Nancy Zylstra

Adjunct Instructor

Voice
NZylstra@cornish.edu

Called “one of the Northwest’s great natural resources,” by the Willamette Week, soprano Nancy Zylstra has earned critical acclaim for her pure and expressive singing in a wide variety of repertoire. She has sung with the leading period instrument orchestras and ensembles of North America and with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under the direction of conductors Ton Koopman, Andrew Parrott, Gustav Leonhardt, and Jeffrey Thomas. She has also appeared at major festivals including Versailles, Berlin, Anchorage, Vancouver, San Luis Obispo, and Berkeley. A founding member of both Seattle Pro Musica and Choral Arts, she has been a soloist at St. James Cathedral, with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Gallery Concerts, and numerous other ensembles throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her performances have been broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, National Public Radio, and in the Netherlands and Germany.

As a teacher and clinician, Zylstra has been in great demand. She has been on the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute since 1979 and is currently a faculty member of the Seattle Academy of Opera. She has given masterclasses at Swarthmore College, University of Toronto, Willamette University, Reed College, for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and The Voice Foundation, among many others. She is a member of The Voice Foundation, Northwest Voice Foundation, NATS, and Early Music America; she also served on the board of Early Music America for many years, and is currently on the advisory board for the Seattle Girls Choir. Zylstra can be heard on the Erato, Wildboar, and Koch labels.