Roger Chase
Thomas Cooley
Imogen Cooper
Julia Doyle
Elizabeth Futral
Barbara Haffner
Christòpheren Nomura
Sharon Polifrone
Stephen Powell
Lisa Saffer
Mary Stolper
Krisztina Szabó
Collins Trier
Yulia Van Doren
Robert Waters
Lawrence Wiliford
 |
Sanford Sylvan |
From Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and the Passions of J.S. Bach to the operas of John Adams, American baritone Sanford Sylvan displays a remarkable range of vocal expression and communicative power. On the concert stage and in recordings, his radiantly pure, lyric tone, clarity of diction and profound understanding of both words and music speak directly and intimately to his audience.
Deeply committed to the art of the vocal recital, Mr. Sylvan and his long-time collaborator, pianist David Breitman, have performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, in major venues in London, New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Their recitals and recordings have earned exceptional praise from critics and audiences, including three Grammy nominations for Best Classical Vocal Performance.
In the realm of opera, Mr. Sylvan is an acclaimed Mozartean. His portrayals of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte have been seen internationally, including PBS “Great Performances.” He has been much acclaimed for the role of Leporello in Don Giovanni, which he sang for his Glyndebourne Festival debut and with New York City Opera, where he has since become a regular performer in such operas as The Magic Flute, Ariodante, The Rape of Lucretia and most recently Handel’s Semele. Sanford Sylvan is closely associated with the productions of renowned directors: Peter Sellars in works of John Adams, Mozart and Stravinsky; Robert Wilson in Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts as well as Sir Peter Hall and Andrei Serban. He has developed longstanding relationships with major composers who have written for him: John Adams’ Nixon In China (Chou En-Lai), the title role of The Death of Klinghoffer and the song cycle, The Wound Dresser; and numerous works of John Harbison. He was in the US premiere of The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies, the world premiere of Philip Glass’ The Juniper Tree, and sang Sir Michael Tippett’s The Ice Break at the BBC Proms, recorded for Virgin Classics.
In 2004 he sang the role of Wotan in Wagner’s Die Walküre for the first time; a Christopher Alden condensed production with New York’s Eos Orchestra. 2004 also brought the premiere of the film of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer in which he portrays the title role. The film received much acclaim and numerous international awards including a Grammy nomination. This was followed by his debut with Glimmerglass Opera in 2005 singing Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte and in 2008, the Chicago Opera Theater as the Storyteller in John Adams’ The Flowering Tree conducted by the composer.
Sanford Sylvan has performed with many of the leading orchestras of the world including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony. Detroit Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Royal Concertgebouworkest, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, Academy of Ancient Music, Melbourne Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra and the NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation) Symphony. He has collaborated with such conductors as Simon Rattle, James Levine, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Herbert Blomstedt, Christopher Hogwood, Kent Nagano, Helmuth Rilling, Bruno Weil , Roger Norrington, and Edo De Waart, among many others. The Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned Steven Stucky’s American Muse for him; the premiere conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen. Again with Maestro Salonen and the LA Philharmonic, he sang Haydn’s Creation for the first week of subscription concerts in the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in fall 2004. In 2006–7 Mr. Sylvan sang Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron with the Boston Symphony under James Levine and gave the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Disney Hall conducted by Grant Gershon. Highlighting the 2007–8 season are two collaborations with Johns Adams who conducted Mr. Sylvan in The Wound Dresser with the Baltimore Symphony and in The Flowering Tree with the Chicago Opera Theater.
Mr. Sylvan’s festival appearances have included the Edinburgh, Tanglewood, Vienna, Holland, Schleswig-Holstein, Ojai and the Oregon Bach Festival. His longstanding relationships with the Carmel Bach Festival and the New England Bach Festival have brought annual appearances for many years. As a chamber musician he has performed, toured and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music from Marlboro, the Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble, Ensemble Sequentia, Emmanuel Music and the Boston Symphony Chamber Players with whom he recorded John Harbison’s Words from Paterson.
Sanford Sylvan’s recordings are known throughout the world and appear on the Nonesuch, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Musicmasters, Bridge, Koch, Virgin Classics, New World and CRI labels. A Grammy and Emmy Award winner for his role in John Adams’ Nixon In China, he has received Grammy nominations for his recording with David Breitman, L’Horizon Chimérique which features chansons of Gabriel Fauré, Beloved That Pilgrimage, a program of American songs with music by Barber, Copland and Chanler, for John Adams’ The Wound Dresser and in 2009 for Charles Fussell’s Wilde with Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. A recording of Bach with the Sarasa Ensemble was released in 2006. He can bee seen in numerous productions on DVD including John Adams’ Nixon in China and Klinghoffer and Peter Sellars’ productions of Cosi fan tutte and Nozze di Figaro.
Mr. Sylvan is currently on the vocal faculty of McGill University in Montreal.
