CHICAGO CLASSICAL REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS COLLABORATIVE WORKS FESTIVAL IN 'BEST OF 2021' YEAR-IN-REVIEW

Nick performs the Midwest premiere of Nico Muhly’s Stranger with the Avalon String Quartet at the 2021 Collaborative Works Festival

CAIC's 2021 Collaborative Works Festival: Strangers in a Strange Land was highlighted twice among Chicago Classical Review's 'Best of 2021'.

The opening concert of the festival, Songs of the New World, was listed as number three on Chicago Classical Review's "Top Ten Performances of 2021" and the closing concert of the festival, The Songs We Carried, was listed amongst the review's round-up of honorable mentions.

From the Chicago Classical Review's Year-end Review:

"The enterprising Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago explored the migrant experience as reflected in classical vocal music...The performers for the opening recital of CAIC’s 10th anniversary festival in September included tenor and CAIC artistic director Nicholas Phan and mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms. Both were superb. Migrant journeys were explored, painful truths lost to history unearthed and timely resonances created, and Phan and friends have brought us no more thoughtful or absorbing a program."

"The closing recital of the Collaborative Works Festival was a stand-out on this year’s calendar. Artistic director and tenor Nicholas Phan joined soprano Helen Zhibing, mezzo Amanda Lynn Bottoms, pianist Shannon McGinnis, and violinist Adriane Post for a thoughtful program at Ganz Hall. This roster gave superb advocacy to songs in the folk tradition from Bartok, Britten, Gabriela Lena Frank, Ginastera, and others, capping the festival with intelligence and trademark vocal splendor."