American tenor Nicholas Phan won the 2025 Grammy® Award for Best Opera Recording for his starring role on the world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater. This was his fifth Grammy® Award nomination and his first win...
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“…’Reiner Geist, lass doch mein Herz,’ …a beautiful work that shows more than a touch of Italian opera influence. Much less celebratory than the surrounding Bach cantatas, the piece in this performance owed much to Phan, who was a phenomenal soloist. His legato was unshakeable…“. – San Francisco Chronicle
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“Nicholas Phan is a fine protagonist, steering this provocative course between cantata and musical theatre. His fervent, crystalline diction fuels the revolution, not that the electrically democratic Palaver Strings are short of ideas. Phan gives Farayi Malek the final word, and it’s a soulful call to action”
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“…[Phan] opened the evening with “Comfort ye,” not only comforting but also smiting with his expressiveness. In “Every valley shall be exalted” he gave a virtual a master class in how to sing a melisma…”
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Already recognized with three previous Grammy nominations, tenor NICHOLAS PHAN received two more this season…
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“…tenor Nicholas Phan, who gave a stunning concert of solo Baroque vocal music with the Bach Collegium San Diego (BCSD) directed by Ruben Valenzuela this past weekend…Phan’s elegant phrasing, pellucid German, and resonant vocal sonority combined with the customary panache of BCSD could not have been more rewarding…”
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"...it was the performers’ artistic approach that truly created the intimacy. Phan can color his voice endlessly, and while there’s power when he wants it, he’s far more likely to lure you in with a thousand degrees of soft singing..."
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"Deutsche Grammophon announces the world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater, performed by the San Francisco Symphony and conducted by Saariaho’s lifelong friend Esa-Pekka Salonen…”
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“…Phan interpreted them with both force and delicacy, shaping the music in close fusion with the instruments and nicely emphasizing Wallen’s key message of unifying hearts through his intense engagement...”
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Three-time Grammy-nominated tenor Nicholas Phan, whom the Boston Globe declared “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” joins Palaver Strings, a musician-led string ensemble based in Portland, Maine, and jazz vocalist Farayi Malek for the new album A Change Is Gonna Come….
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“This week our Classical Californian will be acclaimed tenor Nicholas Phan, who’s also an educator and musical curator. He’s the Artistic Director and co-founder of Collaborative Art Institutes of Chicago (CAIC), and for the past decade or so has made San Francisco his home…”
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Over the coming season, Grammy-nominated tenor Nicholas Phan – “one of the world’s most remarkable singers” (Boston Globe) – balances opera, concert and recital performances with curatorial and educational activities. On the curatorial front, he launches his season…
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“…Recital singing is essential for singers, he added. “It’s the place where they can be most vulnerable and at the same time, have the most autonomy. There’s no conductor in front of them; they’re dealing with poetry on their own terms…”
– The Mercury News
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“The 2023-24 Kaufman Music Center Artists-in-Residence are the trailblazing self-conducted orchestra A Far Cry, the composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón and the Grammy-nominated tenor and educator Nicholas Phan…”
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“The four singers…were superb as individuals and as an ensemble...Tenor Nicholas Phan sang and acted brilliantly as the impulsive Yonas, who slowly matures as he comprehends the generosity and hope behind his mother’s behavior.”
– San Francisco Classical Voice
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“…Stranger, Muhly’s song cycle for tenor (Nicholas Phan) was lucid and concise in an earlier version for string quartet; now, it glints with greatness…Tenor Phan, always a commanding presence, brought especial tenderness to these songs…”
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“the soloists were outstanding. Tenor Nicholas Phan was an Evangelist brimful of such empathy as to be quite heartbreaking…” – The Financial Times
“…The tenor Nicholas Phan was a lyrical, actorly guide through the story as the Evangelist…” – The New York Times
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“Fresh from performances as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Hong King Philharmonic under the baton of Jaap van Zweden, three-time Grammy-nominated tenor Nicholas Phan – “one of the world’s most remarkable singers” (Boston Globe) – sings the same role with the same conductor leading the New York Philharmonic this spring (March 23–25). He also returns to the Dallas Symphony…”
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Nicholas Phan is nominated for Best Classical Solo Voice Album. This is his 3rd nomination. The work is a composition called "Stranger" and it was written by modern composer Nico Muhly.
CBS News Bay Area interviewed Nicholas at the renowned Skywalker Sound in Marin County…
…The three of us connected over Zoom last month to discuss the genesis and reception of Stranger, the questions around identity and immigration which lie at the heart of the piece…
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“Orchestra, chorus, soloists, and Pearlman combined to deliver the most compelling performance I’ve seen from Boston Baroque in years. That slate of soloists featured several names well known to anyone who’s been a regular at Boston Baroque, including..the keen and thoughtful tenor Nicholas Phan...” – Boston Globe
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