Press
Press Quotes
George Benjamin’s & Martin Crimp’s Lessons in Love and Violence (US Premiere), at the Tanglewood Music Center, August 2022
As the King in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence (photo credit: Hilary Scott)
“As the King (never named as Edward II), the alert and highly musical baritone Nathaniel Sullivan offered a searching performance, making a not entirely sympathetic character all too human.”
—David Shengold, Opera News
“And you would be glad, though gladdening this opera is not, to hear a performance as strong as Monday’s in any major house. Three of the main parts were taken by recent graduates of Tanglewood’s vocal program; greater testament to its worth would be hard to imagine. Nathaniel Sullivan sang the King — Edward II, as imagined by Christopher Marlowe then reimagined by [Martin] Crimp — with sniveling command, the monarch’s weakness to the fore.”
—David Allen, The New York Times
“Sullivan’s voice was regal but delicate in his portrayal of the King, suggesting the character’s weak will; he only whipped the veil off in the final scene when he unleashed his now-powerless fury against Daniel McGrew’s unctuous but steely Mortimer.”
—A.Z. Madonna, The Boston Globe
As the Angel in Jacob Bancks’s Karkinos (photo credit: Evan Sammons)
Jacob Bancks’s Karkinos (World Premiere), with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, February 2022
“Hill and Sullivan equally dazzled in the heft, energy and force in their voices.”
—Jonathan Turner, QuadCities.com
J. S. Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, with Capital City Concerts, October 2019
“Hyunah Yu’s gem of a soprano and Nathaniel Sullivan’s warm assertive baritone proved complementary in the cantata’s two duets.”
—Jim Lowe, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus
Four Cantatas by J. S. Bach, in memory of Sanford Sylvan, with the Blanche Moyse Chorale & Memorial Orchestra, October 2019
“…Nathaniel Sullivan not only sang expressively with velvety voices but the German diction was perfect, allowing the text for which Bach meticulously tailored his music to be clearly understood.”
—Lynda Copeland, Brattleboro Reformer
As the Elephant in Richard Ayres’s The Cricket Recovers (photo credit: Hilary Scott)
Richard Ayres’s The Cricket Recovers (US Premiere), at the Tanglewood Music Center, August 2019
“…dazzling….a lithe baritone….marvelous singing…”
—Leslie Kandell, The Boston Musical Intelligencer
J. S. Bach’s Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42, at the Tanglewood Music Center, July 2019
“…Nathaniel Sullivan sang the final recitative and aria bringing a joyous sense of hope, confirmed by the final chorale.”
—Steven Ledbetter, The Boston Musical Intelligencer
Gerald Finzi’s Requiem da Camera, with the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, November 2018
“…baritone Nathaniel Sullivan sang the Thomas Hardy poem with great eloquence.”
—Harry Rolnick, ConcertNet
Four Cantatas by J. S. Bach, with the Blanche Moyse Chorale & Memorial Orchestra, October 2018
“In ‘Hier, in meines Vaters Stätte‘ from Cantata BWV 32, Sullivan sang with a warm lyricism, danced around by longtime Moyse violinist Mayuki Fukuhara. The lyricism of veteran oboists [Stephen] Taylor and Mark Hill provided the warm bed for Sullivan’s expressive presence in ‘Gott, bei deinem starken Schützen’.”
—Jim Lowe, Rutland Herald
As Elias/Bionic Leg in PATH New Music Theater's Simulacrum (photo credit: Pierre Lidar)
PATH New Music Theater's Simulacrum (World Premiere), at 3LD Art & Technology Center, June 2018
"Much the same can be said for Sullivan who handled the staccato vocal effects and obsessive gestures with impressive strength and precision."
—John Hohmann, Schmopera
J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor, BWV 232, with the Blanche Moyse Chorale & Memorial Orchestra, October 2017
"[Sullivan's] natural expressiveness and warmth gave a joyful quality to the 'Et in Spiritum Sanctum.'"
—Jim Lowe, Rutland Herald
HK Gruber's Frankenstein!!, with The Orchestra Now, October 2017
"The key to the show is that crazed chansonnier, who alternates narration with strutting, marching in place and whipping out a battery of kazoos, whistles, pipes and other kiddie noise makers[....]baritone Nathaniel Sullivan put on a virtuoso show in the part."
—Andrew L. Pincus, The Berkshire Eagle
"Mr. Sullivan is a marvelous actor, his chanting/singing/falsetto was to the point. He showed humor (a well-rehearsed humor), gave allegiance to both music and words. And gave[...]as ebullient a performance as could be expected."
—Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet