Nathan Krishnaswami
Voice & Piano
Nathan Krishnaswami is a Portland-based opera singer. A fervent enjoyer of all things voice, they draw vocal inspiration from a wide variety of genres and artists varying from Queen, Michael Bublé, Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, Richard Tucker, Muse, Luciano Pavarotti, Enrico Caruso, and several indie artists. With teaching and singing experience in musical theatre, jazz, pop, opera, and several other genres, Nathan's teaching follows their teachers Jane Dutton and Julia Bentle by leading with empathy and patience while working with a natural approach to breath management and resonance along with a sprinkle of Krishnaswami. Nathan's students have seen growth in vocal range, musical understanding, stage confidence, ear-training, language skills, and vocal analysis of themselves and others all the while exploring what it means to be a musician and singer!
A Massachusetts native, tenor, and stage director Krishnaswami received their bachelor and master of music in voice performance from Indiana University, studying under Jane Dutton for both degrees. They currently study with Julia Bentley. Before attending higher education, Krishnaswami performed as Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, Matt in The Fantasticks, Lucas in The Addams Family, and several chorus roles. During their time at Indiana University they took part in IU Theatre's productions of Suessical: The Musical, Into the Woods, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and several musical theatre workshops. After two years of musical theatre training, they switched to a voice performance major at IU Jacobs School of Music. During their six years of classical music studies they performed as Arnalta and Nutrice in The Coronation of Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi, King Ouf in Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’Étoile, and Snowboy in Bernstein's famous West Side Story, as well as in Jacobs' productions of Wagner’s Parsifal, Bernstein’s Mass, The Music Man, Daniel Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas, La Traviata, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Lucia di Lammermoor, Britten's The Turn of the Screw, and La Rondine. Krishnaswami was seen as Monostatos in Bloomington Chamber Opera’s 2020 production of The Magic Flute after covering the role the summer prior for Winter Harbor Music Festival, Maine. He has also sung in Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion and was the tenor soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass conducted by Betsy Burleigh with the Jacobs School of Music. Krishnaswami has stage directed the world premiere of Rhiannon's Condemnation by Leigha Amick with Julian Garvue's music direction, performed by New Voice Opera. Most recently they returned to their alma mater and were honored to join forces with Dr. Dominick DiOrio's music direction to stage direct Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Jacob's Summer Chorus.
