William Berger - Bass

William Berger is currently a member of ENO’s Young Singers Programme for a third season after graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in 2004.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 for the duration of his studies. William's most recent appearances have included King Arthur, Novice's Friend in Billy Budd, Shepherd in Monteverdi's Orfeo, Masetto in Don Giovanni and Fiorello in The Barber of Seville for ENO, his Wigmore Hall recital debut, broadcasting Handel's Apollo and Dafne for Nord Deutsche Rundfunk, Carmina Burana in the Royal Albert Hall, Messiah in Halle, Mercurio in Handel’s Atalanta in Germany and the title role in Don Giovanni for Opera East. William made his professional operatic debut at the Goettingen Handel Festival in Germany as Ormonte in Handel’s Partenope in 2001 and returned in 2003 to sing Zebul in Jeptha with the English Concert. (Live recordings of both works have been released on disc). For the Aix-en-Provence Festival he created the role of Oberon in A Summer Night’s Dream for their Mozart/ Shakespeare project in 2002 and toured to Spain, France and Germany with the same production. He sang the role of Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute for British Youth Opera and performed the lead role in the world premiere of Anthony Bailey’s contemporary opera The Black Monk (based on a short story by Chekov) for the Sirius Ensemble at the Bloomsbury Theatre. For Royal Academy Opera William has sung Ernesto in Il Mondo della Luna by Haydn, Harasta in the Cunning Litle Vixen conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and The Count in Le Nozze di Figaro at Le Petit Thea. Concert work includes Carmina Burana with the CBSO, Faure Requiem with the LPO, Jephtha with the English Concert, Apollo e Dafne with La Stagione Frankfurt, Saint Saens’ Oratoire de Noel with the Complesso Internazionale Cameristica in Milan, Messiah at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Elijah with the British Choral Institute and the world premiere of The Angry Garden by Michael Stimpson in St John’s, Smith Square. In recital he has sung Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch and Moerike Lieder at various London venues, a series of American Song in the Duke’s Hall and on a recital recording Songs of Spring by the Royal Academy Song Circle. Future engagements include Schaunard in La Boheme and English Clerk in Death in Venice for ENO, as well as opening the 2006/2007 season for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco with Handel's Apollo e Dafne, Apollo in Monteverdi's Orfeo for the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, further performances of King Arthur with the Mark Morris Dance Company in California, Wolf Italienisches Liederbuch (Oxford Lieder Festival), Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, Brahms Requiem and Bach Weinachts Oratorium, as well as two recordings: The Carmelites (Chandos) and October Roses (BMS Label).