baritone
Performance Dates
September 21/23 8:00 PM
September 24 3
:00 PM
A two-time Grammy Award Winner in 2006 (including for Best Classical Recording) for his participation in the Naxos recording of Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Panamanian-American baritone Nmon Ford has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Japan. Recently he made his Ravinia Festival debut with the Chicago Symphony conducted by James Conlon, as a last-minute replacement for an indisposed colleague in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, “Babi Yar,” a piece he had previously sung with Maestro Conlon and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Concert Hall.
Mr. Ford sang the world premiere of Dooryard Bloom (written especially for him by Jennifer Higdon) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He sang the same work under Robert Spano in his ASO debut last January, in the “King Celebration” concert at Morehouse College, subsequently broadcast by NPR. Last season he performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony in Orff’s Carmina burana conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and the role of Amfortas (Parsifal) in a Los Angeles Opera production by Robert Wilson conducted by Kent Nagano. He also enjoyed critical success both in his Hamburg Opera debut as Demetrius in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and at Spoleto Festival USA in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Having begun his musical training in piano at age three, Mr. Ford has since appeared with Hamburg Opera, San Francisco Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, and Los Angeles Opera, among others, performing roles in Otello, Tristan und Isolde, Tosca, Parsifal), Aïda, La traviata), Carmen, Samson et Dalila, Don Carlo, Salome, and Lohengrin. He has worked with such distinguished conductors as Salonen, Slatkin, Alsop, and John Adams. His concert appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and he has given recitals throughout the Americas and Europe. He made his New York recital debut with the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s “On Wings of Song” Series at the Kosciuszko Foundation, under whose auspices he has fulfilled artist residencies in New Jersey, Arkansas, and Alabama.
In addition to Naxos, Mr. Ford has recorded for Koch Records (Symphony No. 10, “Amerindia,” by Villa-Lobos) and Three Things Records (The Sweetest Brilliance – Songs of Bolcom and Weinstein). His award recognitions include first place in the Liederkranz Foundation’s Wagner Competition and prizes from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the George London Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern California, where he graduated cum laude and was named Outstanding Vocal Arts Graduate.
Updated: August 31, 2006 |
Nmon Ford 
