MAIKA’I NASH

Pianist / Vocal Coach

Kanaka Maoli pianist, MAIKA’I NASH, returned home in 2017 after 20 years abroad throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and South America. As a young child growing up in Kailua on the island of O’ahu, he studied piano with Ernest Chang and violin with George Wellington and Katherine Hafner. After a couple of years at the University of Hawai’i @ Mānoa, he moved to Seattle and trained in graphic design and marketing. 

After a brief stint owning and operating a music store and school, Maika’i moved to Montréal, Québec and continued working in marketing and design. On a whim, he decided to audition and apply to study music at the McGill Universityʻs Schulich School of Music and soon found his niche as a vocal coach and pianist. He continued his studies of voice, art song, and opera in Austria (Vienna), Italy (Sulmona), and France (Paris), while working professionally at McGill as a vocal coach. 

Toronto was the next stop and included positions with Canada’s major operatic companies, while working as a vocal coach and pianist at the University of Toronto, The Glenn Gould School, Western University, and the Royal Conservatory of Music. He with the Metropolitan Opera while concurrently co-founding Opera5, a boutique opera company in Toronto with colleagues from McGill and began the start of a new path with his first foray into music directing. 

Throughout his time working in opera, he has collaborated with renowned artists such as; Christine Goerke, Elly Ameling, Barbara Bonney, Julius Drake,  Rudolf Jansen, Audrey Luna, Quinn Kelsey, Joan Dornemann, Edith Wiens, Helmut Deutsch, Robert Holl, Wendy Nielsen, Laura Claycomb & Denise Massé, among others.