Out Today: Baritone Tyler Duncan And Pianist Erika Switzer Release 'A Left Coast'

Today baritone Tyler Duncan and pianist Erika Switzer release A Left Coast on Bridge Records. In a heartfelt playlist for their home of British Columbia, Duncan and Switzer share their fondness for the Vancouver communities, geography, and spirit that continue to nourish them as artists. View the trailer for A Left Coast here.

In showing immense gratitude for Canada's West Coast new music scene, Duncan and Switzer have compiled songs written by friends and colleagues from University of British Columbia's School of Music: Stephen Chatman, Jean Coulthard, Iman Habibi, Melissa Hui, Jocelyn Morlock, and Leslie Uyeda. Drawing on themes of identity, self-knowledge, wonder, and nature, each work is an unapologetic romanticization and celebration of their Canadian home.

At the core of the album is Jan Zwicky's poem Schumann: Fantasie, Op. 17 set to music by Jeffrey Ryan in Everything Already Lost. The poem was written in response to Schumann's Romantic piano work, which was itself a response to Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte. Ryan describes the piece: “Opening with a short fantasia based on the same Beethoven fragment that Schumann quoted, the song follows the Fantasie's structure and proportions, borrowing selected musical materials and expanding them in new directions to express memory, distance, and the fleetingness of moments together.”

Additional tracks on the album include False Morning and The River-Lip by Iman Habibi, inspired by the quatrain poetry of Omar Khayyám, a medieval Persian polymath thought to have inspired mystic Sufi thinkers such as Rumi and Attar; Three Love Songs by Jean Coulthard, which sets to music poetry drawn from the 1948 collection “The Ill-Tempered Lover” by her UBC colleague Louis MacKay; Something Like That by Stephen Chatman, written in 2010 for Duncan and Australia's pre-eminent chamber music ensemble Freshwater Trio; Plato's Angel by Leslie Uyeda, which sets to music four introspective poems by Canadian Poet Lorna Crozier; and Snowflakes by Melissa Hui, drawing on the ethereal and quiet essence of the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The album is dedicated to composer Jocelyn Morlock (1969-2023) who composed Involuntary Love Songs consisting of three points – Thaw, Matches, and Script – in love which is denied and hidden, and finally, eventually, acknowledged and embodied.

About Tyler Duncan
With a voice described as “honey-coloured and warm, yet robust and commanding” (The Globe and Mail), baritone Tyler Duncan has performed worldwide to great acclaim in both opera and concert repertoire. Throughout his varied career, he has performed with several of the world's leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony.

Mr. Duncan recently performed C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat with the Handel and Haydn Society, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passions with the Oregon Bach Festival and Haydn's Creation Mass with Music of the Baroque. Other notable engagements include Handel's Messiah with Houston Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia; Handel's Theodora with Trinity Wall St at Caramoor; Hansel's Apollo e Dafne and Bach's Ich habe genug with Arizona Early Music's Tucson Baroque Music Festival; Brahms' Requiem with Johnstown Symphony; and concerts with Bard Music Festival, Brooklyn Art Song Society and Aspect Chamber Music. He also returned to the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for their new production of Terence Blanchard's Champion.

Mr. Duncan has performed numerous roles at The Metropolitan Opera including Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Moralès in Carmen, and the Journalist in Lulu. At the Spoleto Festival USA, he debuted as Mr. Friendly in the 18th-century ballad opera Flora, returning the next season as Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte. Other notable appearances have included Raymondo in Handel's Almira, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Pacific Opera Victoria and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Princeton Festival. In the realm of new opera, he recently performed the role of Raymond in Nic Gotham's Nigredo Hotel with City Opera Vancouver and sang the world premiere of Jonathan Berger's Leonardo at the 92stY in NYC.

In the summer of 2021, Mr. Duncan covered the role of Arthur in Le roi Arthus (Chausson) at Bard Summerscape. Concert credits include Stravinsky's Canticum Sacrum with San Francisco Symphony; Messiah with New York Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa; Mahler's 8th Symphony and Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium with the Minnesota Orchestra; Beethoven's Mass in C with Kansas City Symphony; Schubert Lieder at the Wigmore Hall with pianist Graham Johnson; Bach's Ich habe genug with Les Violins du Roy; Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Lviv Philharmonic; a selection of Bach Cantatas and Jeffery Ryan's Afghanistan Requiem with Calgary Philharmonic; Orff's Carmina Burana with Quebec Symphony and San Diego Symphony; Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte with Vancouver Symphony; Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and Shostakovich's Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti with The Orchestra Now at the Met Museum. He has also performed at the Händel Festival in Halle, Verbier Festival, Bard Festival, Vancouver Early Music Festival, Montreal Bach Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Grant Park Festival, Lanaudière Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, and New York's Mostly Mozart Festival.

Frequently paired with pianist Erika Switzer, Mr. Duncan has given acclaimed recitals in New York, Boston, Chicago, Paris, and throughout Canada, Germany, Sweden, France, and South Africa. Together they have premiered many new works written for them by composers and have just released their debut album English Songs à la française for Bridge Records, soon to be followed by A Left Coast on the same label featuring songs from British Columbia.

