NICHOLAS ISHERWOOD

spoken word / musique concrete / performative art / sound installation / modern composition / minimalism / electroacoustic / sound art / experimental / contemporary art

Nicholas Isherwood’s music has been influenced by the great composers he has had the privilege to work with as a singer. His music has been performed at venues such as the Gewandthaus in Leipzig, the Goethe Institut in Paris, the CNRS, Yehudi Menuhin’s Flâneries Musicales in Reims, the Perpignan Festival, the SMIO in Orléans, the Théatre Dunois, Dôme IMAX and Bibliothèque Historique  in Paris, Freiburg, the MDR in Halle, the SWR, Vanderbilt University, the University of Oregon, Kaoshung, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Togamura, Japan. He has received commissions from the DRAC du centre, Art Zoyd and the CNAT in Reims. Isherwood’s music has been performed by VOXNOVA, Stefano Cardi, Michel Amoric, Magnus Andersson, Isabel Soccoja, Christophe De Villeneuve and the soloists of the MDR children’s choir. His music has been broadcast by France Musique, the MDR and the SWR. He is a member of the SACD. 

Nicholas Isherwood is one of the leading singers of early music and contemporary music in the world today. He has worked with Joel Cohen, William Christie, Peter Eötvös, Paul McCreesh, Nicholas McGegan, Kent Nagano, Zubin Mehta and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky as well as composers Sylvano Bussotti, Elliott Carter, George Crumb, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Olivier Messiaen, Giacinto Scelsi, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis in prestigious venues around the world (La Scala, Covent Garden, the Théatre des Champs Elysées, Salzburg Festival, Concertgebouw, Berlin Staatsoper, Vienna Konzerthaus, Tanglewood). Directors he has worked with include Yuri Lyubimov, Tadashi Suzuki, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Sylvano Bussotti, Dmitri Bertmann, Michael Hampe, Pierre Audi and La Fura dels Baus.  Operatic roles include "Antinoo" in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria with Boston Baroque, “Plutone” in Monteverdi’s Il Ballo delle Ingrate at the Angers Opera, "Claudio" in Händel’s Agrippina with Nicholas McGegan, "Satiro" in Rossi’s Orfeo and “Pan” in Marais’ Alcione with Les Arts Florissants, "Joas" in Porpora's Il Gedeone with Martin Haselböck, "Frère Léon" in Saint François d’Assise in the last composer supervised production, "Der Tod" in productions of Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis with the Bach Akademie in Stuttgart, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and 2e2m, “Roméo” in Dusapin’s Roméo et Juliette at the Avignon Festival, Montpelier Opera and on tour, “Lear” in Hosokawa’s Vision of Lear for the Munich Biennale, the title role in Mefano's Micromégas , "Bartolo" in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and the title role in The Mikado at the Eugene Opera,  “Truffaldino” in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Long Beach Opera, “Giovanni Falcone” in Nicola Sani’s Il Tempo Sospeso di Volo at the Teatro Cavallerizza in Regio Emilia, the "Hotel Manager" in Adès Powder her Face in Lugo and at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, "Astrodamors" in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre with Zoltan Pesko and La Fura dels Baus and "Il Testimone" in Bussotti's Tieste, the title role in Luca Lombardi's Il Re Nudo, all at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, “General Howard” in Zender’s Chief Joseph, the 7 Attempted Escapes from Silence and Kagel’s Der Tribun, all at the Staatsoper in Berlin, several roles in Zender’s Don Quixote at the Komische Oper Berlin and "Lucifer" in the world premieres of Stockhausen’s Montag, Dienstag, and Freitag aus Licht at La Scala and the Leipzig Opera and in Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden. He has improvised with Steve Lacy, Joëlle Léandre, Sainkho Namtchilak and David Moss,recorded over 50 cd’s and appeared in three films.