About this Artist
Panamanian-American baritone NMON FORD has performed throughout the Americas, Europe and Japan, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the Brooklyn Philharmonic conducted by Michael Christie; in the world premiere of Grammy-winning composer Jennifer Higdon's new work "Dooryard Bloom," written for Mr. Ford. Of his performance, Allan Kozinn of the New York Times wrote: "Nmon Ford sang the work beautifully, with a supple tone and thoughtful coloration."
Nmon Ford began his musical training in piano at age three. He has appeared with San Francisco Opera, Spoleto Festival U.S.A., Los Angeles Opera, Utah Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Memphis, Syracuse Opera, Virginia Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Madison Opera, the New West Symphony and Opera San Jose in roles including Iago (Otello), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Amfortas (Parsifal), Amonasro (Aïda), Escamillo (Carmen), Don Giovanni, Germont (La traviata), the High Priest (Samson et Dalila), and Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas). Other roles include Posa (Don Carlo), Jochanaan (Salome), and Renato (Un ballo in maschera).
Mr. Ford has worked with such distinguished conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Simone Young, Grant Llewellyn, Maurizio Barbacini, John Adams, Stewart Robertson, Carl St. Clair, Robert Spano, and Marin Alsop. His solo concert appearances include the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Eugene Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the University Music Society of Ann Arbor (Michigan), and he has given recitals throughout the United States and Europe. He made his New York recital debut with the Marilyn Horne Foundation's "On Wings of Song" Series at the Kosciusko Foundation; under the Foundation's auspices he has fulfilled artist's residencies with the New Jersey Symphony, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the Huntsville Chamber Music Guild in Alabama. This past spring he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by John Morris Russell.
Future engagements for Mr. Ford encompass the role of Pater Estaticus in Mahler's Symphony #8 with the National Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, a debut with Hamburg Opera in the role of Demetrius in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream conducted by Simone Young, the role of Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston conducted by Grant Llewellyn, Carmina Burana with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and a reprise of the title role in Don Giovanni with the Spoleto Festival USA conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
Mr. Ford has recorded for Naxos Records (Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and Experience), Koch Records (Villa Lobos' Symphony #10, "Amerindia"), and Three Things Records (The Sweetest Brilliance - Songs of Bolcom and Weinstein).