Andrew Watts (born 29 December 1967) is a British classical

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...

Education and background

Andrew Watts was born in Hammersmith, Middlesex . He moved to Iver in Berkshire with his family in his early years and was educated at Slough Grammar school. He studied clarinet, piano and voice and at 16 he started studying both voice and clarinet at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

's junior school. He enrolled as a full-time student at the Royal Academy at 18 where he trained in singing and was awarded his DipRAM (later appointed ARAM) and his Licentiate. He was elected a fellow of the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

in 2010 where he currently teaches singing. He currently is also a vocal coach to the Jette Parker young artists at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and gives vocal masterclasses regularly both in the UK and abroad including regularly teaching at the

Hamburg Staatsoper The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

and

Dartington International Summer School Dartington International Summer School is a summer school and festival of music held on the medieval estate of Dartington Hall and is a department of the Dartington Trust. Operation First established at Bryanston School in 1948 (largely throu ...

. He was trained by a number of individuals over the years but received most of his training from Geoffrey Mitchell, David Pollard and Russell Smythe.

Performance and career

Watts has sung every genre of contemporary and classical music on the operatic stage and in concert and has become one of the most respected countertenor singers in contemporary and new music and in 2016 was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society awards in the Singer category. Over his career he has fostered numerous close relationships with living composers and has inspired numerous new works for the countertenor voice. Noteworthy operas with parts written specifically for Watts include ''The Navigator'' (

Liza Lim Liza Lim (born 30 August 1966) is an Australian composer. Lim writes concert music (chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her int ...

), ''Duchess of Malfi'' (

Torsten Rasch Torsten Rasch (born 1965 in Dresden) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. He lives in Berlin, but has found moderate success in the UK. Biography Torsten Rasch was born in Dresden in 1965 and began piano lessons at the age of s ...

), ''Alice in Wonderland'' (

Unsuk Chin Unsuk Chin ( ko, 진은숙 ; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was self-taught piano from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as w ...

), ''Between Worlds'' (

Tansy Davies Tansy Davies (born 29 May 1973, Bristol) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. She won the BBC Young Composers' Competition in 1996 and has written works for ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Or ...

), ''The Minotaur'' and ''Gawain'' (

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...

), ''Homage to Klaus Nomi'' and ''The Outcast'', ''Lost Highway'', ''Bählamms Fest'' (

Olga Neuwirth Olga Neuwirth (born 4 August 1968 in Graz) is an Austrian classical composer, visual artist and author. She gained fame mainly through her operas and music theater works, which often deal with topical and decidedly political themes of identity, ...

). In addition, numerous songs have also been written for Andrew and are to be compiled in an upcoming album ''The Countertenor Songbook''. Watts' operatic engagements to date include appearances with the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

Covent Garden,

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, ...

and Touring Operas, the

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the English county, county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the int ...

and Almeida Festivals and

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

. Foreign engagements include Staatsoper Berlin,

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, a ...

Hamburgische Staatsoper The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Genera ...

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

Nationaltheater Mannheim The Mannheim National Theatre (german: Nationaltheater Mannheim) is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18 ...

RIAS Kammerchor The RIAS Kammerchor (RIAS Chamber Choir) is a German choir based in Berlin, Germany. It receives support from the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin ("Berlin Radio Orchestra and Choirs"), a limited-liability company owned by the public bro ...

Berlin,

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

Milan,

Teatro La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...

Opéra National du Rhin The Opéra national du Rhin is an opera company which performs in Alsace, eastern France. It includes the Opéras in Strasbourg, in Mulhouse, where the Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin, also known as the Ballet Du Rhin, is based, and in Colmar, ...

Opera de Lyon Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a ...

Teatro Real Madrid The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...

, Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbon, Grand Theatre de Genève, De Vlaamse Opera,

Graz Opera The Graz Opera (German: Oper Graz) is an Austrian opera house and opera company based in Graz. The orchestra of the opera house also performs concerts as the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra (''Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester''). History Opera h ...

, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Bielefeld and Australia, Canada and Mexico and the Salzburg, Vienna, Dresden, Bregenz, Batignano and Montepulciano Festivals. His repertoire includes Gluck's ''

Orfeo ed Euridice ' (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on Orpheus, the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the ''azione teatrale'', mea ...

'', Arsamenes in ''

Serse ''Serse'' (; English title: ''Xerxes''; HWV 40) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed in London on 15 April 1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia (1 ...

'', title role in ''

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

'', Athamas in ''

Semele Semele (; Ancient Greek: Σεμέλη ), in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysu ...

'', Andronico in ''

Tamerlano ''Tamerlano'' (Tamerlane, HWV 18) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Agostin Piovene's ''Tamerlano'' together with another libretto entitled ''Bajazet'' aft ...

'', title role in Leonardo Vinci's ''

Artaserse ' is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia. There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, ...

'', Sorceress and Second Witch in ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was co ...

'', Grace in '' Venus and Adonis'', Ottone in '' Agrippina'', Nero and Nitric in ''

L'incoronazione di Poppea ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' ( SV 308, ''The Coronation of Poppaea'') is an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi's last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, and was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni ...

'', Oberon in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', Orlofsky in ''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original ...

'', Orestes in ''

La belle Hélène ''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy, Helen's elopement with Paris (myt ...

