Meet the Soloists: ‘Messiah’ 2026
Ann Arbor’s timeless holiday tradition returns as the UMS Choral Union and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra present Handel’s Messiah. For many community members, this is the musical highlight of the year and marks the “official” start of the holiday season.
This year’s exceptional voices include a returning U-M alum and a recent Grammy winner.
Learn more about the singers below, and don’t miss them in Hill Auditorium Dec 5-6.
Amanda Forsythe, soprano
The American soprano Amanda Forsythe, celebrated for her performances on both sides of the Atlantic, is a regular soloist with the highly acclaimed baroque ensembles the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and more. Forsythe recently won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album and previously won for Best Opera Recording for her role of Euridice in Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée au enfers with the Boston Early Music Festival.
In the 26/27 season, Forsyth joins the Academy of Ancient Music, singing Telemann’s Ino with conductor Laurence Cummings. She also performs Handel’s Messiah with Le Concert d’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm in Los Angeles, Mozart’s Requiem with the Milwaukee Symphony, as well as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra) and St. Matthew Passion (Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France). Forsythe makes two appearances with Boston Baroque during the season: Venus in Blow’s Venus and Adonis, as well as a chamber concert, and tours the Western United States, Canada and Hawaii with Opera Prima. She also continues her long collaboration with Boston Early Music Festival, performing on several programs throughout Boston.
Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano
Chinese-American mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce, Third Prize Winner of the 2024 Operalia competition, is rapidly establishing herself as a versatile and dynamic artist in both traditional and contemporary repertoire.
Pierce’s 26/27 season begins with her return to Houston Grand Opera for Faust (Siebel) and Boston Lyric Opera for Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino). Other highlights of the season include Handel’s Messiah with Boston Baroque and the Houston Symphony, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C minor on tour with Les Musiciens du Louvre. She also returns to the stage at Carnegie Hall for a solo recital presented by the Music Academy of the West. Pierce concludes the season at The Santa Fe Opera in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina). Future engagements include leading roles at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Houston Grand Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera.
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Nicholas Phan is a Grammy Award-winning lyric tenor, curator, and educator, celebrated for his expressive artistry and versatility across a wide-ranging repertoire spanning nearly 500 years. Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” he has earned international recognition for his captivating stage presence, keen intelligence, and natural musicianship. Raised in Ann Arbor, Phan is a graduate of the University of Michigan and is the 2012 recipient of the Paul C Boylan Distinguished Alumni Award and the 2018 Christopher Kendall Award.
A celebrated recording artist, Phan won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for his recording of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony. A five-time Grammy nominee, Phan’s most recent album, A Change Is Gonna Come, was nominated for the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. His previous albums, Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly, Clairières, and Gods and Monsters, were nominated for the same award in 2023, 2020, and 2017. He is the first singer of Asian descent to be nominated in the history of the category.
Charles H. Eaton, baritone
Hailed as a “swaggeringly charismatic baritone with a versatile voice,”American baritone Eaton begins his 26/27 season with a role and company debut as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Kentucky Opera. He returns to the role of Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. In 2027, he joins the Metropolitan Opera roster, covering William Dale in their production of Silent Night. He then makes his company debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Schaunard in La bohème, followed by a role and company debut as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Florentine Opera.
Eaton graduated the Minnesota Opera Resident Artist program in the spring of 2024, where he received great acclaim for his “beautiful, deep voice” and “astonishingly chameleonic” performances as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, Schaunard in La bohème, Argante in Rinaldo, and Masetto in Don Giovanni. Eaton made his Carnegie Hall debut in the summer of 2023 as the baritone soloist in the Fauré Requiem, and received third place in the Houston Saengerbund Competition.
