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Nmon FORD |
A two-time 2006 Grammy Award Winner
(including Best Classical Recording) for his participation in Naxos' recording
of Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Panamanian-American
baritone Nmon Ford most recently performed Mendelssohn's Elijah at Washington
National Cathedral, with the Cathedral Choral Society conducted by J.
Reilly Lewis.
Earlier this season he sang both Scarpia (Tosca) and the title role in
a new production of Billy Budd with Hamburg Opera, as well as Brahms'
Requiem with the Phoenix Symphony conducted by Michael Christie. With
the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, he sang Beethoven's 9th
Symphony and Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon's Dooryard Bloom (written for
Mr. Ford), and recorded Dooryard Bloom with the ASO and Maestro Spano
for Telarc.
He made his Ravinia Festival debut with James Conlon conducting the Chicago
Symphony in Shostakovich's Symphony #13 (Babi Yar), which he also performed
with Maestro Conlon and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Concert
Hall.
Mr. Ford's recent seasons have included Orff's Carmina Burana with the
Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and being
responsible for the role of Amfortas (Parsifal) with Los Angeles Opera,
in a production by Robert Wilson starring Plácido Domingo and conducted
by Kent Nagano.
He enjoyed critical success both in his Hamburg Opera debut as Demetrius
in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream conducted by Simone Young, and
at Spoleto Festival USA as the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni, in
a production by Günter Krämer conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
Having begun his musical training in piano at age three, Mr. Ford has
since appeared with Hamburg Opera, San Francisco Opera, Spoleto Festival
USA, Los Angeles Opera, Utah Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Memphis, Virginia
Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City in roles such as Iago (Otello),
Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Scarpia (Tosca), Amfortas (Parsifal), Amonasro
(Aïda), Germont (La traviata), Escamillo (Carmen), Don Giovanni (Don
Giovanni), and the High Priest (Samson et Dalila). Other roles include
Posa (Don Carlo), Jochanaan (Salome), and Telramund (Lohengrin).
Mr. Ford has worked with conductors James Conlon, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard
Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Simone Young, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, John
Adams, Robert Spano and Marin Alsop. His concert appearances include the
New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony,
the Atlanta Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the National Symphony,
and the 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 the Foundation's auspices he has fulfilled artist's
residencies with the New Jersey Symphony, the University of Arkansas at
Little Rock, and the Huntsville Chamber Music Guild in Alabama.
Future engagements for Mr. Ford encompass the title role in Louis Gruenberg's
The Emperor Jones at Teatro delle Muse (Ancona, Italy) conducted by Bruno
Bartoletti, The Traveler (Death in Venice) in a new production for Hamburg
Opera conducted by Simone Young, a debut with Cincinnati Opera as Riolobo
in Francesca Zambello's production of Florencia en el Amazonas, and a
return to Virginia Opera as Di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore.
In addition to his Grammy-winning Naxos release, Mr. Ford has recorded
for Telarc (Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music), Koch International (Villa-Lobos'
Symphony #10, "Amerindia"), and Three Things Records (The Sweetest
Brilliance--Songs of Bolcom and Weinstein). His award recognitions include
First Place in the Wagner Division of the Liederkranz Foundation of New
York Competition, as well as 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, for both degrees.