Nicholas Phan

Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” American tenor Nicholas Phan is increasingly recognised as an artist of distinction. An artist with an incredibly diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music, he performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. Also an avid recitalist, 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.

A celebrated recording artist, Phan’s most recent album, A Change Is Gonna Come, was released to critical acclaim in May 2024. His albums, Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly, Clairières and Gods and Monsters, were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album in 2022, 2020 and 2017 respectively - 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. 

Sought after as a curator and programmer, in addition to his work as artistic director of CAIC, Phan has also created programmes for broadcast on WFMT and WQXR, and served as guest curator for projects with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Merola Opera, and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence from 2014-18. Phan’s programmes often examine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresented voices from history, and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day.