Nathan Berg

Nathan Berg
Bass-baritone Nathan Berg
Background information
Born	1972 Spalding, Saskatchewan, Canada
Genres	Classical, Adult Contemporary, Opera, Vocal
Occupation(s)	Opera Singer, Classical Musician
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1993–present
Labels	ATMA Classique, Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, Telarc, Erato
Website	NathanBerg.com

Nathan Berg (born in Spalding, Saskatchewan, Canada) is an internationally recognized "first class" operatic bass-baritone. He is a Juno award winner (2002 JUNO award classical album category – vocal or choral performance), a 2014 Juno Awards nominee and three-time Grammy nominated.

After some studies at the University of Western Ontario and the Maîtrise nationale de Versailles Nathan Berg carried out the majority of his formal musical training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England studying with legendary pedagogue Vera Rózsa. While at the Guildhall School he won prizes in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition,The Royal Overseas League, Peter Pears Competition, Walter Gruner International Lieder Competition and the Guildhall's Gold Medal for Singers joining a list of singers that includes Bryn Terfel and Benjamin Luxon.

The English journalist Bernard Levin once wrote of the young Nathan Berg in The Times; "A Canadian baritone, Nathan Berg by name, with a voice not only powerful and full of meaning, but of such velvet beauty that the comparison cannot be avoided: surely the young Fischer-Dieskau sounded like this.".

Since his debut singing Messiah in Paris in December 1992 Berg has become known for his contributions in Early to Classical music periods in opera and concert. Highlights from his earlier career include performances and recordings with French early music group Les Arts Florissants with whom he recorded often (see recording list below). He also recorded Dvorak's Stabat Mater with the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony which proved to be Shaw's final recording and a German Lieder disc with pianist Julius Drake. His repertoire in recent years has evolved as he has moved into dramatic operatic repertoire.

In 2013 Nathan debuted at Moscow's Bolshoi Opera in the title role of Wagner's Flying Dutchman and returned to New York's Carnegie hall in Haydn's Creation with Roger Norrington. In the same season Mr. Berg performed with the Houston Symphony in Berg's Wozzeck and the Valencia's Palau de les Arts in Mozart's Magic Flute. in 2014 he had his concert debut in the role of Alberich (Wagner's Reingold) with Myung-Whun Chung conducting. In 2015 Mr. Berg made his debut at the Teatro Alla Scala, Milan in the world premier of Battistelli's opera CO2. In 2016 he premiered in the role of Bluebeard in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle directed by Mariusz Treliński (co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York) at the Polish National Opera, Warsaw and the role of Vodnik in Dvořák's Rusalka at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing. In yet another stage debut in 2016 Nathan "made a star turn, from beginning to end, as a grumpy and grizzled Albrecht” in Minnesota Opera's Rheingold. In 2017 Nathan will have his debut at the Salzburg Festival alongside Bartoli in Handel's Ariodante and Rossini's La Donna del Lago.