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	---> b i o g r a p h y ---> o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e ................................................................................. ---> write to Manager
William Watson, tenor...

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up January 2006 The gifted tenor, William Watson, has been frequent guest of orchestras and opera houses throughout the United States. The Boston Globe praised his “handsome baritonal resonance” (10/26/02) in Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses with Boston Baroque. In Monteverdi’s Orfeo, he was praised “as a fine Apollo, exquisite in tone and decoration.” (The New York Times, 4/24/02). Recent and upcoming engagements include with the Boston Baroque for Monteverdi’s Ulysses (Eumete); Bethlehem Bach Festival for three concerts of Bach Cantatas; Alabama Symphony for Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Evansville Philharmonic for Mozart’s C-minor Mass; the Music of the Baroque (Chicago) for Mozart’s Waisenhaus Mass,, Florida West Coast Symphony for Haydn Creation and St. Matthew Passion (Evangelist) with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra in Vera Cruz, Mexico. William Watson performed at Carnegie Hall as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Oratorio Society of New York, followed by the role of Apollo in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. At short notice, he took on the world premiere production of Philip Glass’ newest opera, In the Penal Colony, performing the lead role of the Visitor. He performed with Chicago Opera Theater in back-to-back critically acclaimed productions: the role of Amon in Philip Glass’ contemporary opera Akhnaten, Mr. Watson also accompanied the latter production to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In the Spring of 2002 he traveled to Prague to sing with the Czech National Symphony in the Mass in B-flat by Vorisek, recorded by Cedille Records. He performed live on Chicago’s WFMT in Schubert’s Schoene Muellerin. Broadcast on WFMT, as well as nationally on NPR, was Mr. Watson as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. Mr. Watson has performed with Lyric Opera of Chicago in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Capriccio by Richard Strauss, Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich, and he created the role of President Van Buren in the world premiere production of Amistad by Anthony Davis. With Cleveland Opera, he has sung Jaquino in Fidelio, Pedrillo in Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail, and David in Meistersinger. He has performed several times with Chicago Opera Theater, from his debut as Tonio in Daughter of the Regiment to Pedrolino in Mozart’s Jewel Box. Mr. Watson has sung leading roles with Palm Beach Opera, Texas Opera Theater, Pennsylvania Opera Theater, and Central City Opera. In Europe, he performed for two seasons at the Aachen Stadttheater in Germany, appearing in Cosi fan tutte, Idomeneo (Idamante), and Verkaufte Braut (Wenzel). He also sang Cosi at the San Sebastian Festival in Spain, Cenerentola at the Europera Festival in France, and L’Elisir d’amore in Klagenfurt, Austria. Mr. Watson has been guest soloist with major symphony orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada, including those in Chicago, St. Louis, Montreal, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Rochester with such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Slatkin, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Hugh Wolff, Lukas Foss, Mark Elder, and Charles Dutoit. He has also sung with the orchestras of Buffalo, Nashville, Dayton, Wichita, Oregon, Jacksonville, Fort Wayne, Monterey, New Jersey, and New York’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s, with which he made his Carnegie Hall debut. Mr. Watson continues to develop his reputation as one of America’s finest Bach Evangelists. St. Matthew performances include the Buffalo Philharmonic, Winter Park Bach Festival, Albany Pro Musica, as well as the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (ON) and his debut in the Netherlands with the Noord Nederlands Orkest. Mr. Watson’s St. John Evangelist appearances include the symphonies of New Jersey, Youngstown, and Kitchener-Waterloo. Other concert appearances have included Carmel Bach Festival, Baltimore Choral Arts, Grant Park Music Festival (Chicago), Vancouver Chamber Choir, Les Violons du Roy (Quebec), Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Bach Society of St. Louis, Berkshire Choral Institute, and New York’s St. Cecilia Chorus at Carnegie Hall. In a long association with Chicago’s esteemed Music of the Baroque, Mr. Watson has performed a long list of works, including all the major works of Bach; most of the major oratorios of Handel plus his operas, Alcina and Semele; many works of Purcell; the operas of Monteverdi and other Baroque masters; and several works of Mozart and Haydn. Mr. Watson can be heard on the London Records St. Matthew Passion with the Chicago Symphony conducted by Sir Georg Solti. He also appears on the Newport Classics CD Where’re You Walk (English Handel arias) and on Cedille Records’ release of the Vorisek Mass in B-flat with the Czech National Symphony. b i o g r a p h y ......o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e back to roster...up . . . .

o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e...........back to roster....up Barber – A Hand of Bridge (Bill) Beethoven – Fidelio (Jacquino) Bizet – Carmen (Remendado) Donizetti – Daughter of the Regiment (Tonio) Donizetti – Don Pasquale (Ernesto) Donizetti – Elixir of Love (Nemorino) Donizetti – Lucia di Lammermoor (Normanno) Gilbert & Sullivan – Trial by Jury (Edwin) Haydn – Philemon and Baucis (Aret) Leoncavallo – I Pagliacci (Beppe) Mayr – Medea in Corinto (Egeo) Menotti – The Hero (Dr. Brainkoff) Mozart – Abduction from the Seraglio (Belmonte & Pedrillo) Mozart – Cosi fan tutte ( Ferrando) Mozart – Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) Mozart – Idomeneo (Iamante) Romberg – The Student Prince (Karl Franz) Rossini – Barber of Seville (Almaviva) Rossini – Cenerentola (Ramiro) Rossini – L'Italiana in Algieri (Lindoro) Shostakovich – Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Coachman & 1st Foreman) Smetena – The Bartered Bride (Wenzel) Thompson – The Mother of Us All (Andrew Johnson) Verdi – Falstaff (Fenton) Verdi – La Traviata (Gastone) Verdi – Otello ( Roderigo) Verdi – Rigoletto (Borsa) b i o g r a p h y ......o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e back to roster...up . . . .