Roderick Williams
Baritone Roderick Williams began to establish his operatic career in the mid-'90s. A Mozart specialist at first, he has developed a varied repertory and has also written a substantial body of music for chorus and piano.
Williams was born in 1965 in London. His father was of Welsh background, his mother Jamaican. He attended Oxford University as a choral scholar and then took a job as a music teacher. It was not until he was 28 that he began to study operatic singing full-time at the Guildhall School of Music in London. While a student there, he made his debut in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia as Tarquinius, and he has continued to sing several major Britten roles regularly. Major prizes in the early '90s -- a top prize at the Great Grimsby International Singing Competition in 1992, a second prize in the 1994 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, and others -- put him on the map, and he began to land major roles, at first, especially in northern Britain. He sang the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at Opera North in Leeds in 1998 and sang a series of roles, from Mozart to Puccini, at the Scottish Opera. Williams' international debut came in Israel, in Massenet's Werther, in 1998. He has since appeared in many international houses, often in concert performances of operas. He has been a fixture at the Proms concerts since the mid-'90s. In 2002, Williams made his recording debut with mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly on Voices: Volume 1, a collection of songs by Schoenberg, on the Black Box Classics label.
Williams is an accomplished recitalist, and his own choral compositions have been performed at the Barbican, Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room, and other prestigious British venues. In 2016, he became the president of the venerable Three Choirs Festival Society, and the following year, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. In 2020, he became president of the Thames Concerts series in London. Williams has a large catalog of recordings on Naxos, Champs Hill, Signum, and other labels; in the year 2017 alone, he appeared on seven separate recordings and on six in 2021. The year 2022 saw Williams release Mirages: The Art of French Song with accompanist Roger Vignoles on the Champs Hill label, and he appeared on the fourth and final volume of a series on the Albion label devoted to the folk song settings of Ralph Vaughan Williams. By that time, he had issued some 60 recordings on which he was a featured artist, and he had credits on many others.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Herrmann: Suite from Wuthering Heights, Echoes for Strings
Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Mario Venzago, Keri Fuge, Roderick Williams, Joshua Tan
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Delius: A Mass of Life
Sir Mark Elder, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Roderick Williams
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Vaughan Williams: Christmas Music
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Elgar: Falstaff, Orchestral Songs & "Grania and Diarmid"
Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Roderick Williams
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London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron, Roderick Williams, Andrew Staples, Elena Urioste
Musique chorale (pour chœur) - Paru chez Orchid Classics le 15 juil. 2022
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Schubert in English Vol. 4
Christopher Glynn, Roderick Williams, Rowan Pierce
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Signum Records le 10 nov. 2023
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 3
Roderick Williams, Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, William Vann
Classique - Paru chez Albion le 17 sept. 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
A Birthday Garland
Roderick Williams, Susie Allan
Classique - Paru chez SOMM Recordings le 15 mars 2024
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A Shropshire Lad: English Songs Orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Halle, Sir Mark Elder, Roderick Williams
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Halle Concerts Society le 4 nov. 2022
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On This Shining Night
James Gilchrist, Sophie Bevan, Roderick Williams, Coull Quartet
Classique - Paru chez SOMM Recordings le 17 juin 2022
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 1
Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Roderick Williams, William Vann
Classique - Paru chez Albion le 23 oct. 2020
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 2
Roderick Williams, Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, William Vann
Classique - Paru chez Albion le 26 mars 2021
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 4
Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Roderick Williams, William Vann
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Vaughan Williams: Discoveries
Roderick Williams, Jennifer Johnston, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
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Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6, Nocturne & Symphony No. 8
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Roderick Williams
Symphonies - Paru chez Chandos le 1 août 2003
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Parry: 12 Sets of English Lyrics, Vol. 3
Sarah Fox, Roderick Williams, Andrew West
Classique - Paru chez SOMM Recordings le 16 nov. 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Delius: A Mass of Life, RT II/4, Pt. 2: V. Allegro ma non troppo—Gottes Weh ist tiefer, du wunderliche Welt
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder, Roderick Williams
Classique - Paru chez Lawo Classics le 10 nov. 2023
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 4
Roderick Williams, Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, William Vann
Classique - Paru chez Albion le 22 avr. 2022
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La belle dame
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Rupert Marshall-Luck, Roderick Williams, John Andrews
Classique - Paru chez EM Records le 19 avr. 2024
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Music on Christmas Morning
Jocelyn Somerville, Elizabeth Limb, Roderick Williams, Martin Ford, Vasari Singers, Jeremy Backhouse
Musique chorale (pour chœur) - Paru chez Naxos le 13 oct. 2023
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The Song of Love
Roderick Williams, Kitty Whately, William Vann
Classique - Paru chez Albion le 13 août 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo