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Nicholas Phan

About this Artist

American NICHOLAS PHAN continues to distinguish himself as one of the most compelling young tenors appearing on the prestigious concert and opera stages of the world.

In the 2011/12 season, Phan appeared as Luricano in Ariodante on tour with Alan Curtis and his acclaimed orchestra, Il Complesso Barocco, in Bucharest, Turin, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Vienna. He performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Hollywood Bowl), the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony, and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Symphony Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy in Carnegie Hall. He also returned to the Atlanta Opera as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and appeared in recital in the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series. This summer he returns to the Hollywood Bowl for this performance of Carmina Burana, and in the 2012/13 season he appears in concert with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and returns to the Portland Opera as Fenton in Falstaff.

Phan has appeared with many of the leading orchestras in the United States and Great Britain, including the BBC Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Edinburgh, Ravinia, Rheingau, Saint-Denis, Bard, and Marlboro music festivals, and at the BBC Proms. Among the conductors he has worked with are Harry Bicket, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Jane Glover, Manfred Honeck, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, John Nelson, Helmuth Rilling, David Robertson, Patrick Summers, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In recital, he has been presented by Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the University of Chicago.

An avid proponent of vocal chamber music, he has collaborated with pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, and Cecile Licad, and Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra Jennifer Montone, among others. He is also the Artistic Director of the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, a Chicago-based organization devoted to promoting the teaching, performance, and development of the vocal chamber music repertoire.

Also considered one of the rising young stars of the opera world, Phan recently made his debut with the Seattle Opera as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other recent opera performances have included his debuts at the Glyndebourne Opera and the Maggio Musicale in Florence, as well as appearances with the New York City Opera, LA Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Chicago Opera Theater, Opéra de Lille, and Frankfurt Opera. His growing repertoire includes the title roles in Acis and Galatea and Candide, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Fenton in Falstaff, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Don Polidoro in La finta semplice, and Lurcanio in Ariodante.

Phan’s first solo album, Winter Words, was released in the fall of 2011 by AVIE. His growing discography includes the Grammy-nominated recording of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO Resound) and the world-premiere recording of Evan Chambers’ orchestral song cycle, The Old Burying Ground (Dorian).

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Phan also studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program. He was the recipient of a 2006 Sullivan Foundation Award and 2004 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation.