| Nathaniel Watson |
Introduction “…and nothing but praise for Nathanial Watson. What a wonderful baritone this Montreal singer is!…really flexible bel canto singing and the only one who really troubled to embellish Handel’s notes with the rhetoric of opera.” The Vancouver Sun – Lloyd Dykk BiographyAn in demand artist, baritone Nathaniel Watson’s most recent seasons have included performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque, Messiah with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, Mendelssohn’s Paulus with the L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and he returned to Alberta for Purcell’s King Arthur with the Calgary Philharmonic. Other notable engagements included Handel’s Solomon and Mozart’s Requiem with Tafelmusik, the St. John Passion with Edmonton’s Richard Eaton Singers and Kitchener’s Grand Philharmonic Choir, the St. Matthew Passion with the Elora Festival Singers, Schubert’s Mass in E-Flat with The Florida Orchestra, and a return engagement with the Calgary Philharmonic in Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai. In January 2008, he made his debut with Musica Angelica in Los Angeles in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, with soprano Christine Brandes and subsequent engagements in 2008 included Mahler’s Symphony No. VIII with Talmi and L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Purcell and Handel for Philharmonia Baroque, Mozart and Haydn with Tafelmusik, a repeat of Fazal’s Oratorio Terezin in Montreal, and a return to Quebec for Carmina Burana, again with the symphony. In 2008-2009, he starred in Semele for Pacific Opera Victoria, and returned to the concert platform for Messiah in Indianapolis, Brahms’ Requiem in Quebec and Newfoundland, Handel’s Saul at Harvard and Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi et Clorinda for Toronto Masque Theatre. Recent engagements include Purcell’s King Arthur (Tafelmusik), Bach’s Johannes Passion with the Calgary Philharmonic, The Faerie Queen (Montreal Baroque Festival), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois Rivieres. In 2010-2011, he looks forward to Bach’s Johannes Passion in Montreal, Matthäus Passion for the Richard Eaton Signers in Edmonton, Messiah and Bach’s Mass in B Minor for McGegan and San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec Mr. Watson is a versatile artist who has performed successfully in a wide variety of musical styles. He has sung with most of the leading Early Music ensembles of North America as well as more mainstream symphony orchestras, and has some thirty-five operatic roles in his repertoire. Highlights include Der Freischütz with the New York Philharmonic under Sir Colin Davis, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Kurt Masur and in Carnegie Hall with Sir Roger Norrington in the conductor’s debut concert in America. He appeared in the title role in the Boston Early Music Festival production of Cavalli’s Ercole amante in Boston, at Tanglewood, and at the Utrecht Festival in Holland, and was featured in the Salzburg Festival production of Weill’s Mahagonny. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestras of Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Tokyo, Seattle, Santiago de Chile, Montréal, Québec, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. Mr. Watson has been heard throughout Canada many times on the CBC and on Radio-Canada, performing in recital, and with Tafelmusik, les Violons du Roy, and other ensembles. He appears on a CD of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and a release of Scarlatti’s Agar et Ismaele esiliati with Seattle Baroque. He is also featured in recordings of both of the Bach Passions with Eric Milnes, the St. Matthew Passion with Jeffrey Thomas and the American Bach Soloists and as Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea with Les Boréades de Montréal on the ATMA label. Watson is an American living in Montreal, and a graduate of the Eastman School and the Yale School of Music. He also teaches yoga, and has ridden his bike across the USA twice. Nathaniel Watson has recorded works by the American composers Samuel Barber, Philip Glass, Andrew Imbrie, and Claudio Spies, as well as premiering works by Mr. Spies, Miriam Gideon, Scott Lindroth, Ronald Perera, Lewis Spratlan, Chan Ka Nin and Earl Kim. He has been featured soloist in Fazal’s Oratorio Terezin, a recent work that has been performed in six countries, including Israel, and in Carnegie Hall. August 2010 Full RepertoireCONCERT
20th Century
OPERATIC
Engaged By
Reviews“…and nothing but praise for Nathanial Watson. What a wonderful baritone this Montreal singer is!…really flexible bel canto singing and the only one who really troubled to embellish Handel’s notes with the rhetoric of opera.” The Vancouver Sun – Lloyd Dykk
“Baritone Nathaniel Watson offered an especially resonant mellow quality in his extensive passages. His solo in the IN THE TAVERN section was handled well and another section near the end required that he sing a kind of baritonal falsetto for effect. In all, he fully substantiated his reputation as an excellent oratorio and opera soloist with some of the world’s major orchestras.” Morning Call ( Pennsylvania) – Paul Schlueter
“Watson was customarily amazing, his baritone authoritative, quite capable of coloratura in long lines, and heroic in The trumpet shall sound” The Vancouver Sun – Lloyd Dykk
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