William Towers

Countertenor

• Biography
• Reviews
• Repertoire
• Photos

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  William Towers read English at Cambridge University and was a postgraduate scholar at the Royal Academy of Music. He appeared extensively as a soloist in Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage and his performances in the complete Bach series have been issued on CD.

  His opera engagements have included roles at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice Venice, Glyndebourne Festival, Oper Frankfurt, Göttingen Handel Festival, Gothenburg Opera, Linbury Theatre, La Monnaie Brussels, Aldeburgh Festival, Canadian Opera Company, National Theatre Prague, Bregenz Festival, Opera Theatre Company, London Handel Festival and at Grange Park.

  His oratorio and recital schedule has featured appearances in many major venues and festivals in the UK and abroad, including the BBC Proms, with distinguished conductors such as Sir Roger Norrington, Paul McCreesh, Richard Hickox, Laurence Cummings Emmanuelle Haïm, Barry Wordsworth, Stephen Layton and Jeffrey Skidmore. Orchestras he has worked with include the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, The Sixteen, Le Concert d’Astrée and Netherlands Bach Society. He has sung Orlando and Belshazzar in the US with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque.

  Current plans include Mago Cristiano Rinaldo for Glyndebourne and Ottone L’incoronazione di Poppea at Teatro Real Madrid and concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

  William Towers is represented by Rayfield Allied worldwide.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

• • Download press quotes

  • A Midsummer Nights Dream
    English National Opera

    The vocal ensemble was well matched but the hero of the night was the counter-tenor William Towers, who sang Oberon from the side of the stage while an indisposed Iestyn Davies acted the role.

    Fiona Maddocks, The Observer

    Iestyn Davies’s Oberon fell victim to a virus but bravely mimed the part with William Towers as his voluptuous vocal shadow.

    Andrew Clark, Financial Times

    A vocally indisposed Iestyn Davies acted the part of Oberon, which was sung from another box by the excellent William Towers.

    Barry Millington, Evening Standard

    With that performance Towers has doubtless ensured himself of a major role of his own at ENO before long; his hauntingly beautiful rendition never once lapsed into stereotypical hooting.

    Mark Berry, Seen and Heard

    Vocally and musically this is a remarkable evening, surviving even the loss of Iestyn Davies’ Oberon, who mimes the part while William Towers sings it magically.

    George Hall, The Stage

    On the first night, Davies had lost his voice, and acted through the role, while William Towers sang it, very well, from a box to the side of the stage.

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian

    Towers was extremely impressive, a counter-tenor of real vocal poise and immaculate finish, and if I half – or, better, wholly – closed my eyes, I could just about picture him in the Glyndebourne production by Peter Hall, still one of the three or four greatest stagings of any opera I’ve ever been lucky enough to see in my life.

    Stephen Jay-Taylor, Opera Brittania

  • Rinaldo
    Glyndebourne Festival Opera

    …there was a striking cameo from Mead’s fellow countertenor William Towers as the Christian Magus,

    Jonathan Keates, Opera Magazine

  • Death in Venice
    Canadian Opera Company

    William Towers was perfection as Apollo

    Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail

• William Towers’ Opera Repertoire

  ADES

  • The Tempest (Stephano)
  • Almeida
  • La Giuditta (Ozia)

  BRITTEN

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon)
  • Death in Venice (Voice of Apollo)

  CAVALLI

  • La Callisto (Endimione)

  DOVE

  • Flight (The Refugee)

  GLUCK

  • Orfeo ed Euridice (Orfeo)

  HANDEL

  • Agrippina (Ottone)
  • Giulio Cesare (Cesare / Tolomeo)
  • Lotario (Lotario)
  • Orlando (Orlando,Medoro)
  • Ottone (Ottone)
  • Poro (Poro)
  • Rinaldo (Eustazio, Mago Cristiano)
  • Semele (Athamas)
  • Xerxes/Serse (Arsamenes)

  MONTEVERDI

  • Poppea (Ottone)

  MOZART

  • Mitridate (Farnace)
  • Ascanio in Alba (Ascanio)

  PURCELL

  • Dido & Aeneas (Sorceress / Spirit)
  • Fairy Queen (Countertenor parts)

  VIVALDI

  • Orlando Furioso (Ruggiero)

  WEIR

  • Night at the Chinese Opera (The Military Governor)

  William Towers Concert Repertoire

  BACH

  • Cantatas 4, 5, 8, 12, 22, 23, 26, 35, 36, 38, 48, 54, 62, 71, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 85, 88, 90, 93, 98, 99, 100, 103, 109, 110, 112, 113, 115, 121, 125, 131, 137, 138, 146, 151, 159, 169, 170, 185, 188, 197
  • Christmas Oratorio
  • Easter Oratorio
  • Lutheran Mass in G
  • Magnificat
  • Mass in B minor
  • St John Passion
  • St Mark Passion
  • St Matthew Passion

  BERNSTEIN

  • Chichester Psalms

  BIRTWISTLE

  • Angel Fighter

  BLOW

  • Ode on the Death of Mr H.Purcell

  BRITTEN

  • Canticles

  CROFT

  • Ode for the Peace of Utrecht

  HANDEL

  • Belshazzar (Daniel)
  • Dixit Dominus
  • Foundling Hospital Anthem
  • Israel in Egypt
  • Joshua (Othniel)
  • Messiah
  • Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne
  • Samson (Micah)
  • Saul (David)
  • Semele (Athamas)
  • Theodora (Didymus)
  • Utrecht Te Deum & Jubilate

  LAMBERT

  • The Rio Grande

  MOZART

  • Coronation Mass

  ORFF

  • Carmina Burana

  PERGOLESI

  • Stabat Mater

  PURCELL

  • Come, ye Sons of Art
  • Hail bright Cecilia
  • Indian Queen
  • Now does the glorious day appear

  SCARLATTI

  • David Pugna et Victoria (Saul)
  • Salve Regina

  VIVALDI

  • Gloria
  • Nisi Dominus
  • Stabat Mater

• Photos

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