“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…”
Read MoreOver 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…
Read More“…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…”
Read More“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…”
Read MoreNicholas 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…
Read More“Two-time Grammy nominated tenor Nicholas Phan is “one of the world’s most remarkable singers” (Boston Globe), and the coming season showcases his artistry in music ranging from masterworks of the Classical and Baroque to new song cycles composed expressly for his voice. He returns to the New York Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (March 23–25); joins Boston Baroque..”
Read More“Tuesday night tenor Nicholas Phan delivered thoughtful and eloquent songs that reflected universal aspects of immigration, from the thrill of anticipation to the vagaries of reality…To create one of the more arresting recitals in this summer’s Aspen Music Festival lineup, Phan built his whole evening around composer Nico Muhly’s “Strangers,” a song cycle that focuses on difficulties of immigration…Muhly’s music, so touching and spare, created an apt halo of sound for Phan’s poignant singing of these letters…” – Aspen Times
Read More“Phan’s deceptively halcyon tenor—clear and crystalline, but able, on a dime, to reflect the explosive storms of human experience—is an ideal vehicle for the emotional capaciousness that Muhly gives his texts…Phan’s tenor weaves itself into a lavender haze of unconditional love and unencumbered longing, accented by a holy minimalism in Brooklyn Rider’s accompaniment…The closing piece reminds us, as history snakes around itself, that what we are invariably left with in any era are people looking to connect.”
Read MoreCommissioned by the tenor Nicholas Phan and premiered in 2019, Nico Muhly's Stranger is undoubtedly one of the most moving new vocal works to come my way this year: setting texts including extracts from letters and interviews with immigrants from China and Sicily, the song-cycle explores what Muhly has described as 'different kinds of shared American stories', …
…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…
Read More“Composer and singer discuss the title-work on a new album from Avie, and consider the resonances of cultural identity explored in the new work, written for Phan
Nico Muhly’s Stranger, premiered in 2020, gives its name to a new album from Avie featuring the tenor Nicholas Phan. James Jolly caught up by video call with Nicholas Phan in San Francisco and Nico Muhly in New York to talk about the album, and how Stranger came into being.”
Read More“Nicholas Phan’s eighth Avie Records album – Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly – drops on July 1. Due for both physical and digital release, the new title comprises world premiere recordings of three of the composer’s major works: Impossible Things for tenor, solo violin and orchestra; Lorne Ys My Likinge for countertenor, tenor and piano; and Stranger for tenor and string quartet…”
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