American pianist and coach Nicole Cloutier is currently based in Denver, CO, where she serves as adjunct faculty for the University of Colorado Boulder - College of Music. She rejoins Washington National Opera for her fourth season as an assistant conductor on The Crucible. Past engagements with Washington National Opera included La bohème, Turandot, Blue, The Lion the Unicorn and Me, American Rhapsody Gala Concert, and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. She has workshopped and premiered four new operas for The Kennedy Center’s American Opera Initiative. Cloutier is an alumnus of the prestigious Solti-Peretti course for repetiteurs through Solti Accademia, Merola Opera Center at San Francisco Opera, and The Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera. She has performed on stages throughout New York City and the Washington DC area such as The Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress, The Kreeger Gallery, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Lincoln Center’s Paul Hall, and Alice Tully Hall for their “Through the Looking Glass” recital series. She has additionally performed in various foreign embassies as an artistic ambassador of the Washington National Opera. Cloutier held the position of 2021-2022 Vocal Arts Fellow for The Juilliard School. Past engagements include guest faculty for Canto Vocal Programs, Music Director for Michigan Opera Theater’s Operetta Workshops, rehearsal pianist for Chautauqua Voice Institute, and a conductor/coach role for Juilliard’s Opera Lab. Passionate about giving back to the arts community, Cloutier serves on the board of the Denver Area Music Teacher Association, where she developed their inaugural mentorship program. She presented at the 2025 Juilliard Entrepreneurship Symposium on increasing audience accessibility in a session titled “Rethinking the Recital: Captivating Diverse Audiences by Breaking Insider Barriers.” She graduated in 2021 with a M.M. in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School. Her primary teachers there include Lydia Brown, Jonathan Feldman, and JJ Penna. She holds a B.M. in Piano Performance from Michigan State University’s College of Music, where she graduated with highest honors, and was granted the prestigious Trustee Board Award for outstanding academic achievement.