Bio Category: 2627 st matthew solo

ED LYON

Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy and the National Opera Studio. He enjoys an international career in a wide repertoire ranging from the baroque to contemporary music and has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera and concert venues including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Netherlands Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Aix, Edinburgh, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals, Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, BAM New York, the Theater an der Wien and the BBC Proms, with conductors including Antonio Pappano, William Christie, Valery Gerghiev, René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Emmanuelle Haïm, Teodor Currentzis and Christian Curnyn.

Recent and future operatic projects include Lurcanio/Ariodante and Septimius / Theodora as well as roles in Ariadne auf Naxos, Tristan und Isolde, Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser for Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the title role in La Clemenza di Tito for Opera de Rouen, Il Tempo in Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno for Opera di Roma, Peter Quint / The Turn of the Screw, Grimoaldo / Rodelinda and the title role in Orfeo for Garsington Opera, the title role in Candide for Welsh National Opera, Steva/Jenufa for Opera North, the world premiere of Nicolas Lens’ Shell Shock, Tamino and Don Gomez / Henry VIII for La Monnaie Brussels, the central role of Colin/ Denisov’s L’écume des jours for Stuttgart Opera, L’Ormindo for the ROH at the Globe, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni and Lurcanio for Scottish Opera, Freddy/My Fair Lady for the Châtelet in Paris, Jaquino/Fidelio, Septimius and Pane / La Calisto in Madrid, Lurcanio for the Israeli Opera, Don Alonze/L’amant Jaloux and Septimius for Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, Eduardo in Ades’ Exterminating Angel at the Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera House, Jupiter/Semele in Karlsruhe, Belmonte / Die Entführung aus dem Serail for The Grange Festival, King Arthur with Capella Mediterrenea at the Grand Théätre de Génève, Ferdinand / Miranda for Oper Köln, a concert performance of Dido and Acteon with Early Opera Company, acclaimed staged performances of Janacek’s The Diary of One who Disappeared in Brussels, London, Brno, Rome and at the Beijing Festival as well as staged choreographed performances of Tancredi and Clorinda with Shobanah Jeyasingh Dance Company.

Other highlights have included extensive tours with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie including Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York in repertoire including the title roles in Lully’s Atys, Rameau’s Pygmalion and Hippolyte and Charpentier’s Actéon, the title role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Aix Festival with René Jacobs, the title role in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Purcell’s Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne and Pane/La Calisto and Lysander/A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Opera, and Haydn’s L’anima de filisofo with Currentzis.

Ed Lyon’s concert repertoire includes the baroque and nineteenth century oratorios as well as major tenor concert works such as The Dream of Gerontius, Elijah and the Britten tenor repertoire. His many concert engagements have included performances at the BBC Proms (including Bach with The English Concert and Maxwell-Davies with the BBC Singers), City of Birmingham SO (Tom Rakewell in a concert performance of The Rake’s Progress), appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, New London Concert, Musikkollegium Winterthur, The King’s Consort, Easter at King’s, Ludus Baroque, Die Kölner Akademie, Israel Camerata and the English Chamber Orchestra. Recent and forthcoming highlights include performances of Messiah, St John Passion (arias), Elijah, B minor mass at the Royal Festival Hall, Seven Deadly Sins by Sir James Macmillan, performances of the War Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and NDR Hannover as well as with the Cambridge University Music Society, a concert performance of Solomon with the Early Opera Company on stage at Covent Garden, St Matthew Passion (Evangelist) for the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall, the world premiere of The Masque of the Red Death with the SWR Sinfonieorchester, The Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St John Passion (Evangelist) with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performances of Beethoven Symphony No 9 in Europe and the US with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra / Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Elgar’s The Apostles with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and a recital with the Theatre of the Ayre at the Wigmore Hall.

Recordings include Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, The Triumph of Time and Truth with Ludus Baroque, Les Troyens (DVD) with the ROH Covent Garden and Antonio Pappano, L’enfance du Christ with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg / Ivor Bolton. In October 2019 he released his first solo album, The 17th Century Playlist on Delphian records and the recent recording of Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master with the BBC Concert Orchestra on Resonus Classics has received wide critical acclaim.

