Praised for his “indelible” and “fine-honed baritone” (The Business Journals), Erik Nordstrom is emerging as an exciting and versatile singing actor to watch. Minnesota native Erik Nordstrom began the 2025/26 season at the Glimmerglass Festival where he sang Boatman/Charles in Sunday in the Park with George. In September, he returned to Pittsburgh Opera for a role debut as Schaunard in Kristine McIntyre’s production of La Bohème. He then reprised the role of Hawkins Fuller in the Opera Parallèle production of Greg Spears’ Fellow Travelers. The rest of the Pittsburgh Opera season features Nordstrom in the roles of The Ferryman in Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River, and Tyson in Laura Kaminsky and Crystal Manich’s world premiere: Time to act. In the Summer of 2026, Erik will return to the Glimmerglass Festival to sing Jud Fry in Francesca Zambello’s new production of Oklahoma! as well as Tommy McIntyre and Hawkins Fuller (cover) in the Kevin Newbury’s production of Fellow Travelers. In the Fall, Nordstrom continues his residency with Pittsburgh Opera to sing Marullo in Verdi’s Rigoletto.

In the Summer of 2024, Erik joined Wolf Trap Opera as a Studio Artist where he covered Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, as well as Lieutenant Gordon in Puts’ Silent Night. In September, he joined Pittsburgh Opera for his house and role debut as Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca conducted by Antony Walker. In October, Nordstrom continued with the company to cover Silvio in Pagliacci. The rest of the Pittsburgh Opera season featured Nordstrom in the roles of Ubaldo in Haydn’s Armida, as well as Imperial Commissioner and Sharpless (cover) in the Matthew Ozawa production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

Erik made his professional debut in 2019 as a Studio Artist with Central City Opera covering Second Mate in their production of Billy Budd. He then returned to CCO in 2021 to perform Marullo in Rigoletto. He debuted at Cincinnati Opera in 2022 where he workshopped the roles of Interrogator/Customs Officer in Scott Davenport Richards’ Robeson in Moscow, as well as appearing in the ensemble for their summer season. He has returned to the company to workshop new works such as 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, titled Me and My Shadow, included projections by Balestri which interacted with the piano, vocal line, and texts of each of the pieces to create a dreamlike atmosphere. He is currently preparing a Winterreise with pianist Dr. Maeve Berry to be performed in the winter of 2025/26

Competition accolades include a 2023 district win in the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, and an encouragement award at the regional round.  He also won the Ralph Corbett award in the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music 2022 Corbett Competition. Nordstrom earned his BM in Vocal Performance at Lawrence University where he studied with Steven Spears. He earned both his MM and AD in Opera Performance from CCM where he studied with Bill McGraw, and Tom Baresel, and Quinn Ankrum.