Sir Willard White

Recent highlights include il Re in Aida for the Royal Danish Opera, Dikoj in Janáček Kát'a Kabanová for Opéra National de Lyon, A Blind Ballad Singer and Recorder of Norwich in Britten Gloriana for English National Opera, Monterone in Verdi Rigoletto for Opera North, Porgy in Gershwin Porgy and Bess and the title role in Bartók Bluebeard’s Castle for Hungarian State Opera, Seneca in Monteverdi L'incoronazione di Poppea for the Wiener Staatsoper, Jupiter in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld for the English National Opera, Luther and Crespel in Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann at La Monnaie, Trinity Moses in Weill Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Gorjantchikov in Janáček From the House of the Dead at the Opéra national de Paris, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Monnaie and Opéra National de Lyon, Thibaut d'Arc in Tchaikovsky The Maid of Orleans at Theater an der Wien, Créon in Cherubini Médée at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Publio in Mozart La clemenza di Tito for Dutch National Opera, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at the Salzburg Festival, Cadmus in Henze The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival, Commendatore in Mozart Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Parson / Badger in Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, Schigolch in Berg Lulu for the English National Opera and Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Doktor in Berg Wozzeck for Dutch National Opera and Arkel in Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Metropolitan Opera.

Sir Willard White was born in Jamaica, where he commenced his musical training at the Jamaican School of Music and then went on to the Juilliard School in New York. Since his operatic debut with the New York City Opera in 1974, he has sung regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, the opera houses of Munich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, and at the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals. In 1989, White performed the role of Othello in Trevor Nunn’s production for the Royal Shakespeare Company, alongside Sir Ian McKellen as Iago and Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona.

On the concert platform, White sings regularly with the world’s major conductors and orchestras, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, La Scala, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland orchestras and the Berliner Philharmoniker, and he has appeared as soloist many times at the BBC Proms, including the First and Last Night of the Proms and at the Proms in the Park. Highlights include Walton Belshazzar’s Feast at the Philharmonie de Paris, Tiresias and Messenger in Stravinsky Oedipus Rex with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust with the Cleveland Orchestra and at the Verbier Festival with Charles Dutoit, Golaud in Pélleas et Mélisande with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marke in Wagner Tristan und Isolde Act II under Gergiev, and a concert performance of Pélleas et Mélisande (Arkel) and Porgy and Bess (Porgy) in concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle.

Sir Willard White was awarded the CBE in 1995 and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2004. 

2023/24 season / 700 words. Not to be altered without permission.