Willard White

Source: Intermusica

One of the best-loved and most versatile opera stars of the last 40 years, Sir Willard White’s illustrious career has taken him to the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls throughout the world, collaborating with conductors, directors and orchestras of the highest calibre.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include a house debut as Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for Washington National Opera, a return to The Royal Ballet & Opera for Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto and Frere Bernard in Messiaen’s Saint Francois D’Assise at the Salzburg Festival. On the concert platform, White will return to Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal as Méphistophélès in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, alongside plans for Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with City of Bath Bach Choir.
White will give recitals at Wigmore Hall, Jersey Music Festival, Temple Music Foundation, New Mill Male Voice Choir, Gatehouse Music Society and with Cornwall Symphony Chorus, as well as continuing his long standing relationship with The Brodsky Quartet for a concert at King’s Place.
Recent operatic highlights include a house debut at Dallas Opera as Arkel inDebussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Porgy in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and the title role in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle for Hungarian State Opera, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro in a new production for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Abbot in Britten’s Curlew River for the Aldeburgh Festival and on film for the BBC, creating the role of Priest in the world premiere of Hèctor Parra’s Justice and Créon in Cherubini’s Médée at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, il Re in Verdi’s Aida for the Royal Danish Opera, Dikoj in Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová for Opéra National de Lyon, A Blind Ballad Singer and Recorder of Norwich in Britten’s Gloriana, Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Schigolch in Berg’s Lulu for English National Opera and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto for Opera North, Seneca in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea for the Wiener Staatsoper, Luther and Crespel in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann at La Monnaie, Trinity Moses in Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Gorjantchikov in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the Opéra national de Paris, Royal Ballet & Opera, La Monnaie and Opéra National de Lyon, Thibaut d’Arc in Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans at Theater an der Wien, Publio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Doktor in Berg’s Wozzeck for Dutch National Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, The Royal Ballet & Opera and at the Salzburg Festival, Cadmus in Henze’s The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival, Commendatore in Mozart DonGiovanni at the Royal Ballet & Opera. On the concert platform, White sings regularly with the world’s major 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, Cleveland orchestras and the Berliner Philharmoniker. White has appeared as a soloist many times at the BBC Proms,including the First and Last Night of the Proms and at the Proms in the Park.
Recent highlights include a guest appearance at the 80th Anniversary of VE Day concert at Horse Guards Parade broadcast live on the BBC, A Child of Our Time with the Royal Northern Sinfonia cond. Sousa, Old Convict in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the BBC Philharmonic cond. John Storgårds for the BBC Proms and a tour of China with the Brodsky Quartet. Elsewhere White has sung Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at the Philharmonie de Paris, Tiresias and Messenger in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and at the Verbier Festival with Charles Dutoit, Golaud in Pélleas et Mélisande with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marke in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde Act II under Gergiev, and concert performances as Arkel in Pélleas et Mélisande, Porgy in Porgy and Bess and Parson / Badger in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle.
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 Ballet & Opera, 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. White was awarded the CBE in 1995 and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2004, he was named Chevalier de la Legion D’honneur in France in 2023 for his contributions to opera, both on the French  and international stages.