Nicolai Janitzky

California-born Baritone Nicolai Janitzky studied on the opera program at Yale University and at the Music Academy of the West.

He has performed with many companies throughout North America and Asia.  A full lyric with a beautiful Italianate timbre, Mr. Janitzky is very much at home with repertoire spanning bel canto to Russian romantic.  As an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera, he took on the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin on short notice to high critical acclaim.  Engagements in recent seasons have included, for San Francisco Opera, Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov, Lionel (cover) in Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans (a role that he also covered for Washington National Opera), Kuligin in Katya Kabanova, Baron Douphol in La Traviata for San Diego Opera, Virgil T. in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All for New York City Opera, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Opera Idaho, Marcello in La Bohème with Sacramento Opera, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Santa Barbara, and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor for Music Viva Hong Kong.

Subsequent roles include Valentin in Faust, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Silvio in Pagliacci, and the title role in Pélleas et Mélisande.  Mr. Janitzky has worked with leading conductors and directors such as Vassily Sinaisky, Edoardo Müller, Christopher Alden, Valéry Ryvkin, Lotfi Mansouri, Ian Campbell, John Fiore and Alan Gilbert.

A finalist in the 2003 Operalia, Mr. Janitzky has been the recipient of many awards including those from the Sullivan Foundation, the George London Foundation, Opera Index, and the Marilyn Horne Foundation.  He has appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Art Song Festival.

Concerts featuring Nicolai Janitzsky: