Andrew Watts

Few countertenors have pushed the boundaries of repertory and sound as far as Andrew Watts. His dramatic voice, unlike any other, and his extraordinary stagecraft make him not only one of the most renowned interpreters of parts traditionally associated with his voice type, but also a pioneer of contemporary music. He is especially associated with roles such as Edgar in Aribert Reimann’s Lear, which he has already performed in Hamburg, Munich, Paris, Madrid and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

In the 2023/24 season he makes his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Prince Go-Go in a new production of György Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, a role he will also perform with the Orchestre national de France and at the Enescu Festival. He also sings Prince Orlofsky in a new production of Die Fledermaus at the Bavarian State Opera, Edgar at the Teatro Real and at the Hanover State Opera, and Olga Neuwirth’s Keyframes for a Hippogriff with the New York Philharmonic.
He has appeared in more than sixty world premieres, among them Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland, Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce and Olga Neuwirth’s Bählamms Fest, along with works by Harrison Birtwistle, Tansy Davies, Michael Finnissy, Torsten Rasch, Judith Weir, Jörg Widmann and Raymond Yiu. His recent performances include Neuwirth’s The Outcast with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris and Keyframes for a Hippogriff with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Wolfgang Mitterer’s Peter Pan – The Dark Side in Bolzano and Alfred Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie.

He has appeared at opera houses such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala, Milan, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Berlin State Opera and the Opéra de Lyon, as well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic, and has been a guest artist at the international festivals of Salzburg, Bregenz, Lucerne, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh and Glyndebourne, at the Ruhrtriennale and at the BBC Proms.

Andrew Watts was born in Middlesex and trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London.