Christòpheren Nomura
Biography
Christòpheren Nomura stands at the forefront of his generation of singers. Since making his New York City debut, he has performed throughout the world, hailed as one of classical music’s “rising stars” by the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Nomura has earned a prominent place on the operatic, concert and recital stages, appearing with many of the leading North American orchestras, in wide-ranging repertoire: the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Boston Pops under internationally renowned conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, James Conlon, Sergiu Comissiona, Christof Perick, Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, Ton Koopman, Bruno Weil, Paul Goodman, Jane Glover, Andrew Parrott, and Nicholas McGegan.
He has become a regular guest artist with a number of orchestras including the Pacific Symphony Orchestra under Carl St. Clair, the North Carolina Symphony with Grant Llewellyn and the National Philharmonic. In 2006 he sang the title role in the premiere of Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna for the Pacific Symphony’s inaugural concerts in Segerstrom Concert Hall, reprised and recorded there in 2011. He also gave the premiere of Alva Henderson’s From Greater Light with the Pacific Symphony in 2009. That season brought the first of several appearances with the Oregon Bach Festival in Haydn’s Creation under Helmuth Rilling. His debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah brought a return engagement in the 2012-13 season. 2015-16 brought his first Musical Theater performances in the role of Tatsuo Kimura in Allegiance, which ran on Broadway with George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung, Other recent performances include Bach’s B Minor Mass with Dawn Upshaw at the Cartagena International Festival, his debut with Boston’s Discovery Ensemble in Martin’s Jedermann Monologues and the premiere of Songs of War & Loss by Anthony Plog, a commission for Nomura and the American Brass Quintet which was reprised for his Aspen
Festival debut. Highlights of 2018 include a reprise of Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna with the Pacific Symphony, Handel’s Esther with Music of the Baroque.
A noted Bach and early music specialist, Christòpheren Nomura has been a frequent performer with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Oregon Bach Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, Music of the Baroque, Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Early Music Festival, Boston Baroque and the Berkshire Choral Festival. He has performed with Apollo’s Fire, Tafelmusik and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. His collaborations with such ensembles as the S’Kampa, Boromeo, Brentano and St. Lawrence String Quartets and pianists Martin Katz, Dalton Baldwin, Charles Wadsworth, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and William Bolcom have brought him to the leading American Chamber Music Festivals in Santa Fe, Marlboro, Tanglewood, La Jolla, Spoleto, Music@Menlo and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
In the realm of opera, Mr. Nomura is a noted Mozartean, known for his portrayals of Don
Giovanni, Papageno in The Magic Flute, the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte. He sang Papageno for his debut with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Cosi fan tutte for his Hawaii Opera debut and the Count in Figaro for his Opera Carolina debut. He has likewise had a strong association with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He was Prince Yamadori in the SONY film codirected by Martin Scorsese and Frédéric Mitterand, conducted by James Conlon and appeared in Butterfly for his debuts with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, Dallas Opera and Cincinnati Opera.
Known for his deep commitment to the art of the recital, he has given more than 250 recitals
throughout North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. He has appeared at Lincoln
Center, the “Making Music” series at Carnegie Hall, the Celebrity Series in Boston, Ravinia, the John F. Kennedy Center and the Vancouver Recital Society. He was Artist-In-Residence with San Francisco Performances for four seasons.
Among many other other notable performances, Mr. Nomura made his Broadway debut in 2015 in
Allegiance, the musical with George Takei and Lea Salonga. He was invited to sing Bernstein’s Mass at the Vatican for the “Jubilee Year,” in 2000 performing before an audience of 15,000 in the Salla Nervi, simulcast to some 200,000 people in Vatican Square.
Christòpheren Nomura’s discography includes recordings on the Sony, Dorian, Teldec, London,
Denon, TDK and L’oiseau Lyre labels. His recording of the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 on Telarc was nominated for a Grammy (Best Classical Ensemble Recording). He recorded Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin for Well-Tempered Productions and Never Broken a solo recording of contemporary compositions, for Center Stage Records. All Is Bright with Grant Llewellyn and the Handel and Haydn Society made the Billboard classical charts and was named Musicweb International’s “Recording of the Month.” Gotham Siren, music of Stefania de Kenessey: was released by North/South Recordings in 2015. He appears on the original Broadway cast album of Allegiance released in January 2016 and in the hi-definition video broadcasts in movie theaters throughout the world in 2016-2017.
Under the recommendation of longtime teacher and mentor, Phyllis Curtin, Mr. Nomura held a
teaching position at Boston University for two years (1993-1995) but had to step away to pursue his demanding singing schedule. Since then, however, he has served as Artist-in-Residence for such performance organizations as Young Concert Artists (1990-1995) and San Francisco Performances (1995-2000) giving masterclasses throughout the United States for various high schools, universities (Duke University, University of San Francisco, University of Maryland, University of Southern California, among others) and music festivals (Berkshire Choral Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Cartagena (Colombia) Music Festival, Takefu (Japan) Music Festival, Tucson Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, among others.) One of Mr. Nomura’s many highlights was working with the “Poetry in the Schools” organization to bring classical music to inner city high school students throughout San Francisco for a five-year Reader’s Digest grant through San Francisco Performances. This program gave him the opportunity to return to the same students four times a year for four years to build a program of music combining the poetry of the students with his improvisational vocal contributions. Mr. Nomura has also had a private studio of vocalists who have gone on to sing in such programs as Westminster Choir College, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Boston University and even productions on Broadway.
Mr. Nomura has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions including a four-year
Fulbright Grant to study with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hermann Prey and Gérard Souzay. He was winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions as well as the Naumburg, United States Information Agency Music Ambassadors and the Marilyn Horne Foundation competitions. He holds a Masters degree and Artists Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music.
