Goodbye, Mr. Chips - Out Now!
PENTATONE has released Gordon Getty’s fourth opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Featuring Nathan Granner, as Mr. Chips, with Melody Moore, Lester Lynch, Kevin Short, San Francisco Boys Chorus, Barbary Coast Orchestra, the work is "... A Feel-Good Opera About The Teacher We All Wish We’d Had."
PENTATONE’s January 2025 release of Goodbye, Mr. Chips marks Gordon Getty’s fourth opera, featuring an extraordinary cast, starring Nathan Granner as Chips, Melody Moore, Lester Lynch, and Kevin Short.
This poignant opera, based on James Hilton’s 1934 novella, follows the life of a beloved teacher at Brookfield, an all-boys English boarding school. Through memorable episodes of love, loss, and the deep bonds between teacher and students, the story reveals the lasting impact of a mentor’s guidance.
Getty’s evocative score and libretto bring these cherished characters to life, weaving heartfelt emotion with timeless themes of education and humanity. The album also highlights the talents of the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the Barbary Coast Orchestra, under the direction of Dennis Doubin, making it a landmark recording for all ages.
Operatic Tenor
NATHAN GRANNER is a world-renowned leading tenor, headliner, solo, and collaborative artist specializing in Contemporary Opera and late Bel-Canto repertoire.
He enjoys a unique and diverse performing career, allowing him to leverage his distinctive golden age timbre and impressive range in many projects and productions.
He has achieved critical success on stage and screen with roles such as Korey Wise in Pulitzer Prize-winning The Central Park Five by Anthony Davis and George Wesley, on-film and studio album recording of the title role in Gordon Getty’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and Rob Hall in the award-winning animated film Everest, produced by Opera Parallèle and presented by The Dallas Opera (now adapted into an immersive experience).
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NOW RELEASED!
Ombre di Luce - 14 arias for tenor, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, conducted by Clelia Cafiero. Released September 20, 2024 marks the release of a new album of Classical Epoch arias under the aegis of the San Francisco Classical record Company, for the venerable Pentatone Music label.
The orchestra partnered with Granner to navigate a vast emotional landscape of classical period arias producing a timeless and compelling musical experience.
Current and Recent Performances
"La Boheme"
Oct. 11 & 13, 2024
Experience the timeless passion and beauty of Puccini's La Bohème at Tacoma's Pantages Theater. Join us on Friday, October 11 at 7 PM and Sunday, October 13 at 2 PM for an unforgettable evening of romance and music. Starring international sensations tenor Nathan Granner and soprano Kristin Vogel, this production promises to captivate from start to finish.
"Indivisible: The Glory of Lincoln's Musical Soul"
Making radically engaging live music experiences accessible for all.
Oct. 16-20, 2024,
With his presidency plagued by war and civil unrest, Abraham Lincoln often turned to music for comfort, encouragement, and hope. Nathan will be collaborating with musical hits popular to Lincoln in his life.
"Everest: Opera in the Planetarium"
Nov 6-17, 2024
Experience Everest: Opera in the Planetarium in the wildly immersive 360-degree environment of the California Academy of Sciences’s Morrison Planetarium. The breathtaking fusion of graphic novel imagery and operatic story telling of the ill-fated 1996 Everest expedition takes the award winning Everest: an Immersive Experience to the next level.
"The Shining"
March 15-24, 2025
Nathan will be performing his debut of Stuart Ullman & Spencer Grady (he had previously been cast as Loyd / Bill Walton) in Moravec and Cmpbell's adaptation of King's ultra-popular horror novel. It's just a great night of theater.
"Aida"
April 4 & 6, 2025
Mr. Granner makes his debut as Radames in Verdi's Aida
An intimate story of love—forbidden and unrequited—emmeshed in a struggle for imperial power between Egypt and Ethiopia.
"The Central Park Five"
May 10, 16 & 18, 2025
Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music for this true story adaptation of systemic discrimination, this gripping opera follows the wrongful convictions of five African American and Latino teenagers in the assault of a white female jogger in Central Park. Despite racial injustice, resilience and redemption emerge as the five men fight for freedom.
