Praised for his “indelible” and “fine-honed baritone” (The Business Journals), Erik Nordstrom is emerging as an exciting and versatile singing actor to watch. Nordstrom began the 2025/26 season at Wolf Trap Opera 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 Cesare 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 features Nordstrom in the role of Ubaldo in Haydn’s Armida, as well as Imperial Commissioner and Sharpless (cover) in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In the Summer of 2025, Erik joins the Glimmerglass Festival to sing Boatman in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. In the Fall of 2025, Nordstrom continues his residency with Pittsburgh Opera to sing Schaunard in Puccini’s La Bohème, followed by Hawkins Fuller in Spears’ Fellow Travelers.

During the 2023/24 season, Nordstrom performed the roles of Tarquinius in la Force in The Rape of Lucretia and The Forester in Cunning Little Vixen at CCM. In the summer of 2024, he sang with Wolf Trap Opera covering Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan Tutte and Lieutenant Gordon in Puts’ Silent Night.  Additionally, Nordstrom returned to Cincinnati Opera where he workshopped the role of Deacon 1 in Gregory Spears’ The Righteous, which  premiered at Santa Fe Opera in summer 2024.

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. 

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.