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3 unusual facts about Sanford Sylvan


Sanford Sylvan

A frequent collaborator with the director Peter Sellars, he appeared in Sellars' re-imaginings of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro, aforementioned operas of John Adams and, in 2009, Adams's A Flowering Tree presented at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival.

Sylvan received Grammy and Emmy awards for the role of Chou En-Lai in Nixon in China by John Adams and received five additional Grammy nominations: Fussell's Wilde (2009); Adams's The Wound-Dresser (1990), which was written for Sylvan; Fauré's L'horizon chimérique (1999); Beloved That Pilgrimage (1992); and the soundtrack for the Penny Woolcock Film of Adams' opera, The Death of Klinghoffer (2003).

He has performed at the Edinburgh, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Vienna, Holland, Oregon Bach and Carmel Bach festivals.


Rudolf Rojahn

His song cycle Lust based on the novel by Efriede Jelinek was staged by Sanford Sylvan for the Boston Conservatory's Opera Department in 2007.


see also