivity to style and poetry, Erik is regularly engaged by the Cincinnati Song Initiative, a rapidly growing art song organization led by CEO Samuel Martin. In 2019 he teamed with visual artist Jean Balestri and pianist Andrew Crooks to create a through-performed recital that incorporated Appalachian folk tunes, Mahler lieder, Ravel mélodie, and English art song. The performance, entitled Me and My Shadow, included projections by Balestri which interacted with the piano, vocal line, and texts of each piece to create a dreamlike atmosphere. He is currently preparing Schubert’s Winterreise with pianist Dr. Maeve Berry for performances in winter of 2026.

In 2023, Erik was named a winner at the Minnesota District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition and then received an Encouragement Award at the Upper Midwest Regional. He also won the Ralph Corbett Award (First Prize) at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s (CCM) 2022 Corbett Competition.

Erik earned his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Lawrence University, where he studied with Steven Spears. He then earned both his Master of Music and an Artist Diploma in Opera Performance from CCM, studying with Bill McGraw, Tom Baresel, and Quinn Ankrum.

Mr. Nordstrom's residency is generously sponsored by Mike & Kumiko Lancet, John A. Gillespie, MD, and Hilda Fu.