Zachary Colby

Tenor Zachary Colby has enjoyed a career performing in many different genres. For five seasons, Zachary served as an Artistic Co-Director and tenor with Cantus, an eight-member vocal chamber ensemble based in the Twin Cities that Fanfare magazine describes as the '“premier men’s vocal ensemble in the United States.” Through his work with Cantus, he has performed nationally in venues including Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Chautauqua Institution, and The Barns at Wolf Trap. International highlights include Clásica Medellín Cultural and the Luis Ángle Arango Biblioteca’s Recital Hall in Bogotá, Colombia,  The Daegu and Busan Choral Festivals in South Korea, The National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, and a major tour in China, including the Shenzhen Concert Hall and the Tianjin Grand Auditorium. He also has appeared on local and national media outlets in programs with SiriusXM Radio, American Public Media, Minnesota Public Radio, and WQXR in New York City.

As a champion of new music, Zachary has premiered pieces by Gabriel Kahane, Libby Larsen, David Lang, Ysaye Barnwell, Rosephanye Powell, Elizabeth Alexander, Stephen Caracciolo, Roger Treece, Jeff Beal, and Joseph Gregorio. He also has participated in several workshops, partnering with the Guthrie Theatre and Libby Larsen, as well as an operatic workshop of Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfein's Sister Carrie. Zachary has served on the Artistic Council in charge of production and operations. He has also served as Access Coordinator, providing underserved populations access to Cantus's music making. He served as artistic lead on a project called Would You Harbor Me? featuring stories of people experiencing homelessness, crisis, and poverty. He also coordinated a joint project with Cantus and StreetSong-MN, a choir comprised of people experiencing homelessness and their supporters, through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, providing concerts at venues within the Twin Cities for people experiencing homelessness.  Zachary presented on this work at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Stockholm, Sweden in the summer of 2017.

Zachary grew up in Crown Point, Indiana and earned his Bachelor of Music Education in K-12 choral/vocal education from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He earned his MM and DMA in performance from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His thesis project involved research at the Immigration History Archives at the University of Minnesota in Estonian solo music and cultivating archival materials as new sources for art-making as the Gustav and Hildegard Must Fellow in Estonian-American Studies.

Zachary currently teaches applied voice and related courses at the University of Nebraska Omaha.