Grammy-Nominated Tenor Nicholas Phan to Return to Tanglewood & More This Summer

Fresh from a successful role debut in the San Francisco Symphony’s production of the late Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater, Grammy-nominated tenor Nicholas Phan is embarking on a full summer, with festival appearances at Tanglewood (July 8), Mostly Mozart (July 25 & 26), the Bard Music Festival (Aug 6) and more.
 
The harrowing story of a woman grappling with war, vengeance, forgiveness and the complex dynamics of motherhood, Saariaho’s opera is one of several social-minded works that feature prominently in the tenor’s summer schedule. A meditation on the American immigrant experience, Nico Muhly’s Stranger for tenor and string quartet was expressly written for Phan, whose recording of the work was nominated for the 2023 Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. This summer, he performs Stranger at Tanglewood, where it forms part of a program he curated to explore narratives about immigration to the U.S. (July 8), and at Maine’s Bay Chamber Concerts (Aug 20), where he also headlines the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s new orchestral song cycle, Protest Songs. This forms the centerpiece of a program investigating song as a form of protest, which he is curating in collaboration with Portland-based group Palaver Strings (Aug 18).
 
Phan will also make stops at New York City’s Mostly Mozart Festival for Mozart’s Mass in C minor (July 25 & 26), New York’s Bard Music Festival for Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge (Aug 6), and Maine’s Salt Bay Chamberfest for works by Baroque women composers (Aug 8). Meanwhile, on the educational front, Phan serves on the faculty of San Francisco’s prestigious Merola Opera program, where he has curated a recital featuring several of its young artists in a program exploring the theme of “Metamorphosis: Recovery, Renewal and Rebirth” (June 29).
 
Launched in March of this year, Phan’s new web series, BACH 52, will also continue to roll out episodes throughout the summer. The series comprises 52 episodes, each of which features a film and recording of a tenor aria or duet from one of Bach’s church cantatas, paired with interviews with scholars, musicians and audience members addressing the question: “Is the music of Bach for everyone?” This year-long project provides an opportunity to explore Bach’s music and its relevance to today’s increasingly secular and diverse society. To date, the series has featured interviews with pianist and author Jeremy Denk, Baroque oboist Debra Nagy, and scholar Ellen Exner, vice-president of the American Bach Society. Forthcoming episodes will feature interviews with Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; Steven Zohn, musicologist and General Editor for the American Bach Society; and Michael Roest, founder of the International Pride Orchestra; among many others.
 
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Earlier this month, Phan made his role debut as Yonas in Peter Sellars’s newly staged production of Saariaho’s Adriana Mater for the San Francisco Symphony. Starring opposite Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron as his mother, Adriana, under the baton of San Francisco Symphony music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, Phan impressed the New York Times with his “agile, heldentenor-like” performance. As the San Francisco Classical Voice marveled: “Phan sang and acted brilliantly as the impulsive Yonas, who slowly matures as he comprehends the generosity and hope behind his mother’s behavior.”

Photo credit: Henry Dombey for Clubsoda Productions

Nicholas Phan: upcoming engagements

June 29
San Francisco, CA
Merola Opera
“Metamorphosis: Recovery, Renewal and Rebirth” (recital curator & coach)
 
July 8
Lenox, MA
Tanglewood Music Festival
Nico Muhly: Stranger
 
July 25 & 26
New York, NY
Mostly Mozart Festival / Louis Langrée
MOZART: Mass in C minor
 
Aug 6
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Bard Music Festival
Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge
 
Aug 8
Damariscotta, ME
Salt Bay Chamberfest
Songs by Antonia BEMBO, Julie PINEL and Barbara STROZZI
 
Aug 16–20
Camden, ME
Bay Chamber Concerts
 
   Aug 16 & 17
   Songs TBA
 
   Aug 18
   Palaver Strings
   Errollyn WALLEN: Protest Songs (world premiere)
 
   Aug 20
   Palaver Strings
   Nico Muhly: Stranger