Notable recordings include the Juno Award winning Vaughan-Williams Serenade to Music with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Earthquakes and Islands: an album of songs by Andrew Staniland with texts by Robin Richardson, the title role in John Blow's Venus and Adonis with Boston Early Music Festival, J.S. Bach's St. John Passion with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and is featured with the Montreal Symphony in a video recording of Handel's Messiah.

Mr. Duncan has received prizes from the Naumburg, London's Wigmore Hall, and Munich's ARD competitions, and won the Joy in Singing competition, the New York Oratorio Society's Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition, the Prix International Pro Musicis Award, and the Bernard Diamant Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Duncan earned music degrees from the University of British Columbia, Hochschule für Musik (Augsburg), and Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Munich). As a current faculty member at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA, he finds joy in helping the next generation of singers find their true voice. Originally from British Columbia, Canada, Mr. Duncan now resides in the scenic Hudson Valley of New York. You may find him frequenting many a roadside farmstand seeking the perfect, freshly picked Macintosh apple.

About Erika Switzer
Erika Switzer is an accomplished pianist who collaborates regularly in major concert settings around the world, including at New York's Weill Hall (Carnegie Hall), David Geffen Hall, Frick Collection, and Bargemusic, at the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC). Her performances have been called “precise and lucid” by The New York Times, and Renaud Machart of Le Monde described her as “one of the best collaborative pianists I have ever heard; her sound is deep, her interpretation intelligent, refined, and captivating.” 

From 2000-2007, Switzer performed and studied in Germany, an experience that profoundly inspired and shaped her work. During that time, she appeared at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and in the Munich Winners & Masters series and won numerous awards, including best pianist prizes at the Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Wigmore Hall International Song Competitions. Switzer has long been a leader in envisioning and promoting the future of art song performance. In 2009, in collaboration with soprano Martha Guth, she founded the organization Sparks & Wiry Cries, which curates opportunities for song creators and performers, commissions new works, presents the song-SLAM festival in New York City, and publishes The Art Song Magazine. She is also devoted to new music, and has recently premiered new compositions in the 5 Boroughs Music Festival Songbook II; at the Brooklyn Art Song Society; and at Vancouver's Music on Main.

Switzer collaborates with a range of top singers and instrumentalists. A frequent collaborator is baritone Tyler Duncan, and as a duo, Switzer and Duncan have performed in major concert halls and music festivals around the world. She is also an active teacher, directing the Postgraduate Collaborative Piano Fellowship and coaching singers and pianists as Assistant Professor at Bard College and its Conservatory of Music. Switzer holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School, and lives in New York's Hudson Valley.

About Bridge Records
BRIDGE RECORDS, INC., www.BridgeRecords.com, is best known for its recordings of 20th and 21st Century classical repertoire, including decades-long projects devoted to leading composers. Composers whose works have received premiere recordings on Bridge include: Elliott Carter, George Crumb, Paul Lansky, Poul Ruders, Joaquin Rodrigo, Stephen Sondheim, Hans Werner Henze, Henri Dutilleux, and Toru Takemitsu. These works stand side by side with the greatest classical repertoire of the past, presented by leading soloists, orchestras and opera companies.

Bridge Records, Inc. was founded in 1981 by David Starobin. Starobin was soon joined in the company by his wife, Becky Starobin, now Bridge's President. The Starobins' son, Robert, joined the firm shortly after completing graduate studies at New York University. Rob currently heads the company's digital distribution and operations. Writing of his motivation for founding Bridge, David Starobin cited “the need to create a wide-ranging forum for repertoire and performance- a home for the exceptionally interesting and challenging personality- performer and composer alike.” Now in its 42nd year of operations, Bridge has earned 37 Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations, and hundreds of awards and citations from publications across the globe.  Bridge has maintained its offices in New Rochelle, NY since 1996.

A Left Coast Tracklist
IMAN HABIBI (b. 1985)
     1. False Morning (2:53)
     2. The River-Lip (2:21)
JEAN COULTHARD (1908-2000)
     3-5. Three Love Songs (7:21)
JOCELYN MORLOCK (1969-2023)
     6-8. Involuntary Love Songs (13:05)
STEPHEN CHATMAN (b. 1950)
     9. Love Songs (2:53)
LESLIE UYEDA (b. 1953)
     10-13. Plato's Angel (9:48)
MELISSA HUI (b. 1966)
     14. Snowflakes (4:06)
JEFFREY RYAN (b. 1962)
     15-18. Everything Already Lost (22:16) 

Total Time: 64:50

Tyler Duncan, baritone
Erika Switzer, piano

Recorded June 11-14 2022 in the Roy Barnett Recital Hall at the
UBC School of Music, Vancouver BC, Canada
Recording Produced, Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by Marlan Barry
Assistant Engineer and Technical Assistance: Micaela Peragallo
Digital Editing: Ian Striedter
Recording Liaison and Scheduling: Dave Simpson
Piano Technician: Scott Harker
Photography: Colin Mills, and Collide Entertainment
Graphic Design: Casey Siu
Executive Producers: David and Becky Starobin

Videos filmed by Collide Entertainment
Director: Mike Southworth
Producer: Joanna Dundas
Camera Operators: Brandon Fletcher, Scot Proudfoot, Mike Southworth
Editors: Joanna Dundas, Doug Fury, Mike Southworth

To post a comment, you must register and login.