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The German-born tenor and music educator, Nils Neubert, holds degrees from The Juilliard School (Bachelor of Music degree in Voice), Teachers College, Columbia University (Master of arts degree in Music and Music Education), and a doctorate (DMA degree in Music Performance) from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (2012), and has been the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, including a Risë Stevens Foundation Award, and a Lucrezia Bori Grant. Additional studies have included an apprenticeship at Bel Canto at Caramoor, masterclasses at the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and language studies at the Scuola Leonardo Da Vinci in Florence, Italy. He is an alumnus of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Massachusetts, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He was a First Prize winner in the 2010 Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition, and a winner in the 2009 Friday Woodmere Competition. He was also a grant recipient in the 2010 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition and has been a finalist in the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition, the Oratorio Society of New York’s Lyndon Woodside Solo Competition, and the American Prize.
Nils Neubert maintains active performing and teaching careers in the USA and abroad. In addition to having sung more than eighty of J.S. Bach’s cantatas, he is also in demand as a soloist in J.S. Bach’s large-scale oratorios, most recently as the Evangelist in the St. John Passion (BWV 245) (Portland Baroque Orchestra), the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) (Barnard-Columbia Chorus), and the Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) (Oratorio Society of the Hamptons; Queens College Choral Society), as well as tenor soloist in the St. John Passion (BWV 245) (Sonoma Bach), Easter Oratorio (BWV 249) (Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity), Magnificat (BWV 243) (Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity; Fairfield County Chorale; Choral Society of the Hamptons), and the B Minor Mass (BWV 232) (Portland Baroque Orchestra; Voices of Ascension; Berkshire Choral Festival; Master Singers of Westchester.) He has also been heard as a soloist in the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Magnificat), Dietrich Buxtehude (Membra Jesu Nostri), George Frideric Handel (The Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus), Haydn (The Creation, The Seasons, Theresienmesse, Cäcilienmesse, Nelsonmesse), Michael Haydn (Requiem), Felix Mendelssohn (Elijah, Magnificat, Psalm 95), Monteverdi (Magnificat), W.A. Mozart (Requiem, Grand Mass in C Minor, Solemn Vespers), Orff (Carmina Burana), Puccini (Messa di Gloria), Ottorino Respighi (Lauda per la natività del Signore), Heinrich Schütz (St. Matthew Passion (Evangelist), Die Sieben Worte (Jesus)), Alessandro Scarlatti (La Giuditta), and Stradella (La Susanna). On New Year’s Eve of 2014, he was the tenor soloist in the North American premiere of Johann David Heinichen’s Magnificat in F, with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity as part of Trinity Wall Street’s Twelfth Night Festival, and he sang the role of the narrator (Testo) in the modern-day world premiere of Domenico Freschi’s 1705 oratorio Giuditta with the Academy of Sacred Drama in 2017.
As a recitalist, Nils Neubert has sung nearly all of the major German song cycles, and has performed in a wide range of other languages, including full programs in French, Italian, English, and Russian. He frequently appears in concert together with his wife, pianist Yuri Kim.
Nils Neubert has appeared in principal and supporting roles in operas including W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte (Ferrando), W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Tamino), W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio), W.A. Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne (Bastien), Don Pasquale (Ernesto), La cenerentola (Ramiro), Pigmalion (Pigmalion), Die Fledermaus (Alfred), The Chocolate Soldier (Alexius), Four Saints in Three Acts (Sts. Chavez and Stephen), Das Rheingold (Mime), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Kaspar), Serse (Arsamene), Der Vampyr (Georg), My Last Duchess (Francesco, world premiere), and Steal A Pencil For Me (Rudi, world premiere), with such companies as Geneva Light Opera, Pocket Opera New York, Liederkranz Opera Theatre, Encompass New Opera Theater, Underworld Productions Opera Ensemble, New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, Amore Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, and Cutting Edge Concerts.