'', Edgar in ''

Lear Lear or Leir may refer to: Acronyms * Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, a Mexican association of revolutionary artists and writers * Low Energy Ion Ring, an ion pre-accelerator of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN ** Low Energy Antipr ...

'', Behemoth der Kater in ''

Der Meister und Margarita ' (''The Master and Margarita'') is an opera in two acts by York Höller. The libretto, also by Höller, is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, ''The Master and Margarita''. Höller composed the work between 1984 and 1989, and revised it in 2008. ...

'', Adschib in Henze's '' L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe'', Omar in ''

The Death of Klinghoffer ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' is an American opera, with music by John Adams to an English-language libretto by Alice Goodman. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the hijacking of the passenger liner ''Achille ...

'', Bishop Baldwin in ''

Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...

'', Prince Go-Go in ''

Le Grand Macabre ''Le Grand Macabre'' (1974–1977, revised version 1996) is the only opera by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. The opera has two acts, and its libretto—based on the 1934 play ''La balade du grand macabre'' by Michel de Ghelderode—was wr ...

'', Vyasemskaya / Pleasant Voice / Proletarian in '' A Dog's Heart'' and Pleasure in Gerald Barry's ''Triumph of Beauty''. He has taken part in many world premieres including

's ''Bählamms Fest'' and ''Lost Highway'', James in

's The Last Supper and Snake Priestess The Minotaur, White Rabbit and March Hare in

's Alice in Wonderland, Nuñez' Märchen,

's The Navigator, Ian McQueen's Line of Terror, Guarnieri's Medea, Loat Objects for Bang on a Can, Dmitri Smirnov's The Lamentations of Thel,

Raymond Yiu Raymond Yiu (), born 1973; is a composer, conductor, jazz pianist and music writer. Biography Born in Hong Kong, he started piano lessons at the age of four. He went to England in 1990 and now lives in London. He began writing music as a teenage ...

's The Original Chinese Conjuror and Symphony, Camille in

Michael Finnissy Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often r ...

's Thérèse Raquin,

Judith Weir Judith Weir (born 11 May 1954) is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. Biography Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish paren ...

's Miss Fortune and The Outcast, Ferdinand in

's The Duchess of Malfi and Shaman in

' Between Worlds. Watts' concert engagements include appearances with

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five National performing arts companies of Scotland, national performing arts compa ...

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United K ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestras,

Nieuw Ensemble The Nieuw Ensemble ( or ; English: New Ensemble) is a Dutch musical ensemble. It was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. It has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, str ...

Klangforum Wien The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music. Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no o ...

, at the

and Salzburg, Lucerne, Lausanne, Cernier, Brighton and Edinburgh Festivals, Vienna, New York, Budapest, Seville, Paris, Cologne, Brussels, France, Australia and Italy. Repertoire includes

Judas Maccabaeus Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, also spelled Machabeus, or Maccabæus, Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, ''Yehudah HaMakabi'') was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleu ...

Jephtha Jephthah (pronounced ; he, יִפְתָּח, ''Yīftāḥ''), appears in the Book of Judges as a judge who presided over Israel for a period of six years (). According to Judges, he lived in Gilead. His father's name is also given as Gilead, ...

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...

St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...

, Bach

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

y soul Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...

magnifies

he Lord He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

, The Indian Queen,

Charpentier Charpentier () is the French language, French word for "carpenter", and it is also a French surname; a variant spelling is Carpentier. In English, the equivalent word and name is "Carpenter (surname), Carpenter"; in German, "Zimmermann (disambigua ...

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

the world premieres of

's Cantatrix Sopranica, Birtwistle's Orpheus Elegies, Angel Fighter and The Shadow of Night, Oscar Strasnoy's L'instant, works by Guarnieri and Manzoni and Olga Neuwirth's, Homage a Klaus Nomi, La vie…Ulcerante and Five Daily Miniatures. He features on recordings for ASV of Boyce's Ode for St Cecilia's Day and David's Lamentation over Saul and Jonatan with the

Hanover Band The Hanover Band is a British orchestra specialised in historically informed performance, founded by its artistic director, Caroline Brown. The group's website explains the name thus: '' 'Hanover' signifies the Hanoverian period 1714-1830 and ' ...

and was heard in Sally Potter's film

. He broadcasts regularly and television appearances include a cameo as Kathleen Ferrier in William and Mary. Engagements in 2016 include Cherubino in the world premiere of Divorced by Elena Langer for Welsh National Opera, his debut at the Paris Opera as Edgar in the new production of LEAR and concerts at Lucerne Festival and the BBC Proms. Future performances include debuts for Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Badisches Staatstheater and Vienna Staatsoper, returns to Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Opera de Lyon and Teatro Real, Madrid and concerts with BBCSO and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recordings

*Boyce, David’s Lamentation over Saul and Jonatan – ASV/Gaudemus *Boyce Ode for St Cecilia's Day – ASV/Gaudeamus *The NMC Songbook – NMC Records *Harrison Birtwistle, Angel Fighter – NMC Records *Olga Neuwirth, Lost Highway – Kairos Records *Harrison Birtwistle, Orpheus Elegies – Oboe Classics

References

External links

"Timeout London""Music OMH""MusicalCriticism.com"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Andrew 1967 births Living people 21st-century British male opera singers Countertenors 20th-century British male opera singers