Nathan Gunn

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Nathan on Good Morning America July 31st
Nathan will give a sneak peek at the title song of his new album, Just before Sunrise, on Good Morning America on ABC on July 31st. Stay tuned for more updates and news! In case you missed it you can download and view his performance here.
Kristin Chenoweth Joins Nathan Gunn On His New Album!
Nathan will be releasing his new disc with Sony/BMG, Just before Sunrise, August 7th. Kristin Chenoweth joins him for John Bucchino's "It Feels Like Home." Stay Tuned for more details!
Just Before Sunrise in Stores August 7th
Available for purchase at the Sony Music Store Nathan Gunn's first album with Sony/BMG, Just Before Sunrise, will be available August 7th. Fans are eagerly awaiting the release of Just Before Sunrise, a beautiful group of songs by America's best songwriters for your important quiet times. As Gunn reveals in the recording’s liner notes, it is this “in-between time” before sunrise that he sought to capture musically. The songs included here are also a direct expression of his own personality-a kind of musical autobiography. “I think you have to have a certain amount of experience behind you before you go off in this direction,” says Gunn. “This is like the kind of recording that singers made in the 1920s-lovely, well-crafted songs written by composers who were still alive. I wanted songs you could listen to in the context of modern life-songs that you could listen to while you’re commuting to work and that you could finish listening to at the end of the day, while you’re lying in bed.” Songs, in other words, for life’s quietest moments. A broad spectrum of gifted contemporary composers is represented on Just Before Sunrise. In addition to the title song, Gunn has selected two other works by his close friend Gene Scheer: “Say Anything,” and “Jam Tart,” a gently comic number based on one of Gunn’s favorite poems by W.H. Auden. Ben Moore, a rising composer whose works have also been championed by Deborah Voigt and Susan Graham, is represented on Just Before Sunrise with three songs: “In the Dark Pine Wood” and “This Heart That Flutters” (both to texts by James Joyce) and “When You are Old and Gray” (set to the classic poem by W.B. Yeats). Gunn has long been an admirer of Tom Waits, whose jazz-and-blues inflected music defies easy categorization. Here Gunn lends his sensitive touch to two Waits numbers: the jaunty “Innocent When You Dream” and the moving ballad “The Briar and the Rose,” from The Black Rider, Waits’ avant-garde riff on Weber’s Der Freischütz. Gunn is also drawn to the music of John Bucchino, whose songs have become widely known through the performances of pop stars such as Barbara Cook, Andrea Marcovicci, and Patti LuPone. Just Before Sunrise gives Gunn a chance to do his own, original take on Bucchino’s best-known song, “It Feels Like Home.” He is joined on this selection by one of Broadway’s biggest stars, Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, who has won acclaim for her performances of Bucchino’s songs. “It Feels Like Home” is usually performed as a melancholy ballad, but Gunn and Chenoweth have given it a gently upbeat flavor. “We wanted it to have a feeling of liberation,” says Gunn. “It’s like when you move to New York, and everyone says, ‘Don’t do it.’ You get a crummy apartment with no furniture in a bad neighborhood-but somehow, to you, it feels right.” Among the other selections on Just Before Sunrise are Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes,” Joe Thalken’s “Time” and “I Have Loved Hours at Sea,” Sting’s “Secret Marriage,” which features Eldar, the twenty-year-old jazz piano sensation (a SONY BMG Masterworks exclusive artist) who has invited comparisons with jazz legends as Art Tatum. Also included is Jimmy Van Heusen’s quirky World War II classic, “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” which Gunn has included as a tribute to his wife and frequent collaborator, pianist Julie Jordan.

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Grant Park Festival
Nathan returns to sing songs of peace by Vaughan Williams and John Adams, dedicated to the United States Armed Forces.
August 17th, 2007

Grant Park Music Festival
Nathan and the orchestra dedicate this season closer to the United States Armed Forces.
August 18th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
September 25th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
September 29th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
see Sept. 25th
October 3rd, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
October 6th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
October 11th, 2007

Billy Budd Concert, London
Nathan brings his signature role to the Barbican in London.
December 7th, 2007

Billy Budd Concert, London
Nathan brings his signature role to the Barbican in London.
December 9th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
December 12th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
see Sept. 25th
December 15th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
December 20th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
December 27th, 2007

Romeo et Juliette, Metropolitan Opera
Nathan and an all star cast tell Shakespeare's timeless tale.
December 31st, 2007

What are the most profound moments in life? The quiet ones, believes Nathan Gunn, one of today¹s most acclaimed baritones. Now, Gunn has made that philosophy the inspiration for his solo CD, Just Before Sunrise, the first Sony Classical release under his new exclusive contract with SONY BMG Masterworks. The CD release date is August 7, 2007.

