NICK MAKES DEBUT AT TEATRO DELL’OPERA DI ROMA AS YONAS in SAARIAHO’S ADRIANA MATER

*Nick performs as Yonas with Fleur Barron as the title role in Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater Photo:* *Fabrizio Sansoni*

GBOpera

"The vocal quartet, reduced but central, turns out to be of the highest quality... Nicholas Phan, in the role of Yonas, addresses with rare musical intelligence a part of extraordinary psychological complexity. His voice, of clear lyricism and finely-controlled vibrato, moves between innocence and despair, never giving in to pathos. The final scene, in which Yonas renounces revenge, is executed with a composure that moves: a low-voice singing that becomes an ethical statement, almost a new belief of possible humanity."

ResMusica / Le Salon Musical

"...the compact and cavernous voice for the adolescent body of Yonas, the child of rape—a sensational Nicholas Phan, young American tenor and founder/artistic director of Art Song Chicago—who appears at the beginning of the second act, eighteen years after the tragedy, bringing new energy and unexpected clarity."

Connessi all'opera

"…the cast—made up of a four-leaf clover of voices, all making their Roman debut together and closely linked to the work’s most recent successes, as well as honored in its San Francisco revival—proved exceptional...No less excellent was the vocal performance—largely one of sheer strength—sustained throughout the entire second act by tenor Nicholas Phan as the son Yonas. He is an impulsive adolescent, full of rancor, who becomes in the end a compassionate and forgiving man—always ready for confrontation, anger in his chest and rifle in hand, practically with everyone."

Drammaturgia

"Nicholas Phan soberly renders the complexity of Yonas, caught between the weight of his violent inheritance and free will."

Il Ponte

"In the role of the son Yonas, tenor Nicholas Phan was able to shift seamlessly from youthful, furious energy—when he contemplates killing his father, his mother’s rapist—to a hesitant introspection in the face of the horror of committing violence himself. In this way, he proves himself truly Adriana’s son, animated by the same pietas that once led her to decide not to abort."

Quarta Parete:

"Yonas, this very young man destined to uncover the drama from which he was born, is portrayed by Nicholas Phan, whose vocal intensity gives the character all the anger imaginable. Of him we see only this—there is no preamble of normality; we do not know who Yonas was from his birth until the discovery of his conception. Only his aunt Refka’s words tell us that no, he wouldn’t normally be like this—that he is usually a calm boy, and all that anger does not belong to him.

We can imagine, with a little imagination and understanding of the world, that war has accompanied Yonas since the very beginning of his life—something that has become an innate part of him, present yet distant, at least until the moment he discovers violence and the figure of Tsargo. And the contrast between father and son—imposed by genetics, though life is another matter—is clear: there are those who choose to commit evil, and those who seem destined to do so but manage to stop themselves just in time."

VATICAN NEWS:

“Saariaho, musician of great emotions, does not deny herself in a dense and aggressive score, having to lead the listener into the vortex of love and hate. The choir, for the occasion excellently conducted by Ciro Visco, has a very difficult part. As well as the four protagonists, who move, between the virtuosity of the two women and the hardness of the men, to face a singing recital of the twenty-first century. And they all deserve to be mentioned for the precision and for how everyone has entered their part: Fleur Barron's Adriana, Axelle Fanyo's sister Refka, her son Yonas Nicholas Phan the soldier Christopher Purves.”

Progetto Italia News:

"Nicholas Phan (Yonas) and Christopher Purves (Tsargo) sensitively embody two opposite poles of the masculine: the restless son and the rapist father."

Opera Actual:

"Saariaho entrusts the singers with an extremely demanding task—arduous on the vocal cords, difficult in terms of intonation, and rhythmically complex. The vocal style adopted by the composer could be described as a kind of 21st-century Wagnerianism, marked by its robustness and the continual alternation between singing and recitative.

The four soloists offered performances of great dramatic power, especially in the duets, which became confrontations of searing intensity...All four were magnificent—it would be difficult to imagine better interpreters."

AboutArt Online:

"Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron...had all the necessary qualities to interpret this character. In this performance her voice proved robust and beguiling, well-suited to the part. The same can be said for the others: Axelle Fanyo’s Refka handled the role’s many register shifts with ease; Christopher Purves’s Tsargo, a bass-baritone, conveyed the dark and dramatic tones the part demands; and finally, tenor Nicholas Phan’s Yonas, who managed to subordinate youthful restlessness to the determination of a mature man."