An accomplished concert singer, American tenor Nicholas Phan recently made his debut at the BBC Proms and the Bard Music Festival, and this season returns to the Music of Baroque for performances of selections by Purcell, the San Francisco Symphony for both the Bach Mass in B Minor and Carmina Burana, and to Carnegie Hall for Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Oratorio Society of New York. He also sings Haydn’s Creation with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Handel’s Messiah with both the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor and the Kansas City Symphony. In the fall of 2010, he embarks on a U.S. recital tour that culminates in his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in its Great Singers III: Evenings of Song series in Weill Recital Hall.
Mr. Phan has appeared with many of the leading orchestras in the United States, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (in Chicago and New York), Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He has also appeared at the Edinburgh, Ravinia, Rheingau and Marlboro music festivals. Among the conductors he has worked with are Harry Bicket, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Jane Glover, Manfred Honeck, Bernard Labadie, Jahja Ling, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Helmuth Rilling, David Robertson, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, and Michael Tilson Thomas. In recital, he has been presented by the prestigious Marilyn Horne Foundation in their annual On Wings of Song series, 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, Cecile Licad, and Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jennifer Montone among others
Also considered one of the rising young stars of the opera world, Mr. Phan makes his debut this season with the Seattle Opera as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and goes on a tour with Alan Curtis and his acclaimed orchestra Il Complesso Barocco in performances of Ariodante which includes performances at the Barbican in London, the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Festpielhaus in Baden-Baden, and in Madrid. Recent opera performances have included his debuts at the Glyndebourne Opera and in Dusseldorf, and appearances with the New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Atlanta Opera, Portland Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Arizona Opera, Opera de Lille, and Frankfurt Opera. His growing repertoire includes the title roles in Acis and Galatea and Candide, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algerie, Fenton in Falstaff, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Don Polidoro in La Finta Semplice, and Lurcanio in Ariodante.
Mr. Phan’s recording of Stravinksy’s Pulcinella with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was recently released on the CSO Resound label. His world premiere recording of Evan Chambers’ orchestral song cycle, The Old Burying Ground, was released in July 2010.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mr. 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.