William Blake

William Blake is a recent graduate from the Opera School at the Royal Academy of Music in London and now works extensively as an opera and oratorio singer.  Before going to the Academy, he studied at the University of Oxford where he held a choral scholarship at The Queen’s College, reading music.

Since leaving the Academy, William has worked at Glyndebourne, covering ‘Goro’ in Madama Butterfly, playing a ‘Servant’ in Massenet’s Cendrillon, the semi-chorus in Brett Dean’s Hamlet and the chorus for Saul, La Traviata, Don Pasquale, La Clemenza di Tito and Vanessa.  With Royal Academy Opera, William’s roles were ‘Aristée/Pluton’ in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers at the Hackney Empire, ‘Oronte’ in Handel’s Alcina, ‘Lucano’ in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, the ‘Distiller’ in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night and ‘Don Basilio’ in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.  Other operatic experience in scenes with RAO includes ‘Angel 3’ in Benjamin’s Written on Skin, and ‘Fritz’ in the Cherry Duet from Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz.

Oratorio engagements have included Mozart’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall, the evangelist in Bach’s Johannes-Passion and Matthäus-Passion with Norwich Cathedral Choir and Norwich Baroque, as well as Bach’s B Minor Mass and Magnificat, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah and Athalia, Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons, Leighton’s Crucifixus pro nobis, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, , Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle amongst many others.  He has performed at the Oxford Lieder Festival, and other recital projects recently have included Schumann’s Dichterliebe and  Dvorak’s Zigeunerlieder with Jâms Coleman and Walton’s Anon. in Love with Michael Butten, as well as multiple opera gala concerts.