Nicholas Phan’s 2013-14 season features Britten, Bach and Endimione
Tenor Nicholas Phan – declared “a major new Britten interpreter” by The New York Times – will kick off his 2013-14 season as one of the prime voices heard in celebrations of the composer’s centenary as they culminate this fall. On September 5, Phan helps launch Trinity Wall Street’s four-month Celebrating Britten Festival with the orchestral song cycle Nocturne. The tenor also curates the 2013 Collaborative Works Festival as the Artistic Director of Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, performing Britten’s Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac and The Heart of the Matter, plus folk-song arrangements by Beethoven (Sept 11-15). Phan and pianist Myra Huang then embark on a U.S. recital tour – starting at Trinity Wall Street on September 21 – with a program juxtaposing Britten and Schubert. The two performers also take the program to Istanbul (Oct 23), in addition to more U.S. tour dates in the spring. Late fall brings Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Peter Oundjian (Oct 31-Nov 2), as well as Phan’s first appearances in the War Requiem, with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony (Nov 15-17). There’s more than Britten, though, in store for the tenor this season. In the New Year, Phan stars in the title role of Johann Christian Bach’s Endimione in a very rare staging by New York City Opera (Feb 8-16). He also sings the Evangelist in performances of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Chicago with John Nelson (April 11) and at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York (May 20).
Recognized as one of today’s most compelling Britten interpreters, Phan has released two hit all-Britten albums on Avie Records, both featuring Myra Huang on piano. Winter Words – issued in 2011 and including the titular song cycle, as well as the Michelangelo Sonnets – was given a five-star review by BBC Music magazine. Still Falls the Rain – which includes the title canticle presented in the context of Britten’s larger piece, The Heart of the Matter, as well as the complete works for tenor and harp – was named one of the “Best of 2012” by the New York Times. After the success of these projects, the recital tour with Huang adds Schubert to the mix because he was one of the English composer’s favorite predecessors. Following the first date as part of Trinity Wall Street’s Britten festival in New York (Sept 21), the tour goes to Chicago (Oct 18), Kalamazoo, MI (Oct 19), Istanbul, Turkey (Oct 23), Atlanta (Nov 9), Rochester, NY (March 18) and Boston (April 17).
From the poetic intimacy of the canticles and song cycles to the stirring grandeur of the War Requiem, Phan is covering a wide spectrum of Britten this season. As the tenor says: “It’s a unique opportunity in this Britten centenary year to have so many venues to perform these pieces that I have loved so dearly but are so rarely performed in the United States. Britten’s music is the perfect blend of head and heart, of technical mastery and visceral emotion – for me, these pieces are some of the most heart-wrenching masterworks of the last century, and it’s exciting to be able to put them front and center.”
Phan further discusses the composer, and other matters, in a recent interview with the New York Times that can be read here.
Along with all the Britten in the season’s first half, Phan solos in multiple holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah, including with Boston Baroque (Dec 13-14), the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa (Dec 17-18), and the Philadelphia Orchestra (Dec 22). He is also a soloist on a four-city tour of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (The Creation) with the Music of the Baroque ensemble under Jane Glover that includes stops in Chicago (March 31) and San Diego (April 4).
J.C. Bach and J.S. Bach in New Year
Phan starts 2014 on a high note, taking on the title role in New York City Opera’s Feb 8-16 production of Johann Christian Bach’s rarely heard 1772 work Endimione at El Museo del Barrio, an ideal venue for early opera. The role of Endimione marks Phan’s return to City Opera, where he previously appeared as Damon in a 2006 production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea. The story of Endimione centers on the characters of Diana and Nice. Through the mischief of Amore (Cupid), both fall madly in love with Endimione, a local shepherd, and pastoral mayhem ensues. J.C. Bach, known as “the London Bach,” befriended Mozart when the 8-year-old and his family visited England, and the score to Endimione shows a style that exerted a major influence on the young prodigy. New York City Opera bills their Endimione as perhaps the very first staging of a J.C. Bach opera in the United States.
Works by J.C. Bach’s father, Johann Sebastian, are highlights of Phan’s spring. On April 13, he sings arias from the St. John Passion at Washington National Cathedral. The tenor also performs the key role of the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion in two high-profile performances: on April 11 at St. Vincent de Paul Church, with the Chicago Bach Project conducted by John Nelson; and on May 20 at Carnegie Hall, with the Oratorio Society of New York under Kent Tritle.
