 NICO
CASTEL'S contributions to the world of opera are vast and varied.
His over 48 years of work in this field, performing, studying,
teaching and developing and perfecting his skills and many talents
have earned him the international acclaim as tenor, teacher,
translator and unparalleled diction and style master coach
he enjoys today.
 Mr.
Castel is a true polyglot (he speaks fluent Portuguese, German,
French, Spanish, Italian and English), a man of vast culture,
a multi-talented artist and scholar, who in addition to having
carved himself a career as one of the world's pre-eminent
character operatic tenors, with over 200 roles in his repertoire,
has also developed a parallel career as vocal coach and teacher
of multilingual lyric diction. Born in Portugal, raised in Venezuela,
he finally made his way to New York to pursue his musical interests
where he became the first winner of the "Joy in Singing"
award which launched his career. Soon after, he made his debut
with Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, and then the Metropolitan
Opera Company where he is celebrating his 35th year. His tenure
at the Met includes 26 years as staff diction coach.
His career has taken him all over the world to work with such
companies as:
- Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- Finnish National Opera, Helsinki
- The New Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv
- Opera Metropolitana, Caracas
- Teatro São Carlos Opera, Lisbon
- Spoleto Festival, Spoleto, Italy
- Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence
- Semper Oper, Dresden
and in the U.S., the opera companies of Philadelphia, Seattle,
San Francisco, Chicago Ravinia Festival, San Antonio, New Orleans,
Baltimore, Miami, Santa Fe, Central City, and St. Louis among
others.
Mr. Castel is on the faculty of The Juilliard School of
Music in New York and is a noted lecturer and teacher at
universities and conservatories throughout the world.
 In
a recent development, Mr. Castel has joined MusAcom,
an exciting new company providing affordable PracticePaks of major
repertoire for students and professionals worldwide.
Publications
Mr. Castel's heritage and lifetime of knowledge and experience
in the fields of language, singing and opera have culminated in
his publications of opera libretti translations and diction
manuals.
These publications include
According to noted coach and stage director, Will Graham, "
[Mr. Castel's] knowledge of singers and repertoire is
encyclopedic. He understands what makes singing great, and he has
an enthusiasm for vocal artistry that is infectious to all that
encounter it. There are very few people living in the world today
who know as much and care as deeply as does Mr. Castel about
preserving, celebrating and advancing the art of great singing. His
books of major libretti of French, German and Italian operas
published by Leyerle Publications may well represent the most
important contribution to the art of opera singing in the last
century."
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