Music Director

Pamela Casella Nim

Instructors

Pamela Casella — International Artist and graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, Ms. Casella has performed in virtually all major houses in the United States and in Europe. To name a few, she was a favorite of Seattle Opera, Vancouver Canada Opera, Portland Opera, Utah Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera, Sacramento Opera, Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass (NY) Opera, and the Juilliard American Opera Center, Michigan, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh Operas. She is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition, was asked to sing with Luciano Pavarotti after being picked from 3,000 contestants worldwide in his competition, first place winner with the San Francisco Opera Merola Program, and worked with conductors Nicola Rescigno, Eugene Ormandy, Zubin Mehta, Max Rudolph, Michelangelo Veltri, Gunther Schuller, Anton Guadagno, and Kurt Herbert Adler, to name a few. As a Columbia Artist, she appeared with Seattle Opera as Woglinde (the Wagnerian “Ring” cycle), First Lady (The Magic Flute), Micaela (Carmen), both Mimi and Musetta (La Boheme), High Priestess (Aida), Pousette (Manon), and Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana). Ms. Casella performed on national opera tours with New York's Goldovsky Opera Touring Company the roles of Donne Elvira (Don Giovanni), Cio Cio San (Madame Butterfly) and both Mimi and Musetta (La Boheme). At the Bronx Opera, NY she performed the Marquese (Un Giorno di Regno) and the premiere of the Danish opera “Masquerade,” garnishing rave reviews from the NY Times, NY Post, Opera News and the New Yorker magazine. She was engaged by the world reknowned conductor Nicola Rescigno of the Dallas Opera to sing Desdemona (Othello), and with NY’s Glimmerglass Opera “Ariadne” (Ariadne auf Naxos). New York concert performances include “Anna” (Nabucco) at Carnegie Hall and Tosca at Alice Tully Hall, and Marguerita (Faust) with the Seattle Symphony. She was asked to sing in Bremen, Germany, Genoa, Italy and Nice, France.

She, her husband Craig, daughter Veronica and son Michael run private voice lessons at SeattleVoiceStudio.com. Casella with her husband Craig H. Nim is co-founder/Director of Lyric Opera Northwest since 2005, producing and stage directing 16 operas and Broadway shows at the Moore Theater in Seattle and the Meydenbauer Performing Arts Center in Bellevue, some of which include Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Hansel and Gretel, Tosca, Pagliacci, La Boheme, Oliver! and Suor Angelica. She has been the director of many choirs in New York City and Seattle, as of late the LMC Children’s Choir in Bellevue, WA. As a voice teacher, many of her students have gone on to national and international careers and been recipients of full scholarships at colleges and conservatories around the United States.

Alfredo, La Traviata, 2017

©Lyric Opera Northwest

Beppe, Pagliacci, 2019

©Lyric Opera Northwest

Michael A. Nim

Michael has appeared in numerous productions of Lyric Opera Northwest, including the “Artful Dodger” in Oliver!, “Angelotti” in Tosca, as “Melchior” in Amahl and the Night Visitors; “Morales” in Bizet’s Carmen, and moving on to the tenor repertoire, as “Goro” in Madama Butterfly, “Borsa” in Rigoletto, and “Alfredo” in La Traviata. The past 2 years as tenor soloist in Handel’s “Messiah" he has been featured with the Federal Way Symphony, as well as an evening of opera duets there.

Last summer he was hired in Sicily at the Mediterranean Opera Festival to sing "Don Ottavio" in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as several concerts. This past fall he toured with the NOISE Opera touring company as "Count Almaviva" in Rossini’s Barber of Seville, and "Tamino" in Mozart’s Magic Flute.

In past seasons, engagements include tenor soloist in the Messiah at St. Marks, the roles of "Arturo" in Lucia di Lammermoor and "El Remendado" in Carmen with the Tacoma Opera, the role of "Nejus" in the Merry Widow with Tacoma Opera, was invited to sing in Turandot with the Pacific Northwest Opera (Skagit), covering "Rodolfo" in Lyric Opera Northwest’s La Boheme, recently seen as "Beppe" in I Paliacci with Lyric Opera Northwest; and “Alfredo” in La Traviata.

Upcoming engagements include "Lt. Pinkerton" in Madama Butterfly by Puccini and "Tamino" in Mozart’s Magic Flute with the Federal Way Opera and Bellevue Opera Companies and a solo recital at the Frye Museum.

