Brendon Shapiro (Pianist)

Pianist, vocal coach, and conductor, Brendon Shapiro, is a champion of vocal music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is passionate about the way music can help to shine a light on stories and perspectives that have not historically been represented on American stages, and he specializes in working closely with singers and composers to create performances that will communicate effectively with diverse audiences.

Brendon is a regular member of the music staff at Boston Lyric Opera where he was an Emerging Artist pianist from 2018-2020 and has served as pianist and coach for Eurydice, The Anonymous Lover, Omar, Bluebeard’s Castle, The Rape of Lucretia, Pagliacci, and Cavalleria Rusticana. He also was the pianist for BLO’s video series entitled ‘B.’ which features music written by Asian composers and/or inspired by Asian cultures, as well as the world premiere of Omar Najmi's song cycle, ‘my name is Alondra,’ as part of BLO’s Poetry in Music initiative.

Brendon is also an alumnus of LA Opera's Young Artist Program where he worked with such artists as Renée Fleming and Susan Graham and played a key role in the musical preparation for the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice, along with productions of La Traviata, El gato montés, La Clemenza di Tito, The Light in the Piazza, and Satyagraha. He returned to LA Opera in 2022 to work on Rhiannon Giddens’ and Michael Abels’ Omar.

Other recent productions in which Brendon served as répétiteur include Omar at San Francisco Opera, El último sueño de Frida y Diego and X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at Opera Omaha, Awakenings and X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at Odyssey Opera, Henry VII and Die Schweigsame Frau at Bard SummerScape Festival, La Traviata at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, As One at Opera Maine, La caravana de mujeres (workshop) at MASSOpera, La Clemenza di Tito at Opera Steamboat, and Tosca at the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice.

As a conductor and musical director, Brendon helps bring new works to life at Catalyst New Music, a company he co-founded with his husband, Omar Najmi, in 2022. They have workshopped Najmi’s operas This is Not That Dawn and En la ardiente oscuridad and started an art song development program called FUSE: Collaborations in Song. Brendon has also conducted at Opera Fayetteville (Second Nature), Boston Opera Collaborative (La Rondine, The Dangerous Liaisons), and MASSOpera (Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night, The Beautiful Bridegroom) and has served as assistant conductor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee (As One, The Island of Tulipatan, Susannah).

Brendon is the Executive Director of Boston Singers’ Resource, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing classical singers with the tools they need as they pursue their careers. While at BSR, Brendon has been developing new programs designed to provide more opportunities to emerging singers in the New England area. He has been on faculty as a vocal coach at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, University of Massachusetts Amherst, The Empowered Musician, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and coaches extensively from his home in Malden, Massachusetts, where he lives with his husband, tenor and composer, Omar Najmi, and his tuxedo cat Wally.