John Nelson
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Biography
The son of Protestant missionaries, American conductor John Nelson was born on December 6, 1941, in San José, Costa Rica. He began studying piano while living in Central America and continued those studies when his family moved back to the US and settled in Illinois. He attended the Juilliard School in New York from 1963 to 1967 to study conducting with Jean Morel and won the Irving Berlin Prize. He made his debut with the New York Chamber Orchestra and then conducted Berlioz's Les Troyens in a concert version at Carnegie Hall in 1972. He premiered Britten Owenâs Wingrave at the Santa Fe Opera before becoming musical director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (1976-1987). Appointed as the head of the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York, he was in charge of the Ensemble orchestral de Paris from 1998 to 2008. With a focus on Berlioz operas, he conducted Béatrice et Bénédict with the Opéra de Lyon Orchestra (1992), Te Deum with the Orchestre de Paris (2001), Benvenuto Cellini with the Orchestre national de France (2004), Les Troyens (2017) and La Damnation de Faust (2019) with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra (2017) â both of which were awarded a Diapason d'or. He collaborated on the Arias album by Kathleen Battle and Itzhak Perlman (1992) and in recitals by Susan Graham, David Daniels, Stephanie Blythe and Vivica Genaux. In 2011, John Nelson initiated a long-term project, the Chicago Bach Project, with the American choral ensemble Soli Deo Gloria. After recording Harold in Italy with Timothy Ridout, Romeo and Juliet with Joyce DiDonato, and Handel's Messiah with Lucy Crowe and Michael Spyres, John Nelson died in Chicago on March 31, 2025, at the age of 83.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Act 1: "Una voce poco fa" (Rosina) featuring John Nelson
- Totus Tuus, op. 60
- Benvenuto Cellini, Act 2 - Quatrieme Tableau: Air - Mais, qu'ai-je donc? (Ascanio) featuring John Nelson
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: VI. "Judex crederis" featuring John Nelson
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: V. "Te ergo quaesumus" featuring John Nelson
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: III. "Dignare Domine" featuring John Nelson
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: Prélude by John Nelson
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: Marche pour la présentation aux drapeaux by John Nelson
- Semele HWV 58: No more - I'll hear no more! / Awake Saturnia.. featuring English Chamber Orchestra
- Semele HWV 58: Ah, wretched prince / Wing'd with our fears /O prodigy/See, see, Jove's Priests featuring Samuel Ramey
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: II. "Tibi omnes" featuring John Nelson
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: I. "Te Deum laudamus" featuring John Nelson
- Béatrice et Bénédict, H. 138, Act 2: "Dieu ! Que viens-je d'entendre ?" (Béatrice) by John Nelson
- Semele HWV 58: Alas! she yields, and has undone me featuring Marilyn Horne
- Semele HWV 58: Thy aid, pronubial Juno, Athamas implores! featuring English Chamber Orchestra
- Semele HWV 58: Again auspicious flashes rise featuring English Chamber Orchestra
- Te Deum, Op. 22, H. 118: IV. "Christe, Rex gloriae" featuring John Nelson
- Semele HWV 58: Ah me! why sighs my Semele! featuring English Chamber Orchestra
- Semele HWV 58: Above measure is the pleasure,which my revenge supplies featuring English Chamber Orchestra
- Beethoven's 5 Secrets
- Semele HWV 58: O Semele! Why art thou....? / I ever am granting,.. featuring English Chamber Orchestra
