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Douglas
Williams
Bass-Baritone • New York, NY
email: douglas@douglasrwilliams.com
Douglas Williams, bass-baritone, made his U.S. symphony debut this season in Handel's Messiah with the Houston Symphony Orchestra directed by Christopher Warren-Greene, and his European debut with the baroque orchestra Les Talens Lyriques in Purcell's King Arthur at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, directed by Christophe Rousset. Attempting to illustrate Mr. Williams' unique synthesis of musical, vocal, and theatrical talent, Paris’ OperaForum called him "indescribable" for his portrayal of the Cold Genius in King Arthur.
Douglas has sung Bach cantatas under Bruno Weil, David Hoose, and Helmut Rilling, Mozart vespers with Sir David Wilcocks, Haydn with Sir Neville Marriner, Mahler with Manfred Schreier, and numerous concerts and operas lead by Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs. He has appeared as a soloist with the Biava String Quartet, the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, the Clarion Society of New York, Emmanual Music, the Yale Schola Cantorum, and the Boston Early Music Festival.
In recent opera appearances, Douglas "unfurled a bass voice of splendid solidity" (Music Web International) in his portrayal of Tempo, Nettuno, and Antinoo in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with Pacific Musicworks in a revival of the acclaimed William Kentridge Production.
Douglas can be heard singing the role of Jesus on the Yale Schola Cantorum's recording of Bach's St. John Passion (1728 version) called "astonishing" by Early Music Review, and as a soloist on the Yale Schola Cantorum's recording of Biber's vespers, noted as "lively and sensitive" by Goldberg Magazine. In 2008 the recording of Lully's Psyché, with the Boston Early Music Festival, for which Mr. Williams sang the role of the Afflicted Man, was nominated for a Grammy for best opera recording.
A member of the art song collective Mirror Visions, Douglas will premier new works by American composers at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, next season. Douglas is also regular collaborator with the pianists Ilya Poletaev and Ted Taylor.
Mr. Williams studied at the New England Conservatory, Yale School of Music, and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he was awarded the Hugh Porter prize for his creative ambition in music. He trained as an actor with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts.
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