NATHANIEL SULLIVAN

An “alert and highly musical baritone” (Opera News), Nathaniel Sullivan infuses his work with “impressive strength and precision” (Schmopera), as well as “great eloquence” (ConcertoNet) and “allegiance to both music and words” (ConcertoNet). With a particular devotion to the operatic repertoire of the 21st Century, Nathaniel has performed the roles of the King in the North American premiere of George Benjamin LESSONS IN LOVE AND VIOLENCE at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Reporter in the English-language premiere of Ma Hanrui MI 谜 for Jazz at Lincoln Center, Harvey Milk in the world premiere of Stewart Wallace HARVEY MILK REIMAGINED for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Opera Parallèle (covered), and Manfred Lewin in Jake Heggie TWO REMAIN (OUT OF DARKNESS) for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Nathaniel also performed the role of Jokanaan in Heartbeat Opera’s acclaimed production of SALOME, for which Nathaniel was regarded as “somber and appropriately a bit deranged” (New York Times), “mellifluous” (Classical Voice North America), and “a magnificent actor” (Bachtrack). Nathaniel reprised the role of Jokanaan for West Bay Opera in Spring of 2026. Upcoming engagements include The Mark in Experiments in Opera’s production of CONSTANCE: A CONFESSION; Marc-Andrew Bougie’s Stabat Mater, Terre Johnson Te Deum, and Rick Nichols Requiem for Patriots for Mid-America Productions at Carnegie Hall; and reprising the role of the King in LESSONS IN LOVE AND VIOLENCE with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner.

In addition to music theatre, Nathaniel engages in many oratorio and concert performances around the USA, including his Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2018, performing Gerald Finzi Requiem da camera “with great eloquence” (ConcertoNet) alongside the NY Choral Society. He joined the Blanche Moyse Chorale & Memorial Orchestra in performances of J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor—bringing “natural expressiveness and warmth” to the “Et in Spiritum Sanctum” (Rutland Herald)—as well as numerous concerts featuring the cantatas of Bach—singing with a “warm lyricism” and “expressive presence” (Rutland Herald). Other orchestral highlights include the bass soloist and Christus in J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion with Abendmusik at First-Plymouth Church, the premiere of an orchestral arrangement of David von Kampen’s award-winning song cycle Under the Silver and Home Again with Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, the bass solo in Handel Messiah with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Frank Martin Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann with The Orchestra Now, and HK Gruber Frankenstein!! with Maestro James Bagwell. For this performance, Nathaniel was regarded as “ebullient” and “a marvelous actor” (ConcertoNet), putting on “a virtuoso show in the part” (The Berkshire Eagle).

Nathaniel also takes great interest in the art song and chamber repertoires, with a particular focus on recently composed works. Notable chamber music premieres include Matthew Greenbaum Crossing Brooklyn Ferry with the acclaimed Momenta Quartet, Oliver Leith Dream Horse with conductor Thomas Adès, two works by Joshua Groffman and Lawrence Kramer with the Contemporaneous ensemble at Carnegie Hall, and Songs of the Earth with members of the Albany Symphony. As an avid recitalist, Nathaniel has appeared with presenters across the Americas, including with the Yellow Barn Summer Festival (Vermont), the Brooklyn Art Song Society (New York), Chamber Music Quad Cities (Iowa), the Riverview Chamber Series (New York), Downtown Music at Grace (White Plains), and Piano Lunaire (Toronto).

Nathaniel was one of seven winners of the 2023 Astral Artists National Competition. Additional awards and recognitions include the Grace B. Jackson Prize for exceptional service at the Tanglewood Music Center (2019), Third Place in the Washington International Competition (2023), Orpheus Vocal Competition (2019), the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition (2019) and First Place in the NATS National Musical Theatre Auditions (2018). He holds degrees in vocal performance from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (BM), the Bard College Conservatory of Music (MM), and has been a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center (2018-19) and at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute (2023), a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2022), and a participant in the Yellow Barn Summer Festival (2025-26). During the COVID-19 shutdown, Nathaniel conceived and self-produced the Pandemigram Project, raising over $7,500 for 43 different charitable organizations.

Nathaniel is currently based in New York City. Connect with him at nathanielsullivan.com.

“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)