Student Session

Winning the Mental Game: The Simple Solution to Performance Anxiety

Monday, June 29

Presenter: Nicholas Pallesen

We’re often told we must work just as much on the mental side of performing as the technical side. And yet, despite the countless techniques, therapies, and methods out there and people’s best willpower and effort, many performers still suffer from crippling performance/audition anxiety. But what if all the effort to “fix” performance anxiety is the very thing getting in the way? Join Metropolitan Opera Baritone and Mental Performance Specialist Nicholas Pallesen as he reveals a fresh, new perspective on performance anxiety and shares why, to quote the 1980’s film War Games, “The only winning move is not to play.” Learn the simple secret to shining in performances and auditions without needing to conquer nerves, a pre-performance routine, or “getting in the zone.”

About Nicholas Pallesen

Nicholas Pallesen is a Transformative Coach and Mental Performance Specialist. He has gained respect throughout the performing arts community for helping artists thrive on both the biggest performance stages and in their lives offstage. As a performer himself, Nicholas sang at the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the English National Opera, and Oper Köln, among other companies. He is also a winner of many of the major opera competitions in the United States. As a coach, Nicholas is honored to work with an international spectrum of clients from high school students to Hollywood and TV actors, Broadway performers, and artists at the top opera companies and orchestras in the world. He regularly presents workshops on mental wellness and performance psychology at conservatories and young artist programs in the United States, including the Houston Grand Opera Studio and Wolf Trap Opera.