Nicholas Tamagna is an internationally acclaimed American-Italian countertenor, celebrated for his compelling theatricality and vocal agility, particularly in the Baroque repertoire. Praised by The New York Times for his “full, rounded tone,” his interpretations of Handel, Gluck, and Monteverdi have brought Baroque roles vividly to life at major houses and festivals including the Theater an der Wien, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Händel-Festspiele in Göttingen, Halle, and Karlsruhe, as well as Bayreuth Baroque. He has also appeared at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Tamagna has portrayed many of the repertoire’s most iconic roles, among them Rinaldo and Goffredo (Rinaldo), Giulio Cesare, Tolomeo and Nireno (Giulio Cesare), Polinesso (Ariodante), Ruggiero (Alcina), Athamas (Semele), Dardano (Amadigi), Arsace (Partenope), and Narciso and Ottone (Agrippina). He has collaborated with ensembles such as Les Talens Lyriques, Lautten Compagney Berlin, {oh!} Orkiestra Historyczna, and Armonia Atenea. Notable appearances include Tolomeo at the Göttingen Handel Festival and the Warsaw Chamber Opera; his Metropolitan Opera house debut as Narciso in Agrippina, just before the pandemic; and Armindo in Partenope at San Francisco Opera.
The 2026/27 season sees Tamagna appear in Live on Tape, a concept piece uniting dance and Baroque music with Concerto Copenhagen and Kammerballetten in Copenhagen; create Guido in a new production of Handel’s Flavio directed by Max Emanuel Cencic at the Staatstheater Meiningen; sing Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare at the Warsaw Chamber Opera; and take part in La Serenata dei Delitti. Recent highlights include the title role of Cesare in Giulio Cesare in Egitto at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; Timagene in Leonardo Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie at the Theater an der Wien, curated by Max Emanuel Cencic; La Befana in Gassmann’s L’opera seria at the Theater an der Wien, in a new production by Laurent Pelly under Christophe Rousset; and Rinaldo with the Lautten Compagney in Bad Lauchstädt.
A committed advocate of new music, Tamagna is widely recognized for his portrayal of the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, performed to acclaim in both the United States and Germany, and for the German premiere and 2026 revival of The Itch at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. He has inspired and premiered numerous contemporary works written for his voice.
His discography includes the award-winning recording of Leonardo Vinci’s Gismondo, re di Polonia (Parnassus Arts Productions), Sultans of the Opera with Pera Ensemble, and Donne all’Opera with ENEA Barock Orchestra.
Based in northern Germany, Tamagna is co-founder and Artistic Director of Forum Neue Kunst, through which he develops interdisciplinary music-theatre and new festival formats in the Oldenburg region. A native New Yorker and dual U.S.–Italian citizen, he holds a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in Music, and is also a stage director and voice teacher. He is a winner of the 2011 Nico Castel International Mastersinger Competition.
(26/27_Please use this CV only.)