This is a rising star tenor to watch for.

For the past three years he has been a choir and theatrical instructor at the LMC in Bellevue and is currently teaching private voice lessons.

Ashley Cappelli

Ashley Cappelli received her bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia in winter 2015. She then went on to receive her Masters of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in spring 2018. During the summer of 2018 she participated in the Si Parla, Si Canta program over in Urbania, Italy performing opera scenes and operatic solos. Over the summer of 2020 Ashley participated in a Vocal Pedagogy Workshop through the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and received a certificate of distinguished achievement.

She taught at Van Duyn Elementary in the Syracuse (NY) City School District through a non-profit theater, RedHouse, from 2018-2019. There she taught pre-k through fifth grade music, drama, visual arts, and dance.

Currently she teaches at The Little School in Bellevue. There she teaches ages 3 through 11 music, movement and drama.

Over the years she has been soloist with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Greensboro Opera, and Hillman Opera. Through these companies she has performed roles Erste Damme from Die Zauberflöte, La Maestra Delle Novizie from Suor Anglica, and Sycorax from The Enchanted Island.

Upcoming engagements include Lyric Opera Northwest’s the Federal Way Opera’s productions of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and instructor for the Lyric Opera Northwest Youth Choir.

Veronica Nim Olson

A lyric coloratura, Veronica studied at Pacific Lutheran University on multiple music scholarships. She began performing professionally at age 9 in over five productions with the Metropolitan Opera. She has appeared in principle roles with the Seattle Opera, Tacoma Opera, Bellevue Opera and Kitsap Opera. She has been the featured soloist on several international tours with nationally acclaimed concert choirs and has sung for the late St. Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. She was named “Best Supporting Actress” at the 5th Avenue Theater Awards and toured the Edinburgh, Scotland Fringe Festival as Grace Farrell in Annie.

For Lyric Opera Northwest, she has sung the roles of Frasquita (Carmen), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Annina (La Traviata), the Dew Fairy (Hansel & Gretel), Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), the Monitor (Suor Angelica) and Nancy (Oliver!) at the Moore Theater. She is the soprano section leader and cantor at St. Mark Catholic Church in Shoreline. She and Pamela Casella this next Christmas season will be touring with electric violinist Geoffrey Castle in his Celtic Christmas concert series. For the past year she served as choir instructor for the LMC Youth Choir and teaching private voice. This exceptional artist is getting rave reviews!

Craig H. Nim

International Baritone Craig Heath Nim has performed across the U.S. and Europe. He has sung leading roles with New York City Opera, the Pittsburgh and Seattle Operas, the Baltimore and Omaha Opera companies, and toured twice with the New York City Opera National Company, performing Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust and Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto.

He sang the role of Jochanaan in Strauss’s Salome with the Bremen, Germany Opera, Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. At the Santa Fe Opera, he sang the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer covering bass James Morris and he covered Michael Devlin as the Kommandant in Strauss’s Friedenstag. Critics acclaimed his Verdi Requiem in Basel and Lucerne, Switzerland, leading to engagements at Victoria Concert Hall in Geneva as bass soloist in Händel’s Semele. He toured the country with Boris Goldovsky’s opera company in La Boheme and Don Giovanni. He sang Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca with both Opera Omaha and the Westchester Opera in NYC, NY (Eve Queler conducting). Baltimore Opera saw him perform Escamillo in Carmen. He sang the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Bronx Opera, and with the University of Washington.

Nim received a 1988 William Matheus Sullivan Foundation grant, and won the 1989 Bruce Yarnell Voice Competition of baritones and basses from across the United States. Astoundingly, he was a prize winner in the 1996 Lauritz Melchior Heldentenor Competition in New York City.

Nim toured the country as featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony, Portland Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Salt Lake City Symphony and Seattle Symphony.

He made his Broadway debut in The Three Musketeers and toured the U.S. in the Joseph Feld production of The Pirates of Penzance. He performed three seasons with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and has appeared a multitude of times in summer stock, dinner theater, concerts, recitals, and oratorio. He has appeared in movies, commercials, national television and radio.

Locally, in addition to many appearances with the Seattle Opera in the 1970’s, Nim has performed Emile Debeque in South Pacific with Patrice Munsel at the Cirque Dinner Theater, and with the Lyric Opera Northwest as Escamillo in Carmen, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro, Colline in La Boheme, and Baron Scarpia in Tosca.