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Alumni Make Their Mark: A Q&A with Nicolas Aliaga, Class of 1991

The Class of 1991’s Nicolas Aliaga has made a name for himself in the operatic music world. After graduating from Ranney, he earned his bachelor’s degree in theater from Tufts University. He is currently living in the San Francisco Bay area, where he works as an opera singer and director. Here, he talks about his inspiration and most exciting projects.
 
What inspired you to get into this type of music?
“I grew up with parents who loved classical music and opera. Fortunately, living so close to New York, there were many opportunities to go with them to see the opera and musical theater throughout my life. They were very smart in how they did it—when I was very young, we saw Annie and Peter Pan. As I grew up, we expanded with some operetta, such as The Merry Widow as well as some opera. When I was around 13, we went to see the original Broadway cast of Phantom of the Opera, and I became obsessed (I begged Mrs. Van Buren, our drama teacher at Ranney, to let me do a one-man show version of Phantom, but she thought it overly ambitious!). I initially planned on doing musicals exclusively, but when I began taking voice lessons at Tufts University, my voice opened up to a bigger sound, and I was led to opera.”
 
How did your experience at Ranney influence your career?
“At Ranney in those days, theater and music were smaller programs (I can’t believe how much bigger the arts have gotten there now—I’m proud of what I saw at my last visit to campus!). For almost all four years of high school, I was the only boy in the chorus! Because of that, there was nowhere to hide, and I learned to be brave. It takes a strong sense of self to face the stress of auditioning and living gig-to-gig. A life in the arts is not for wimps! Ranney is a wonderful place to experiment with who you are—use the many resources there to learn whether music is your thing (or painting, or poetry, or engineering). Not many schools offer all the possibilities that Ranney does.”
 
What has been your most interesting project to work on and why?
“I served as Assistant Director for a wonderful production of Les Pescheurs de Perles (an exotic, romantic opera by Bizet—listen to the famous Pearl Fishers duet) at the Michigan Opera Theatre. This was my first gig as an AGMA assistant director, where I was able to work with and learn from a world-class director.”
 
What are your next projects?
“Apart from my regular gig as Principal Stage Director at San Francisco’s Pocket Opera, I have the biggest gig of my life coming up next year, when I will be Assistant Director for two productions at San Diego Opera. One production is Madame Butterfly, Puccini’s masterpiece, and the other is a brand new opera called Great Scott, by the composer Jake Heggie. It is incredibly exciting to work at a world-class opera house, bringing to life both a standard of the repertoire and a brilliant new work.”
 

Pictured: Aliaga rehearses his role as the Bagpiper in the opera, Halka by Moniuszko.
 
This article was written with the help of Allison Harpell, Class of 2018.
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