Nathan Gunn (United States)

Baritone — Figaro

HGO Appearances: Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (2001), Ottone in The Coronation of Poppea (2006), created the role of Alec Harvey in André Previn’s Brief Encounter (2009)

About the Artist: Gunn has appeared with the Metropolitan, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Cincinnatti, and Seattle operas. Additionally, he has performed at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne and Ravinia festivals, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real in Madrid, and New York’s Café Carlyle, among others. He has performed title roles in Billy Budd, Eugene Onegin, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Hamlet. Other roles include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, and Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Gunn created the roles of Paul in Daron Hagen’s Amelia (Seattle Opera), Father Delura in Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons (Glyndebourne Opera Festival), and Clyde Griffiths in Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy (the Metropolitan Opera). He has appeared with the New York and Rotterdam philharmonics, San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, London, and Pittsburgh. He has worked with conductors Sir Colin Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Mark Wigglesworth, among others. He received the first annual Beverly Sills Artist Award, and the Pittsburgh Opera Renaissance Award. An alumnus of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, he is also an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Program and winner of the 1994 Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition. Gunn is slated to perform Ravenal in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Show Boat, the title role in Billy Budd at the Metropolitan Opera, and make his return to San Francisco in The Magic Flute.