On Wednesday night, every seat at REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles was filled for the world premiere of In Our Daughter’s Eyes, a new one-man opera by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun, librettist/director Michael Joseph McQuilken, and baritone Nathan Gunn.

Commissioned and produced by Beth Morrison Projects and presented as part of LA Opera’s “Off Grand” series, the 70-minute work is the result of Gunn’s desire to “create a show about the journey from boyhood to manhood: an Odyssey for the modern man.” Du Yun gets top billing, but this feels very much like Gunn’s opera, his passion project, and a vehicle for his specific (and considerable) talents.

Nathan Gunn ...[who has] a distinguished international career, is a
commanding figure — tall, handsome and with an imposing physique. His
big, warm voice has grown even richer and larger over the years and
it’s intelligently used, with well-considered interpretations of the
works he sings.

Nathan Gunn, as Arden’s architect former boyfriend, is luxury casting."

But as much as Mark Delavan, Nathan Gunn and Marc Kudisch succeed in appearing as common men with their joviality and agile physical humor, the instant they open their mouths to sing—whether it’s Verdi, Gilbert and Sullivan or Elvis Presley—the concept of common disappears. Instead these gentlemen transport us, with their barreling voices, to the lofty space between heaven and earth, where they claim the baritone resides."

The entire cast acted and sang with dedication to detail. Nathan Gunn was a humane, vulnerable and nonheroic Inman."

The Houston Grand Opera was fortunate to have secured American baritone Nathan Gunn for the title role, whose secure vocalism, winsome acting (and superstar status) helped assure that this production would prove a momentous hit."

Nathan Gunn sang in a big, warm baritone as Sweeney Todd and gave the murderous barber his proper nuances of character — wearied, damaged, smoldering, impassioned, and ultimately, crazed."

... vocally splendid. Gunn’s baritone is an object lesson in beautiful technique, vowels perfectly placed, the color balanced between bright and dark, consistently rich from top to bottom."

Nathan Gunn was a commanding Billy Bigelow with a voice to match; director John Rando ("Urinetown: The Musical," "A Christmas Story") added insightful bits of staging that softened the character. At the end of "If I Loved You," Rando had Gunn gather fallen blossoms and offer them to Julie in a sudden, spontaneous gesture of love; in the final scene, he had Billy's ghost tenderly gather Julie's shawl around her shoulders to shield her from the encroaching chill."

As Figaro, baritone Nathan Gunn played a swaggering but graceful and quick-witted factotum, all the while mastering the rapid-fire buffo patter of Rossini's score, even at the brisk tempos maintained by the HGO Orchestra under the baton of Leonardo Vordoni in his HGO debut."

... Nathan Gunn, the sensational baritone -- more typically found at the Metropolitan Opera or Covent Garden -- is soloist for a Mahler song cycle that shone like a new morning at the opening performance ... Gunn, a singer with intense charisma and a voice like honey, applying his expressive instincts to Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" ("Songs of a Wayfarer")."

Singing in English trips up many artists, but not Gunn, whose enunciation is so clear that it's not necessary to check the words in the program. He projected the nostalgic and impish texts in three Ives songs to make sure the quirky allure came gleaming through ... Gunn used his dashing voice to emphasize the narcissism in "C'est Moi" and the romantic yearning in "If Ever I Would Leave You." As embraced by the Gunns, these pieces sounded like the treasures of the American songbook that they are."

Guglielmo was Nathan Gunn, whose handsome, medium-plush baritone is perfectly employed in this music, his "Donne mie, la fate a tanti" beautifully dispatched and avidly felt. Gunn commands the most star power in this Così cast ..."

Nathan Gunn's velvety baritone sounded wonderfully flexible and expressive, especially in the opening sequence."

The male cast was outstanding. Nathan Gunn was brilliant in every respect as Riolobo, the mystical character who summons local Amazonian spirits to avoid disaster at the end of Act I. His singing was beautiful, strong and well-defined; like an athletic Ariel, Gunn's Riolobo guided us into the heart of darkness and light, asking in his opening aria whether Florencia is fantasy or illusion."

Gunn's performance seemed to grow larger and more indelible with each scene. The American baritone easily embodies the "beauty" and "goodness" that endear Billy to his fellows and incite Claggart's lust for mayhem, and he imbued the character, who can sing but not read, with a fine blend of innocence and physical grace. Gunn's lyrical instrument also seemed ideally suited to the role's vocal demands. His Billy wanted nothing in agility, eloquence or projection; "Look! Through the port comes the moonshine astray!" was delivered with firm, lustrous tone and a deeply affecting sense of revelation."