Nic takes Aspen by storm with two programs of orchestral delights featuring superstar soloists

It wouldn't be summer without Nic's annual appearances at the Colorado town's famed music festival. And this year, audiences were treated to not one, but two magnificent evenings of music-making with Nic on the podium.

First up was a program of Schubert and Mendelssohn with the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Featuring the brilliant violinist Maxim Vengerov in his long-overdue Aspen debut, the performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto won a fabulous review from the Aspen Times, which praised Nic's "energy and deftness" as he transformed the orchestra into a "taut, crisp ensemble that executed the tricky score in sync with Vengerov."

The following week, Nic celebrated his first collaboration with pianist Awadagin Pratt, one of the greatest American pianists of today. This was an eagerly awaited concert, with Aspen Daily News and Aspen Public Radio both profiling Nic and Awadagin ahead of the performance.

After delivering moving readings of Bach's Keyboard Concerto in A Major and Jessie Montgomery's Rounds — commissioned by Pratt and soon to be featured on the pianist's upcoming album, STILLPOINT — with Awadagin, Nic led the orchestra and singers from the festival's Vocal Arts program in Bach's Magnificat, which the Aspen Times called "truly satisfying" as Nic drew "lively playing from the orchestra and golden-voiced singing from five personality-rich soloists."

Early Music America celebrates Nic's new album with Cantata Collective

First, BBC Radio 3's Record Review praised it as "an immediate hit." And now Early Music America is chiming in with their adulation for Cantata Collective's immersive new recording of J. S. Bach's St. John Passion. Reviewer Ken Meltzer writes: 

"Tying it all together, McGegan's pacing, as both conductor and harpsichordist, is exemplary. ... This is a beautifully performed and recorded St. John Passion that gives full measure to the work's remarkable synthesis of devotional and theatrical elements."

The album is now available for purchase as a physical CD — or listen wherever you stream or download music.

Up next: Nic returns to Blossom Music Festival and the Hollywood Bowl

To round out his summer, Nic will take to the stage for engagements with two of America's finest orchestras.

On August 12, he returns to Blossom Music Festival to lead the Cleveland Orchestra in Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, the suite from Elena Langer's comic opera Figaro Gets a Divorce, and Mozart's exquisite Clarinet Concerto featuring the ensemble's principal clarinet, Afendi Yusuf.

Then, on September 5, Nic heads back to the West Coast for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's perenially popular Mozart Under the Stars series at the Hollywood Bowl, leading the orchestra in the composer's spine-tingling overture to Don Giovanni, the "Turkish" Concerto with violinist Bomsori Kim, and the charming "Prague" Symphony.

Coming up this fall …

• Cantata Collective (September 9)

• Rhode Island Philharmonic (October 13–14)

• Curtis Opera Theatre (November 12)

• Grand Rapids Symphony (November 17–18)