Nicholas Phan
Phan was recently featured as the subject of an Opera News “Take Five” interview. A video clip of his responses to the five questions posed by the magazine is available here. The Connecticut-born, Michigan-raised tenor documents his journey as a musician in his blog, grecchinois.blogspot.com. As Phan explains, “I sing. I travel. I am half Greek and half Chinese – thus, the blog’s name, a combination of the two nationalities in French.” Additional information about the tenor, including a complete biography, is available at his website: www.nicholas-phan.com.
Nicholas Phan: upcoming engagements
September 5
New York, NY
Trinity Wall Street
Novus NY / Julian Wachner
Britten: Nocturne
September 11
Chicago, IL
Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago
Collaborative Works Festival
Britten: The Heart of the Matter
September 12
Chicago, IL
Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago
Collaborative Works Festival
Britten: Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac
September 15
Chicago, IL
Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago
Collaborative Works Festival
Beethoven: Folk song arrangements
September 21
New York, NY
Trinity Wall Street
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Jennifer Montone, horn; Myra Huang, piano; Sivan Magen, harp
October 18
Chicago, IL
Mandel Hall
University of Chicago Presents
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Gail Williams, horn; Myra Huang, piano; Sivan Magen, harp
October 19
Kalamazoo, MI
Dalton Center
Fontana Chamber Arts
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Gail Williams, horn; Myra Huang, piano
October 23
Istanbul, Turkey
CCR Concert Hall
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Myra Huang, piano
October 31 – November 2
Toronto, Canada
Roy Thomson Hall
Toronto Symphony Orchestra / Peter Oundjian
Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Orff: Carmina Burana
November 9
Atlanta, GA
Spivey Hall
Spivey Hall Concert Series
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Myra Huang, piano
November 15 &16
Baltimore, MD
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Baltimore Symphony / Marin Alsop
Britten: War Requiem
November 17
Bethesda, MD
Music Center at Strathmore
Baltimore Symphony / Marin Alsop
Britten: War Requiem
November 22 & 23
Charlotte, NC
Belk Theater
Charlotte Symphony / Scott Allen Jarrett
Bach: St. Matthew Passion (Evangelist)
November 29 & 30
Waterloo, Canada
The Center in the Square Theater
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony / Edwin Outwater
Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
December 6 & 7
St. Louis, MO
Powell Symphony Hall
St. Louis Symphony / David Robertson
Bach: Christmas Oratorio
December 13 & 14
Boston, MA
Jordan Hall
Boston Baroque / Martin Perelman
Handel: Messiah
December 17 & 18
Ottowa, Canada
National Arts Centre
National Arts Centre Orchestra / Matthew Halls
Handel: Messiah
December 22
Philadelphia, PA
Kimmel Center
Philadelphia Orchestra / Cristian Macelaru
Handel: Messiah
December 23
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Oratorio Society of New York / Kent Tritle
Handel: Messiah
February 8, 12, 14, 16
New York, NY
El Museo del Barrio
New York City Opera / Gary Thor Wedow
J.C. Bach: Endimione (title role)
March 1
New York, NY
Weill Hall
Carnegie Hall Presents
Discovery Day: Franz Schubert’s Last Years
Schubert: Selected songs
March 18
Rochester, NY
Kilbourn Hall
Eastman School of Music
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Gail Williams, horn; Myra Huang, piano
March 30
Skokie, IL
North Shore Center
Music of the Baroque / Jane Glover
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
March 31
Chicago, IL
Harris Theater
Music of the Baroque / Jane Glover
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
April 2
Aurora, IL
Crimi Auditorium
Music of the Baroque / Jane Glover
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
April 4
San Diego, CA
Balboa Theater
La Jolla Music Society
Music of the Baroque / Jane Glover
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
April 11
Chicago, IL
St. Vincent de Paul Church
Chicago Bach Project / John Nelson
Bach: St. Matthew Passion (Evangelist)
April 13
Washington, DC
Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral Choir and Orchestra / Michael McCarthy
Bach: Arias from St. John Passion
April 17
Boston, MA
Pickman Hall
Boston Celebrity Series
Britten/Schubert – Still Falls the Rain recital
With Myra Huang, piano
April 23
New York, NY
Zankel Hall
Carnegie Hall Presents
TENET / Julian Wachner
Arvo Pärt: Passio
May 20
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Oratorio Society of New York / Kent Tritle
Bach: St. Matthew Passion (Evangelist)
www.nicholas-phan.com
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www.twitter.com/grecchinois
www.grecchinois.blogspot.com
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©21C Media Group, August 2013