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
Artistas semelhantes
-
Schubert: Winterreise
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Mélodies - Lançado por Chandos em 01/02/2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Songs of Faith, Love and Nonsense
Roderick Williams, James Way, Andrew West
Classical - Lançado por SOMM Recordings em 22/01/2021
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The English Songs Series (Volume 18)
Classical - Lançado por Naxos em 27/05/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Kissing Her Hair
Sarah Fox, Andrew Staples, Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Classical - Lançado por Albion em 18/02/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The English Song Series (Volume 22)
Classical - Lançado por Naxos em 30/04/2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sea Fever: Songs By British Composers
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Roderick Williams
Classical - Lançado por Dutoon em 22/10/2007
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies Nos. 6 & 8, Nocturne
London Symphony Orchestra, Roderick Williams, Richard Hickox
Symphonic Music - Lançado por Chandos em 01/08/2003
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Somervell: Maud & A Shropshire Lad
Roderick Williams, Susie Allan
Classical - Lançado por SOMM Recordings em 01/05/2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Now Comes Beauty
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Rupert Marshall-Luck, Roderick Williams, David Owen Norris, Gavin Sutherland
Classical - Lançado por EM Records em 27/05/2016
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: The Fringes of the Fleet
Guildford Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Roderick Williams, Tom Higgins, Duncan Rock, Laurence Meikle, Nicholas Lester
Classical - Lançado por SOMM Recordings em 09/11/2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Parry: 12 Sets of English Lyrics, Vol. 2
Roderick Williams, Sarah Fox, James Gilchrist, Andrew West
Classical - Lançado por SOMM Recordings em 30/03/2018
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Berio: Realisations
Bergen filharmoniske orkester, Michael Collins, Roderick Williams, Edward Gardner
Classical - Lançado por Chandos em 01/02/2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Those Blue Remembered Hills
Roderick Williams, The Bridge Quartet, Michael Dussek
Classical - Lançado por EM Records em 15/05/2020
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Mélodies - Lançado por Chandos em 01/07/2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Kenneth Fuchs: Works for Baritone Voice & Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Naxos em 05/08/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Turnbull: The Songs and Part-Songs
Classical - Lançado por SOMM Recordings em 01/02/2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann Kerner Lieder Op. 35, songs by Wolf, Korngold & Mahler - Wigmore Hall Live
Roderick Williams, Helmut Deutsch
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Wigmore Hall Live em 25/09/2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bridge: Orchestral Works, Vol. 5
Richard Hickox, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, Roderick Williams
Symphonies - Lançado por Chandos em 01/09/2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 1, Love-sight
Halle, Sir Mark Elder, Roderick Williams
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Halle Concerts Society em 14/10/2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moeran: Complete Solo Songs
Roderick Williams, Geraldine McGreevy, Adrian Thompson, John Talbot, Weybridge Male Voice Choir
Mélodies - Lançado por Chandos em 01/05/2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Harrison Birtwistle: Chamber Music
Lisa Batiashvili, Adrian Brendel, Till Fellner, Amy Freston, Roderick Williams
Classical - Lançado por ECM New Series em 04/04/2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo