Nicholas Phan

Background

About Nicholas Phan

Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” American tenor Nicholas Phan is increasingly recognized as an artist of distinction. Performing an incredibly diverse repertoire that ranges from Claudio Monteverdi to Nico Muhly and beyond, Phan appears regularly with many of the leading orchestras and opera houses in the world. In 2010 he co-founded the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago (CAIC) to promote art song and vocal chamber music, where he serves as artistic director. In addition to his work as artistic director of CAIC, he also has curated programs for broadcast on WQXR in New York and WFMT in Chicago, and served as guest curator for projects with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, San Francisco Opera Center, Merola Opera Program, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Apollo's Fire, Laguna Beach Music Festival, and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence from 2014-2018. Phan’s most recent album, Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly, was nominated for the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. His albums Clairières and Gods and Monsters were also nominated for the same award in 2020 and 2017. He is the first singer of Asian descent to be nominated in the history of the category, which has been awarded by the Recording Academy since 1959. Phan’s other previous albums for Avie –Illuminations, A Painted Tale, Still Fall the Rain, and Winter Words–have all made many “Best of” lists, including those of The New York Times, New Yorker, Toronto Star, Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe. As an educator, Phan served on the voice faculty of the DePaul University School of Music from 2018-2020. He has also served as a guest teacher (working as both a voice teacher and a coach) at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, and the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. He currently serves as a coach on the faculty of the San Francisco Opera Center. An artist advocate, he is the Vice Chair of the Asian Opera Alliance, an organization that uplifts the work of Asian-identifying operatic professionals and advocates for greater Asian representation in opera, while striving for broader equity.