Sir Willard White

Last season Sir Willard made a house debut as Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for Washington National Opera, returning to The Royal Ballet & Opera for Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto and the Salzburg Festival as Frere Bernard in a new production of Messiaen’s Saint Francois D’Assise.

Other recent operatic highlights include Arkel in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Dallas Opera, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Porgy in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and the title role in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle for Hungarian State Opera, 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, Schigolch in Berg’s Lulu for Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Dikoj in Janáček’s Kát'a Kabanová for Opéra National de Lyon, Luther and Crespel in Offenbach’s Les contes d'Hoffmann at La Monnaie, Seneca in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea for the Wiener Staatsoper & Gorjantchikov in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the Opéra National de Paris. Since making his operatic debut with the New York City Opera in 1974, he has sung regularly at The Royal Ballet & Opera, English National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the opera houses of Munich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, San Francisco and at the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals.

On the concert platform, Sir Willard 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. Sir Willard 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. He appeared at the 80th Anniversary of VE Day Concert at Horse Guards Parade, broadcast live on the BBC.

Recent highlights include Méphistophélès in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, 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 Sir Willard 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.

Sir Willard 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. In 1989, Sir Willard 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. Sir Willard holds the Order of Merit of Jamaica, 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 across a distinguished fifty-year career.

2026/27 season / 804 words. Not to be altered without permission.