Portrait of Michael Cotton

Michael Cotton

Vocal Coach, Accompanist
Area of Focus: Music

Pianist Michael Cotton is frequently sought out by singers as a coach and collaborator. His professional engagements have taken him to music festivals, opera companies, and recital venues in numerous cities, including Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Los Angeles, London, and Vienna. He received special commendation for excellence in accompanying at the 5th International Festival of the Art Song. Following a series of lieder recitals, later broadcast on Austrian state radio, one critic commented, "Michael Cotton was flawless at the piano, an ideal accompanist sensitive to every expressive possibility and nuance. The sheer joy of these performances was contagious."

Michael attended Drake University as a National Merit Scholar, and pursued graduate studies in piano and musicology at Indiana University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He studied accompanying with Erik Werba in Vienna, and also numbers Rudolf Jansen, Martin Katz, and Graham Johnson among his mentors in this art. At UNL, Michael has taught courses in German diction, art song, and the music of Franz Schubert. He also serves as official accompanist for the Nebraska district Metropolitan Opera auditions. In his spare time, Michael enjoys reading and is an avid baseball and figure skating fan.