Johnny Nichols, Jr., Artistic Director
JOHNNY NICHOLS, JR., ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, native of Louisiana, holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Music Performance and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting. He received his vocal, instrumental, conducting, and pedagogy training under the direction of world renowned musicians at American University, University of Louisiana Monroe, and Texas Southern University.
Currently on sabbatical from IRCC, Johnny is also the Artistic Director of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus.
Johnny has taught high school and middle school choir and theater and is often called to local schools to serve as a clinician to vocal ensembles and theater programs. Throughout his career, he has been named to lead honor choirs in Louisiana, Texas, and Massachusetts, area districts, and has served as an adjudicator for MMEA, METG, and SEMBSA organizations.
As a performer, he has sung multiple operas and major choral works, including Haydn’s Creation and Handel’s Messiah, and has appeared in numerous musicals. Johnny has had the honor of performing solo pieces for many dignitaries including Presidents George HW Bush, George Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
As a performer, he has sung multiple operas and major choral works, including Haydn’s Creation and Handel’s Messiah, and has appeared in numerous musicals. Johnny has had the honor of performing solo pieces for many dignitaries including Presidents George HW Bush, George Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
He spends the remainder of his artistic time conducting operas and other large works, directing plays and musicals for both adult and youth organizations throughout the country, music directing, teaching voice lessons to youth and adults, and arranging choral music.
His performance career includes performing chorus and supporting roles with Opera in the Heights, the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, and three years of touring with The Glenn Draper Singer and The Lake Junaluska Singers. He is also an active actor in the area of musicals, adding to his performance career of playing such notable roles as Billy Flynn in Chicago, Tom Collins in RENT, The Chairman in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Bobby in Cabaret, and a host of major supporting roles in The Pirates of Penzance, Hello Dolly, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors, Godspell and more. Johnny presented a world-premiere performance of The Greenest Story Ever Told, a children’s opera, at the 2008 National Opera Association conference in Washington D.C., as well as composer, Gwyneth Walker’s, Circus Days and Nights.
As a soloist, Johnny has performed major works such as Haydn’s Creation with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Magnificat, and Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden, Mozart’s Requiem. He has had the privilege to perform some of these major works in prestigious venues including the White House, The Kennedy Center, The Ronald Reagan Building, The Billy Graham Library, the National Cathedral, and the St Patrick’s Cathedral. Additionally, Johnny has had the honor of performing solo pieces for many dignitaries including Presidents George HW Bush, George Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
As a music director, Johnny has musically prepared musicals The Pajama Game, Urinetown, Shout!, The Music Man, and many other musical theater titles. His experience expands into conducting choral, orchestral, and other instrumental ensembles both independently and combined. Directing major and smaller works, his more notable conducting credits include Robert Shaw’s The Many Moods of Christmas, Handel’s Messiah, and Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn. He is the past Artistic Director of Houston’s only A capella choir jTunes.
He has served as choreographer and stage director for a number of plays and musicals as well.
Previously, Johnny was the conductor for the Me2/Boston Chorus and the Boston Children’s Chorus and Director of Education and Outreach for Revels, Inc., where he was instrumental in curriculum development and program development in the performing arts. He is a past Director of Choral Activities at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, and served in their theater department as Musical Director. In addition, he was the Director of Choral Ministries at the Lutheran Church of the Savior, Bedford, Mass.,
“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?” – Benjamin Franklin