FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Maggie Estes, Director of Marketing and Public
Relations,
mestes@cliburn.org, 817.738.6536 (o), 817.739.0459
(c)
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, March 13, 2012-- The Van Cliburn
Foundation has announced that acclaimed, Grammy® Award-winning
baritone Nathan Gunn will perform his Cliburn Concerts debut
recital on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Gunn, whose
appearance also marks his first Bass Hall performance, will replace
soprano Deborah Voigt, who is unable to appear due to medical
reasons. Single tickets are available from $15-$90, and can be
purchased at Cliburn.org, by calling 817.212.4280, or in person at
the Bass Hall Box Office (525 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, Texas).
Tickets to Deborah Voigt's recital will be honored, and ticket
holders with questions should contact the Box Office.
Mr. Gunn has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting
and in-demand baritones of the day. He has been characterized as a
"singer of unmistakable star power" (Opera News), and has been
praised as "a baritone whose mighty heft and richness confer an
outsize authority on everything he touches" (The New York Times).
He has performed worldwide in major opera houses and festivals like
the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of
Chicago, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne
Festival, and Theater an der Wien, among others. His many roles
include the title role of Hamlet, the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro,
Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, Malatesta in Don Pasquale,
Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore, and Ottone in L'incoronazione di
Poppea.
Mr. Gunn is a frequent interpreter of new works, and he
recently created the role of Paul in the world premiere of Daron
Hagen's Amelia at the Seattle Opera. He also originated the roles
of Alec Harvey in André Previn's Brief Encounter at the Houston
Grand Opera, Father Delura in Peter Eötvös's Love and Other Demons
at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, and Clyde Griffiths in Tobias
Picker's An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera. A
distinguished concert performer, Mr. Gunn has appeared with the New
York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,
Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, London Symphony
Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and the Rotterdam
Philharmonic Orchestra.
His solo album, Just Before Sunrise, was released in 2007.
It joins his growing collection of recordings that includes the
title role in Billy Budd with Daniel Harding and the London
Symphony Orchestra, which won the 2010 Grammy Award; Peter Grimes
with Sir Colin Davis and London Symphony Orchestra; Il Barbiere di
Siviglia; Kullervo with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; and
American Anthem. He also starred as Buzz Aldrin in Man on the Moon,
an opera written specifically for television and broadcast on the
BBC in the United Kingdom. The program was awarded the Golden Rose
Award for Opera at the Montreux Festival in Lucerne.
Mr. Gunn was the recipient of the first annual Beverly Sills
Artist Award and was also awarded the Pittsburgh Opera Renaissance
Award. He is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young
Artists Program and was the winner of the 1994 Metropolitan Opera
National Council Competition. Mr. Gunn is also an alumnus of the
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where he is currently a
professor of voice.
Accompanying Mr. Gunn in performance will be his wife,
pianist Julie Gunn. An established vocal coach and song arranger,
she has appeared on many prestigious series and in major venues
including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and
The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Dr. Gunn is a faculty
member of the University of Illinois School of Music, where she
works with both singers and pianists. She has served on the music
staff at the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Program, Wolf Trap
Opera, St. Louis Opera Theatre, Southern Methodist University,
Opera North, Theaterworks, Chicago Opera Theater, and Cincinnati
Opera, and given master classes at universities and young artists's
programs all over the United States, including the Ryan Young
Artists's Program, Houston Grand Opera Studio, and Cincinnati
Conservatory of Music.
Official Sponsors of the Van Cliburn Foundation
are:
American Airlines
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Ann L. & Carol Green Rhodes Charitable Trust, Bank of
America, Trustee
Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust, Bank of America,
Trustee
ExxonMobil
Sid W. Richardson Foundation
The Burnett Foundation
XTO Energy Inc.
Exclusive Print Media Sponsor
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