(Credit: www.osberphotos.com)

Over the past 20 years, Opera in the Heights has provided opportunities for emerging artists, including singers and composers, to showcase their work. Many of their artists have gone on to prominent careers in some of the most established regional theaters in the U.S.

This week, the company is set to world three operas with many emerging singers premiering new roles. Nate Mattingly will be among those artists as he sings the title role of Yeltsin in the opera of “Yeltsin in Texas.”

Mattingly is set to return to the Opera in the Heights to create the role of Boris Yeltsin in a story that surrounds the Russian president’s 1989 tour of the Johnson Space Center and his experience in a Houston supermarket. That stop showed the president abundance, selection, and happy employees that overwhelmed, and forever changed him and his policies.

The bass-baritone is no stranger to creating new operas as he has been part of the world premieres of the “A Little More Perfect” by Evan Mack, Matthew Peterson’s “Voir Dire,” and the posthumous premiere of Roque Cordero’s “Cantata para la Paz.” The character of Yeltsin should prove once more how versatile Mattingly is.

Since earning degrees at the University of North Texas and Boston Conservatory, Mattingly has performed with the Fort Worth Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera on the James, Des Moines Metro Opera, Boston Conservatory,  Seagle Music Colony, Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas. He has also performed a number of repertory staples from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, and Britten.

Recording 

While the bass-baritone does not have any commercial recordings, there are some videos of him performing.

Here is the world premiere performance of “Cantata para la Paz.”