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William Berger

William Berger

Baritone

Described as "one of the best of our younger baritones" by Gramophone, William Berger has distinguished himself as a singer of the highest calibre.

Genre
Classical
    Biography

    Described as "one of the best of our younger baritones" (Gramophone), William Berger has distinguished himself as a singer of the highest calibre. His rich timbre and charismatic stage presence have led to performaces at renowned festivals, opera houses and concert halls, including the English National Opera, Liceu Barcelona and the Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence and Edinburgh International Festivals.

    Berger's imaginative approach to programming led to the release of his debut recital disc, Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage In Song (Delphian). This sequence of seventeen songs portraying the sleepless night of a man reflecting on the absence of his unnamed lover, was awarded four stars by The Guardian and William's performance was described as "sweepingly sensual", "pure gold" (The Arts Desk) and "magnetic" (The Scotsman).

    Recent engagements have included the title role in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo for both La Nuova Musica and Silent Opera, the role of Papageno at Opera de Toulon and Garsington Opera, Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with the Early Opera Company and Count Almaviva at the Lucerne Opera.

    A specialist in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century repertoire, Berger has performed all of the major Mozartian baritone roles, as well as a wide selection of roles by Monteverdi, Handel, Haydn, Puccini, Janácek and Weill.

    In concert, Berger 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 orchestras and ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Brabants Orkets, Philharmonia Baroque San Fancisco, Cape Town Philharmonic, English Concert and Philharmonie Zuidnerderland.

    Berger has received a multitude of prizes and awards, including the 2010 Ernst Haefliger Competition in Switzerland, the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers, the Countess of Munster Trust Scholarship, the Musicians Benevolent Fund Grant and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award. He is a graduate and Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and a former member of the Young Singers Programme at English National Opera.

    In addition to Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song, his discography includes Handel's Alexander's Feast with Ludus Baroque (Delphian), Samson and Dettingen Te Deum (Carus), Poulenc's Carmelites (Chandos) and on DVD, Admeto (C Major) and L'incoronazione de Poppea (Opus Arte).