Douglas Williams
Bass-baritone
“Douglas Williams seems as if he is Giovanni incarnate, dashing and fun-loving and young enough to fear nothing.”
— The Globe and Mail
DOVE L’Altra Euridice highlights
Douglas Williams, bass baritone, was born in Farmington, Connecticut. He trained in voice at the New England Conservatory, Yale School of Music, and Tanglewood Music Center. His repertoire spans many centuries: This season he has premiered a new work by Matthew Barnson with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and will appear in the debut recording of Henry Demarest's “Circé” with the Boston Early Music Festival. He has appeared as a soloist with some of the great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. In opera he distinguished himself in the roles of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Nick Shadow, with conductors Edo de Waart and Barbara Hannigan. Always up for a challenge on stage, Douglas has created new opera productions with the choreographers Mark Morris and Sasha Waltz for Lincoln Center and the Dutch National Opera. His characterization of Pluto in Jonathan Dove’s “The Other Euridice” last season was called “one of Houston’s most riveting operatic portrayals in recent years” (Texas Classical Review). Douglas is also a writer and a performer. He lives in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Read more in biography below.
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Biography
Bass-baritone Douglas Williams has, in the last few seasons, made a name for himself in leading roles, including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Don Giovanni with Opera Atelier, and Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress with Barbara Hannigan and the Munich Philharmonic, all to great acclaim. Highlights of this season include the premiere of a new work by Matthew Barnson with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and a debut recording of Henry Demarest's “Circé” with the Boston Early Music Festival.
Mr. Williams is “a lively mover” on stage (The New York Times), and with this ability he has appeared in opera productions from distinguished choreographers, including Mark Morris’s Acis and Galatea for Lincoln Center, and Orfeo with Sasha Waltz for the Dutch National Opera. With choreographer Andreas Heise and the pianist Jonathan Ware he is currently creating a choreographic Die Schöne Müllerin for himself and three dancers.
In chamber music Mr. Williams has appeared with Igor Levitt and the JACK Quarter at the Tanglewood Festival for Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon, with the Signal Ensemble in the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s It Happens Like This, and recently as a guest recitalist with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. In November Mr. Williams will be joined by pianist Levi Hammer for a song recital at the Salzburg Mozarteum, presenting the world premiere of a song cycle by the British composer Iain Bell.
In concert music Williams has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), the Nashville Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the NDR Radio Philharmoniker, the Detroit Symphony, Les Talens Lyriques, and the Berlin Philharmonic. He trained at New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music.