"Nathan Gunn is an incomparable artist with a superb baritone voice and a world-class career, tremendous charisma and appeal, and a great desire to reach out to the broadest possible audience with his art," Alex Miller, General Manger and Senior Vice President of Masterworks, said in making the announcement about the signing. "Many of the greatest voices in the history of recording have made Masterworks their home, and I am thrilled to welcome Nathan into their company."

For several years, Gunn has won acclaim for a wide range of opera roles, including Britten¹s Billy Budd, Papageno in Mozart¹s Die Zauberflöte, and Clyde Griffiths, which he sang in the 2005 world premiere of Tobias Picker¹s An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera. Just Before Sunrise shines a light on another, seldom heard facet of this singer¹s talents.

Just Before Sunrise is a collection of romantic, intimately scaled songs with which Gunn finds a deep personal connection. Further illuminated by the brilliant arrangements and orchestrations of David Cullen, Andrew Lloyd Webber¹s long-time orchestrator, these quietly intense songs offer a musical reflection of the soul and spirit of one of our finest contemporary singers.

The key to the collection can be found in the title cut by Gene Scheer, a gifted composer ("American Anthem") and librettist (Therese Raquin, An American Tragedy): "Just before the sunrise, there¹s a moment in time when the quiet you feel allows you to remember everything that you dreamed of, everything that feels true. It¹s then that I think of you."

As Gunn reveals in the recording¹s liner notes, it is this "in-between time" before sunrise that he sought to capture musically. The songs included here are also a direct expression of his own personality‹a kind of musical autobiography. "I think you have to have a certain amount of experience behind you before you go off in this direction," says Gunn. "This is like the kind of recording that singers made in the 1920s‹lovely, well-crafted songs written by composers who were still alive. I wanted songs you could listen to in the context of modern life‹songs that you could listen to while you¹re commuting to work and that you could finish listening toat the end of the day, while you¹re lying in bed." Songs, in other words, for life¹s quietest moments.

A broad spectrum of gifted contemporary composers is represented on Just Before Sunrise. In addition to the title song, Gunn has selected two other works by his close friend Gene Scheer: "Say Anything," and "Jam Tart," a gently comic number based on one of Gunn¹s favorite poems by W.H. Auden. "Jam Tart" features the twenty-year-old jazz piano sensation Eldar (a SONY BMG Masterworks exclusive artist) who has invited comparisons with jazz legends as Art Tatum.

Ben Moore, a rising composer whose works have also been championed by Deborah Voigt and Susan Graham, is represented on Just Before Sunrise with three songs: "In the Dark Pine Wood" and "This Heart That Flutters" (both to texts by James Joyce) and "When You are Old and Gray" (set to the classic poem by W.B. Yeats).

Gunn has long been an admirer of Tom Waits, whose jazz-and-blues inflected music defies easy categorization. Here Gunn lends his sensitive touch to two Waits numbers: the jaunty "Innocent When You Dream" and the moving ballad "The Briar and the Rose," from The Black Rider, Waits¹ avant-garde riff on Weber¹s Der Freischütz.

Gunn is also drawn to the music of John Bucchino, whose songs have become widely known through the performances of pop stars such as Barbara Cook, Andrea Marcovicci, and Patti LuPone. Just Before Sunrise gives Gunn a chance to do his own, original take on Bucchino¹s best-known song, "It Feels Like Home." He is joined on this selection by one of Broadway¹s biggest stars, Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, who has won acclaim for her performances of Bucchino¹s songs.

"It Feels Like Home" is usually performed as a melancholy ballad, but Gunn and Chenoweth have given it a gently upbeat flavor. "We wanted it to have a feeling of liberation," says Gunn. "It¹s like when you move to New York, and everyone says, ŒDon¹t do it.¹ You get a crummy apartment with no furniture in a bad neighborhood‹but somehow, to you, it feels right."

Among the other selections on Just Before Sunrise are Billy Joel¹s "And So It Goes" and Joe Thalken¹s "Time" and "I Have Loved Hours at Sea." Also included is Sting¹s "Secret Marriage," which also features Eldar, and Jimmy Van Heusen¹s quirky World War II classic, "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," which Gunn has included as a tribute to his wife and frequent collaborator, pianist Julie Jordan.

"The idea is floating around a lot now that the trained performing arts are something other than Œclassical.¹ ŒClassical,¹ after all, refers to a period of time. This is a collection of well-crafted contemporary songs that meant something to me, today."

RCA Red Seal,Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi. Masterworks Broadway and Masterworks Jazz are labels of Sony BMG Masterworks. For e-mail updates and information regarding RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, Masterworks Broadway and Masterworks Jazz artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit www.sonybmgmasterworks.com.

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