Roderick Williams

Roderick Williams is one of the most sought after baritones of his generation and performs a wide repertoire from baroque to contemporary music in the opera house, on the concert platform and in recital.  He enjoys relationships with all the major UK opera houses and has sung world premieres of operas by, among others, David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michel van der Aa, Robert Saxton and Alexander Knaifel.  He performs regularly with all the BBC orchestras, and many other ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. 

Abroad Roderick has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris,  Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Bach Collegium Japan amongst others.   His many festival appearances include the BBC Proms (including the Last Night in 2014), Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, Aldeburgh and Melbourne Festivals.

Recent and future opera engagements include Oronte in Charpentier’s Medée, Don Alfonso / Cosi fan Tutte, Pollux / Castor and Pollux, Sharpless / Madame Butterfly and baritone soloist in the new production of Britten’s War Requiem all for English National Opera, Toby Kramer in Van der Aa’s Sunken Garden in the Netherlands , Lyon and London,  Van der Aa’s After Life at Melbourne State Theatre,  Sharpless for the Nederlandse Reisopera, the title roles of Eugene Onegin  for Garsington Opera, Billy Budd for Opera North, Van der Aa’s Upload for Netherlands Opera, Oper Koln, Park Avenue Armory New York and the Bregenz Festival, and Papageno / Die Zauberflöte as well as the title role in Il ritorno di Ulisse  for the Royal Opera House.  Recent and future concert engagements include concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Rias Kammerchor, Singapore Symphony, Gabrieli Consort, Sao Paolo Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Music of the Baroque Chicago, Berlin Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, London  Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Proms, Bayerische Rundfunk, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

He is also an accomplished recital artist who can be heard at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall where he recently performed all three Schubert cycles in one season, Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, the Perth Concert Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, London Song Festival, Beethovenhaus, Snape Maltings, Edinburgh Festival,  Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Concertgebouw and the Musikverein, Vienna.  He appears regularly on Radio 3 both as a performer and a presenter. 

His numerous recordings include Vaughan Williams, Berkeley and Britten operas for Chandos and an extensive repertoire of English song with pianist Iain Burnside for Naxos. Most recently he has recorded the three Schubert cycles for Chandos and an award winning disc of French song with Roger Vignoles for Champs Hill.

Roderick Williams is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room, with the Rias Kammerchor and live on national radio. From 2022/23 season he takes the position of Composer in Association of the BBC Singers

He will be the Artist in Residence at the 2023 Aldeburgh Festival and is currently 'singer-in-residence' for Music in the Round in Sheffield, presenting concerts and leading on dynamic and innovative learning and participation projects that introduce amateur singers, young and old, to performing classical song repertoire. He was Artist in Residence for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra between 2020-22.   He was awarded an OBE for services to music in June 2017.