Biography

 

William Berger (“…one of the best of our younger baritones.” Gramophone Magazine) is a graduate and Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London and a former member of the Young Singers Programme at English National Opera.

Recent engagements included singing Aeneas to Susan Graham’s Dido on tour in California, his critically acclaimed performance as Papageno for Garsington Opera, Bill in Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny for Vlaamse Opera, Bach’s St John Passion on tour to Israel and Germany with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and his recital debut at the Lucerne International Festival.

On the operatic stage he has performed roles by Mozart: Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte, Allazim in Zaïde; Haydn: Ernesto in Il Mondo della Luna; Handel: Ercole in Admeto, Argante in Rinaldo, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Mercurio in Atalanta, Ormonte in Partenope; Monteverdi: Valetto in L’incoronazione di Poppea; Janacek: Harasta in The Cunning Little Vixen and Puccini: Schaunard in La Boheme for productions at the Liceu in Barcelona, Luzern Opera, the Festival Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Göttingen International Handel Festival, Edinburgh Festival, London Handel Festival and the Handel & Haydn Society  in Boston.

In concert he has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Sadler’s Wells, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Los Angeles Disney Concert Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the English Concert, Philharmonia Baroque San Francisco, Hanover Band and Cape Town Philharmonic in repertoire including Carmina Burana, Faure Requiem, Messiah, Elijah, Weinachts Oratorium, Saint Saens’ Oratoire de Noel, Handel’s Apollo e Dafne and the world premiere of The Angry Garden by Michael Stimpson.His discography includes Handel’s Alexander’s Feast for Delphian, Samson and Dettinger Te Deum for Carus, Poulenc’s Carmelites for Chandos, Apollo e Dafne for Swineshead Productions (USA) and two song recital discs – October Roses and Songs of Spring, as well as Admeto on DVD.

Prize winner at the 2010 Ernst Haefliger Competition in Switzerland, he was also awarded the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers in 1999, Countess of Munster Trust Scholarship, Musicians Benevolent Fund Grant and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award.

Engagements for 2012 include the release of his recital disc Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage, as well as recording a disc of late 18th-century operatic arias with Nicolas McGegan and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a recording of Handel’s Triumph of Truth and Time with Ludus Baroque, returning to Garsington opera for Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade, the title role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with La Nuova Musica, concert performances for Festival Baroque Australia and a return to the United States.