“…and nothing but praise for Nathanial Watson. What a wonderful baritone this Montreal singer is!…really flexible bel canto singing and the only one who really troubled to embellish Handel’s notes with the rhetoric of opera.”
An in-demand artist, baritone Nathaniel Watson’s recent seasons have included performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque, Messiah with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, Mendelssohn’s Paulus with the L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and he returned to Alberta for Purcell’s King Arthur with the Calgary Philharmonic. The 2011-2012 season includes a return to the Philharmonia Baroque for Messiah and Bach’s Mass in B minor, the Fauré Requiem for Symphony Nova Scotia, the Coffee Cantata by Bach for the McGill Orchestra and he sang the role of Garibaldo in Mercury Baroque’s production of Rodelinda.
Other notable engagements included Handel’s Solomon and Mozart’s Requiem with Tafelmusik, the St. John Passion with Edmonton’s Richard Eaton Singers and Kitchener’s Grand Philharmonic Choir, the St. Matthew Passion with the Elora Festival Singers, Schubert’s Mass in E-Flat with The Florida Orchestra, and a return engagement with the Calgary Philharmonic in Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai. In January 2008, he made his debut with Musica Angelica in Los Angeles in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, with soprano Christine Brandes and subsequent engagements in 2008 included Mahler’s Symphony No. VIII with Talmi and L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Purcell and Handel for Philharmonia Baroque, Mozart and Haydn with Tafelmusik, a repeat of Fazal’s Oratorio Terezin in Montreal, and a return to Quebec for Carmina Burana, again with the symphony. In 2008-2009, he starred in Semele for Pacific Opera Victoria, and returned to the concert platform for Messiah in Indianapolis, Brahms’ Requiem in Quebec and Newfoundland, Handel’s Saul at Harvard and Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi et Clorinda for Toronto Masque Theatre. Further credits include Purcell’s King Arthur (Tafelmusik), Bach’s Johannes Passion with the Calgary Philharmonic, The Faerie Queen (Montreal Baroque Festival), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois Rivieres. Recent and upcoming engagements include Faure’s Requiem for Symphony Nova Scotia, Messiah and Bach’s Mass in B Minor for McGegan and San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque, Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes for Boston Baroque, King Arthur for Vancouver Early Music, and Bach’s Coffee Cantata for the McGill Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s Johannes Passion in Montreal, Matthäus Passion for the Richard Eaton Signers in Edmonton and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec
Mr. Watson is a versatile artist who has performed successfully in a wide variety of musical styles. He has sung with most of the leading Early Music ensembles of North America as well as more mainstream symphony orchestras, and has some thirty-five operatic roles in his repertoire. Highlights include Der Freischütz with the New York Philharmonic under Sir Colin Davis, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Kurt Masur and in Carnegie Hall with Sir Roger Norrington in the conductor’s debut concert in America. He appeared in the title role in the Boston Early Music Festival production of Cavalli’s Ercole amante in Boston, at Tanglewood, and at the Utrecht Festival in Holland, and was featured in the Salzburg Festival production of Weill’s Mahagonny. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestras of Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Tokyo, Seattle, Santiago de Chile, Montréal, Québec, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.
Mr. Watson has been heard throughout Canada many times on the CBC and on Radio-Canada, performing in recital, and with Tafelmusik, les Violons du Roy, and other ensembles. He appears on a CD of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and a release of Scarlatti’s Agar et Ismaele esiliati with Seattle Baroque. He is also featured in recordings of both of the Bach Passions with Eric Milnes, the St. Matthew Passion with Jeffrey Thomas and the American Bach Soloists and as Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea with Les Boréades de Montréal on the ATMA label. Watson is an American living in Montreal, and a graduate of the Eastman School and the Yale School of Music. He also teaches yoga, and has ridden his bike across the USA twice.
Nathaniel Watson has recorded works by the American composers Samuel Barber, Philip Glass, Andrew Imbrie, and Claudio Spies, as well as premiering works by Mr. Spies, Miriam Gideon, Scott Lindroth, Ronald Perera, Lewis Spratlan, Chan Ka Nin and Earl Kim. He has been featured soloist in Fazal’s Oratorio Terezin, a work that has been performed in six countries, including Israel, and in Carnegie Hall.
American Bach Soloists Bach Choir of Bethlehem Baltimore Symphony Boston Baroque Boston Early Music Festival Boston Symphony Calgary Opera Houston Symphony Kennedy Center, D.C. Mercury Baroque, Houston Montreal Baroque Festival Musica Angelica, Los Angeles Musica Sacra (New York) National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa National Symphony, Washington DC New York Philharmonic Opéra de Québec Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Orchestre symphonique de Québec Philharmonia Baroque, San Francisco
Portland Baroque Richard Eaton Singers Saint Thomas Choir (New York) Salzburg Festival San Francisco Symphony Seattle Symphony Tafelmusik Toronto Masque Theatre Toronto Symphony Vancouver Bach Choir Vancouver Symphony Les Violons du Roy Winnipeg Symphony
“…and nothing but praise for Nathanial Watson. What a wonderful baritone this Montreal singer is!…really flexible bel canto singing and the only one who really troubled to embellish Handel’s notes with the rhetoric of opera.”
The Vancouver Sun – Lloyd Dykk
“Baritone Nathaniel Watson offered an especially resonant mellow quality in his extensive passages.
His solo in the IN THE TAVERN section was handled well and another section near the end required that he sing a kind of baritonal falsetto for effect. In all, he fully substantiated his reputation as an excellent oratorio and opera soloist with some of the world’s major orchestras.”
Morning Call ( Pennsylvania) – Paul Schlueter
“Watson was customarily amazing, his baritone authoritative, quite capable of coloratura in long lines, and heroic in The trumpet shall sound”
