WILLIAM BERGER (“...one of the best of our younger baritones” —Gramophone) is an Associate and graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, and was also a member of English National Opera’s Young Singers Program, where his roles included Schaunard in La bohème, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, David in A Hand of Bridge, Fiorello in The Barber of Seville, Monsieur Javelinot in The Carmelites, Second Nazarene in Salome, Novice’s Friend in Billy Budd, Shepherd in Orfeo, and Grimbald, Aeolus & He in King Arthur. Other operatic performances include the Festival Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, the Internationale Handel-Festspiele Göttingen, the Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), and the Mark Morris Dance Company in roles including Zebul (Jephtha), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Don Giovanni, Papageno (The Magic Flute), Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), and Harasta (The Cunning Little Vixen).

In concert Berger has performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Concert, Philharmonia Baroque (San Francisco), the Hanover Band, and the Cape Town Philharmonic in repertoire including Carmina Burana, the Fauré Requiem, Messiah, Elijah, Weinachts Oratorium, Saint-Saëns’ Oratoire de Noel, Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, and the world premiere of The Angry Garden by Michael Stimpson. Recitals include his Wigmore Hall debut and Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch (Oxford Lieder Festival) as well as two recordings: Songs of Spring and October Roses. He has recently also recorded the role of Manoa in Handel’s Samson.

Winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers in 1999, he was also awarded a Countess of Munster Trust Scholarship, an MBF grant, and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award. Forthcoming engagements include Valetto in L’incoronazione di Poppea (Liceu, Barcelona), Ercole in Admeto (Internationale Handel-Festspiele Göttingen), The Edinburgh International Festival 2009, Lucifero in La Resurrezione and Apollo in Apollo e Dafne (Festival Baroque Australia), this performance of Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas in Walt Disney Concert Hall, Brahms German Requiem (St. John’s, Smith Square, and Birmingham City Hall), Gilles’ Requiem conducted by Andrew Parrott, and Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen.