Bass Baritone
The British baritone David Wilson-Johnson studied Modern Languages at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Over a career spanning forty years he has been a guest of the major opera houses and orchestras and festivals worldwide. He has sung under many distinguished conductors including Boulez, Brüggen, Bychkov, Davis, Dutoit, Giulini, Harnoncourt, Herreweghe, Knussen, Leonhardt, Mackerras, Mehta, Previn, Rattle and Rozhdestvensky.
His recordings range from Tubular Bells and Ommadawn (Mike Oldfield), the film ‘Give my regards to Broad Street’ (The Beatles) to works of Bach (Leonhardt, Giulini) Beethoven (Mackerras), Mahler 8 (Berlin Philharmonic/Rattle) Stravinsky, Schoenberg (Boulez, Knussen, Robert Craft), Ravel (Previn), Frank Martin’s Jedermann Monologues (LPO/Bamert) and with his regular pianist partner David Owen Norris a ground breaking Winterreise and songs by Finzi, Quilter, Somervell and Trevor Hold.
Notable operatic appearances include the title roles in Tippett’s King Priam (Nationale Reisopera and BBC Proms), Albeniz’s Merlin (Teatro Real Madrid), Shostakovich’s The Nose under Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (Netherlands Opera), and Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise (London, Lyon, Amsterdam, Brussels, New York and Edinburgh Festival).
Recent and future highlights include Mahler Symphony No. 8 (Berlin Philharmonic/Rattle, and also Beijing Festival Orchestra/Dutoit), A Child of Our Time (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Mendelssohn’s Paulus and Haydn’s Creation (King’s Consort), Ravel’s L’heure espagnole (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Pons), Handel’s Messiah (Academy of Ancient Music/Howarth) and a double-bill of Stravinsky’s The Nightingale and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges (Boston Symphony Orchestra/Dutoit). A regular performer at the BBC Proms since 1981, this year he scored a huge success as King Fisher in A Midsummer Marriage by Sir Michael Tippett.
London Concert Choir concerts:
