GRECCHINOIS

Bach, Multiplicity, and Interpretation
2026 Nicholas Phan 2026 Nicholas Phan

Bach, Multiplicity, and Interpretation

In Bach, multiplicity can be generous: the same melodic idea can turn inward or outward, penitential or theatrical, depending on tempo, ensemble, and context. In public life, that same multiplicity can feel bewildering or dangerous. But in both cases, we’re confronted with the fact that meaning is not simply a matter of taste or preference, nor is it singular and fixed…

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TWENTY YEARS
2021 Nicholas Phan 2021 Nicholas Phan

TWENTY YEARS

I don’t remember what I did on the evening of September 10, 2001. Whatever it was, I was so tired that I recall blearily resolving to skip my early dance class at the Manhattan School of Music on the morning of the 11th, just days into the fall semester…

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GODDESS, EXCELLENTLY BRIGHT
Art Song, Classical Music, 2021 Nicholas Phan Art Song, Classical Music, 2021 Nicholas Phan

GODDESS, EXCELLENTLY BRIGHT

“There was another full moon earlier this week, on Monday. I do hope you’ll forgive me for missing the actual evening of the full moon. As life has begun resuming a sense of normalcy in fits and starts, I am finding myself being unaccustomed to balancing a slightly more complicated schedule now that I am fully vaccinated, and it is safer to go out in the world again…”

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EMERGING VOICES: Music Has No Boundaries
2020 Nicholas Phan 2020 Nicholas Phan

EMERGING VOICES: Music Has No Boundaries

Even before beginning work on the Emerging Voices project a couple of years ago, I had a strong internal reaction whenever the subject of identity came up, especially in the way it has with the recent intense waves of nationalism and the racial bigotry often associated with it…

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EMERGING VOICES: The American Sound
2020 Nicholas Phan 2020 Nicholas Phan

EMERGING VOICES: The American Sound

The United States underwent a radical cultural shift in 1917 when the nation decided to abandon its neutral stance and enter World War I on the side of Allies. America’s significant population of German immigrants and their descendants, which had been easily able to assimilate into American life…

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