Hi! My name is Nicholas Phan, and I am seeking your support of my current recording project, Gods & Monsters.
For our fourth recording project, my longtime pianist colleague, Myra Huang, and I are turning to the incredibly rich German Lieder repertoire. Our program, Gods & Monsters, explores many German romantic Lieder that touch on the themes of myths, legends and fairy tales. We have devised a program of incredible songs by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Hugo Wolf and Gustav Mahler, in which these composers retell myths and legends about various gods, monsters, witches, kings, knights and all sorts of other fantastical creatures.
As a child, one of the first books I remember falling in love with was a copy of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. I’ve been fascinated with tales of the legendary and fantastic ever since. One of the most astounding aspects of these powerful musical miniatures is the incredible amount of color and atmosphere they lend to these stories, so that each song becomes an epic tale of almost cinematic proportions. As more and more children have entered our lives, most notably Myra's two daughters and my niece, story-telling has become a greater part of our personal lives, leading us to this fun program that is so full of musical imagination.
In addition to recording these works, Myra and I will perform this program in recitals around the US, including our recital debut at London's renowned Wigmore Hall in February 2017.
Myra and I recorded this album on August 8 & 9, 2016 at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, CA. Recital partners for the past 15 years, we have performed together all over the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Atlanta's Spivey Hall, University of Chicago, Boston's Celebrity Series, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and Oberlin Conservatory. You can catch a glimpse of some of what we have recorded in the video above, filmed during our sessions up at Skywalker!
This fourth album will be released in January of 2017 on Avie Records, who also released my first three albums, Winter Words , Still Falls the Rain and A Painted Tale in 2011, 2012, & 2015 respectively. Avie's unique business model is based on artist ownership. What I love about this model is that it allows for the utmost freedom artistically. Avie's model of artist ownership also places the responsibility for finding funding for recording projects on the artists, which is the reason for my appeal to you!
The funds raised from this campaign will be used to cover the costs of album production, post-production, artwork design, CD manufacturing, and marketing. The amazing thing about recording versus live performance is that it enables a musician to reach the widest audience possible. Any contribution you make will allow us to bring this phenomenally beautiful and powerful music to the world, and help touch people's hearts the way it has so moved ours.
Thank you so much in advance for your support: we can't wait to share this fantastic music with you!
Nicholas Phan Recording Projects is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a nonprofit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Nicholas Phan Recording Projects must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. Any contribution above the value of the goods and services received by the donor is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
