An "alert and highly musical baritone,” (Opera News) Nathaniel Sullivan is a prizewinner of the 2023 Astral Artists National Competition and was awarded the Grace B. Jackson Prize for exceptional service at Tanglewood in 2019. He is joined by pianist Saffron Chung for a program which includes the Dichterliebe song cycle of Robert Schumann, andThree Divine Hymns of Henry Purcell.
A Downtown Music debut.
This concert is made possible, in part, with the generous support of Sabin and Beverley Streeter.
Nathaniel Sullivan is a musician, theatre artist, and writer devoted to holding space for reflection, understanding, and creative projects that champion change. An "alert and highly musical baritone" (Opera News), Nathaniel infuses his work with "impressive strength and precision" (Schmopera), as well as “great eloquence” and "allegiance to both music and words" (ConcertoNet). Upcoming highlights: orchestral premiere of David von Kampen's Under the Silver and Home Again with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra (September 2024); Dichterliebe recital tour with pianist Saffron Chung (October-November 2024); Messiah with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra (December 2024); Escamillo in Carmen in concert with the West Virginia Symphony (March 2025); recital with Chamber Music Quad Cities (March 2025). Other recent highlights: the role of The King in the North American premiere of George Benjamin's Lessons in Love and Violence at Tanglewood; soloist and Jesus in the St. John Passion with Abendmusik; premiering two works for baritone and chamber ensemble with Contemporaneous at Carnegie Hall; covering the role of Harvey Milk in the world premiere of Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk Reimagined at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Nathaniel was one of seven winners of the Astral Artists National Competition (2023) and has been awarded the Grace B. Jackson Prize for exceptional service at Tanglewood (2019), Third Place in the Washington International Competition (2023), Third Place in the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition (2019), Third Place in the Orpheus Vocal Competition (2019), and First Place in the NATS National Musical Theatre Competition (2018). He received his BM from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (2014) and his MM from the Bard College Conservatory of Music (2017). Connect with Nathaniel at nathanielsullivan.com.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Saffron Y. Chung now considers New York City her home. She chose her path in music early at Oberlin College, where she was the first recipient of a double major in Piano Performance and Vocal Accompanying. She also has Masters of Music in Accompanying from University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. For many years, Saffron has worked as a vocal coach and accompanist, preparing hundreds of singers of all levels, pre-college to professionals, for auditions, concerts, opera performances and recitals. Aside from the standard classical operatic and art song repertoire, she specializes in contemporary opera. She has served as an assistant conductor of opera companies such as Chautauqua Opera, El Paso Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Madison Opera, New York City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Syracuse Opera, Utah Festival Opera Company, and Wichita Grand Opera, under the baton of Harry Bickett, Richard Buckley, Christian Capocaccia, Barbara Day-Turner, Victor De Renzi, John DeMain, Raymond Harvey, Kynan Johns, Eugene Kohn, David Larsen, Robert Lyall, Stewart Robertson, Louis Salemno, Steven Sloane, Bob Tweeten, and Steven White. She is currently the head opera coach at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.