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2023-2024 were debut performances as Don Jose in Carmen at Opera Santa Barbara and Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at Orlando Opera. Later Granner tackled the tricky roles of Bobby Riggs and Hans Sach's Trainer in Opera Parallele's acclaimed Birds and Balls, a double bill of "Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera" by david T. Little and "Balls" by Laura Karpman. He fineshed off the season with a lovely performance with the Verdi Chorus in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and soprano Jamie Chamberlin.
The 2022-23 season was bright with highlights. Mr. Granner performed four highly acclaimed debut roles, including Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the new Charleston Opera Theatre, Lloyd / Watson in Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell's The Shining with long-time collaborator Opera Parallele, Don Jose in Carmen at Opera Santa Barbara and Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at Orlando Opera.
Granner’s unique versatility and easy command of varying styles of composition have led to engagements creating numerous New Opera roles for an extensive range of works, Aubrey Wells in Today it Rains Laura Kaminsky (Mark Campbell / Kimberly Reed - libretto) and Korey Wise in the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Central Park Five by Anthony Davis and the title character in The Invention of Morel by Stewart Copeland and Johnathan Moore.
Mr. Granner is fiercely devoted to various philanthropic efforts and has performed at dozens of charitable fundraisers with David Foster and Friends, Jamie Chamberlin, and countless others.
In the process, he has helped to raise tens of millions of dollars to fund the research of cures for Parkinson’s disease, ALS, Cancer, Covid-19 and aid in the areas of children’s health, wildlife conservation, and wrongful incarceration. ----->>
Soprano Jamie Chamberlin, Esther the Opera Dog, & Nathan Granner on scene filming Sing Out Loud for LA Opera
>> Granner’s early studies included training with Utah Festival Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera Center. Granner was also a semifinalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York City. During one whirlwind period which showcased his varied interests and versatility, Nathan was singing on the stage of the Met, played his first rock performance in a popular Orlando bar, and was signed to a recording contract by Sony Classical. Between it all, he sang Camille in The Merry Widow at Light Opera Oklahoma and Beppe in I Pagliacci with Opera Tampa under the baton of Anton Coppola.
Early career engagements for Mr. Granner include Nemorino at Lyric Opera Kansas City and Remus at Opera Theater Saint Louis. He also sang with the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Irish Radio Orchestra, the Handel/Haydn Society, and Kansas City Symphony, performing the tenor parts in the Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Elijah, Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Judas Maccabeus, and a number of Bach Cantatas (collaborating regularly with the Bach Aria Soloists).
Nathan was a founding member of The American Tenors, whose Sony Masterworks Classical album reached top five in the classical crossover charts. He has also toured extensively with classical guitarist Beau Bledsoe, singing new arrangements of Lieder and Chanson, authentic Flamenco, Tango, and new compositions.
Get the Box CD - 17 Jan 2025!
https://www.pentatonemusic.com/a-feel-good-opera-goodbye-mr-chips/
ALSO:
"The score of Gordon Getty’s “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” breathes all the unpretentiously sweet melancholy of its many predecessors – from James Hilton’s 1933 novella of the same title to subsequent adaptations as, among others, radio plays and lavishly cast movie musicals."
"First and foremost, Nathan Granner is a stunningly charismatic Mr. Chips, phrasing vividly yet coating every expressive nuance with his recognizably honeyed tenor sound. The absence of any self-contained arias may not do justice to his mere vocal skills; but his interpretive acuity asserts itself in many places..."
“Mr. Chips” escapes every attempt at conventional categorization. Despite its modern facture (with some limitations), its two-hour run betrays a deeply felt nostalgia for things well beyond the scope of opera. Chips’ death scene, in particular, is transcended by some life-long yearning for a world sadly gone by. Gordon Getty conjures the memory of it."
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In memoriam. Hy little H.G. was a courageous and sweet cat. he was one of my best friends and I miss him. Every day!
