Nicholas Isherwood

Nicholas Isherwood

Nicholas Isherwood is one of the leading singers of early music and contemporary music in the world today.  He has worked with conductors such as Joel Cohen, William Christie, Peter Eötvös, Paul McCreesh, Nicholas McGegan, Kent Nagano, Zubin Mehta and Arturo Tamayo and composers Sylvano Bussotti, Elliott Carter, George Crumb, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Olivier Messiaen, Giacinto Scelsi, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis in the most prestigious venues in Europe (La Scala, Covent Garden, the Théatre des Champs Elysées, Salzburg Festival, Venice Biennale, Concertgebouw, Deutsche Oper, Teatro dell,Opera di Roma….) as well as in China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and the United States. He often performs with jazz legend Steve Lacy.  Some highlights of his operatic career include the role of  “Plutone” in Monteverdi’s Il Ballo delle Ingrate at the Angers Opera and “Antinoo” in Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria with Boston Baroque, “Claudio” in Händel’s Agrippina at the festivals in Göttingen and Halle and for Harmonia Mundi records, the role of “Satiro” in Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo at the Châtelet and for a European tour and Harmonia Mundi records,  “Frère Léon” in Saint François d’Assise in the last Messiaen supervised production, performed at the Queen Elisabeth Hall and live BBC television for the composer’s 80th birthday, the role of “Death” in Victor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis in productions at Helmuth Rilling’s Bach Akademie in Stuttgart and with Paul Mefano at the Pompidou Centre and on tour,  the title role in Pascal Dusapin’s Roméo et Juliette at the Avignon Festival and for a European Tour, the title role in Toshio Hosokawa’s Vision of Lear for the Munich Biennale and in Japan, the role of  “Il Testimone” in the world premiere of Sylvano Bussotti’s Tieste at the Rome Opera, and the role of “Lucifer” in the world premieres of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s operas Montag, Dienstag, and Freitag from Licht at La Scala and the Leipzig Opera and in Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden.  Nicholas Isherwood is a member of the Boston Camerata.  He has recorded numerous CDs for labels such as Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Mode and Stockhausen Verlag.  Isherwood often teaches master classes and gives lectures (Paris Conservatoire, Salzburg Mozarteum, Stanford…) and is professor of singing at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.