Philadelphia-based tenor Nathaniel Bear looks forward to joining Opera Philadelphia for Complications in Sue, covering the principal tenor track (Death, Co-Ed 2, Algorithm 3, and Sue’s Neighbor). He spent last summer with the Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist Program, covering Don José in Carmen and singing L’Aumônier in Dialogues des Carmélites. His recent credits include Don José in La tragédie de Carmen with Seaglass Theater Company, as well as both Giovanni in Daniel Catán’s La hija de Rappaccini and Oronte in Alcina with the Boston Opera Institute. Past roles include Rodolfo in La bohème (Northwestern Opera), David in the Midwest premiere of Jake Heggie’s If I Were You (Northwestern Opera), Alfred in Die Fledermaus (Oswego Opera), and Gérard in Philip Glass’s Les enfants terribles (Eastman Opera Theater).

Nathaniel is equally at home in concert and chamber repertoire. He was a Vocal Arts Fellow with the Tanglewood Music Center for two seasons, where he sang Tamino in scenes from Die Zauberflöte with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and took part in a wide range of art song and chamber music projects. Highlights include the North American premiere of Quatre stances de Jean Moréas, an unpublished set of songs by Les Six composer Louis Durey, performed with pianist Elias Dagher at The Linde Center for Music and Learning, as well as chamber performances of Britten’s Canticle III and selected songs by Amy Beach. He also was featured as a tenor soloist in TMC’s Bach Cantata series, singing BWV 20 under the baton of John Harbison. With the Eastman Philharmonia and Eastman-Rochester Chorus, Nathaniel covered tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in a performance of Britten’s War Requiem.

Nathaniel’s artistic accolades include the Cynthia Sparks Scholarship and the Howard Scarrow Memorial Fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center as well as the Schubert Fellowship from SongFest. He holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and both a Bachelor of Music in Voice and Opera as well as a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music’s Dual Degree Program. His studies were supported by full-tuition merit scholarships at both institutions: The Eckstein Scholarship at Northwestern and the Howard Hanson Scholarship at Eastman.

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Since the summer of 2026, Nathaniel has served as Cantorial Soloist at Gesher | The Bridge Shul in Brigdehampton, NY. He leads services in person as well as over Zoom when traveling, and looks ahead with great excitement to spending his first High Holiday season with the synagogue in the fall. He has long had a powerful connection to Jewish music. The son of two cantors with a rich knowledge of cantorial music, he was immersed from an early age in the liturgical music of the synagogue, singing with and assisting his parents on Shabbat and Holidays, as well as during Cantorial concerts. Nathaniel has long studied with Cantor Jacob Mendelson, a master cantor and teacher of Hazzanut, the art and tradition of cantorial chanting. Through Mendelson, Nathaniel has had the rare opportunity to study with a living link to the great cantors of the tradition’s golden age, and is deeply committed to carrying that tradition forward. Nathaniel considers it both a privilege and a responsibility to share this unique musical tradition, as well as the music of contemporary Jewish composers.