In 2014, Nils Neubert gave the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s Sentimental Songs, Op. 89, under the auspices of the Brooklyn Art Song Society. He also gave the USA premiere of Roger Steptoe’s Five Shakespeare Songs, together with the composer, under the auspices of the American Landmark Festivals in 2012. Other world- and American premieres, as well as collaborations with composers, include works by Jon Andrews, Gavin Bryars, Gerald Cohen, Robert Cuckson, Reiko Füting, Michael Grossmann, Jonathan Howard Katz, Ting-Chun Lin, Chris Malloy, Hiroki Mori, John Musto, Harry Stafylakis, Scott Wheeler, Theodore Wiprud, and Red Wierenga.
Nils Neubert is a founding member of New York’s Polydora Ensemble, who specialize in 19th-21st century chamber repertoire for vocal quartet and piano. They have been presented by Opera Grand Rapids, the Brooklyn Art Song Society, at New York’s Consulate General to Germany and CUNY’s Elebash Hall, and gave the inaugural performance for Caritas Concerts, an initiative of Sacred Music in A Sacred Space at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. Polydora Ensemble premiered the quartet version of Scott Wheeler’s New Love Song Waltzes in 2015.
A frequent guest at international music festivals, Nils Neubert has appeared at the Summit Music Festival, the International Academy of Music in Italy, the Beethoven Institute at Mannes, 4ª4 Baroque Music Festival, Early Music Festival: NYC, Cello Plus Chamber Music Festival, and the Puigcerda and Burgos International Music Festivals in Spain.
Recent engagements include appearances with the American Classical Orchestra, Princeton Pro Musica, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, TENET, Voices of Ascension, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Sonoma Bach, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Academy of Sacred Drama, Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Music Before 1800, Musical Oratory, Opera Grand Rapids, Polydora Ensemble, Brooklyn Art Song Society, Russian Chamber Art Society, The German Forum, Diderot String Quartet, The Colonials, the Danbury Concert Chorus and Orchestra, The Fairfield County Chorale and Orchestra, Master Singers of Westchester, Hudson Chorale, Choral Society of the Hamptons, Ampersand, Vari Musicisti, CoLirico, Barnard-Columbia Chorus, the Brooklyn New Music Collective, Rhymes with Opera, the GC Composers Alliance, and The James Joyce Society. He has also appeared with Trinity Wall Street, Musica Sacra, Sinfonia New York, Berkshire Choral Festival, Berkshire Bach Society, Schubert & Co., New York University Chorus, the Park Slope Singers, the Queens College Choral Society, the Locrian Chamber Players, Musica Reginae, Alfred Schnittke Akademie International, the United Jewish Appeal, and Amnesty International.
Nils Neubert teaches German diction at The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes School of Music, and serves as the resident German diction and repertoire coach at the Music Academy of the West. He also leads the German Vocal Repertoire Institute at the Summit Music Festival, and has presented workshops and masterclasses for Opera Grand Rapids, Boston Conservatory, the Universities of Chicago and Southern Maine, William Paterson University, and the Potomac Vocal Institute in Washington, D.C. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of NATS-NYC and the University Faculty Senate at The New School, and has previously served on the faculties at William Paterson University, Kaufman Music Center, and the Music Conservatory of Westchester. He has done German and Latin language preparation for soloists, opera ensembles, choirs, conductors, and record producers. His translations of musicological essays have been published by Henle, Bärenreiter, and the International Concertina Association. He has also been an invited reviewer for Music Education Research, and his own writings have been published in the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Journal, among others. His dissertation on the song composer Max Kowalski was nominated for the Barry S. Brook Award. He has also created educational sound materials as a singer and speaker for Oxford University Press, the Berkshire Choral Festival, SingersBabel, and Sommer Diction. In addition to maintaining a private coaching studio in Manhattan, he teaches remotely via ToneRow.com
Nils Neubert resides in New York City, and studies with Dr. Robert C. White, Jr. |
