Ep. 5: Roderick Williams

*All podcasts formerly on SoundCloud have now been redirected to Anchor.* It was a delight to talk to the celebrated British baritone and composer Roderick Williams earlier this week about his musical training at school, university and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, thought processes when singing and performing, technical aspects of singing, and his methods in front of a live audience. Special thanks to: Roddy for additional arrangements and taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk to me. Francesco Bastanzetti at Groves Artists for practical arrangements. Helen Beardsley at English National Opera for organising a room to record at short notice. Published on 18th January 2019. Conversation recorded at the Ellis Room, English National Opera, London on 15th January 2019. Roderick Williams is one of the most sought after baritones of his generation with a wide repertoire spanning baroque to contemporary music in the opera house and on the concert platform and is also in demand as a recitalist worldwide. He enjoys relationships with all the major UK opera houses and has sung opera world premières by David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michel van der Aa, Robert Saxton and Alexander Knaifel. He performs regularly with leading conductors and orchestras throughout the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, and his many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh and Melbourne. As a composer he has had works premièred at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, the Purcell Room and on national radio. In December 2016 he won the prize for Best Choral Composition at the British Composer Awards. Roderick Williams was awarded an OBE in June 2017 and was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Opera in the 2018 Olivier Awards for his performance in the title role of the Royal Opera House production of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. A photo of the Ellis Room, which Roddy describes towards the end of the podcast. https://www.venuescanner.com/london/london-coliseum/ellis-room This episode is the second in a two-part series on being a singer today. Listen to the first instalment with Professor Richard Wistreich - in Episode 4 of the Talking Classical Podcast. SoundCloud – @talkingclassicalpodcast Twitter – @tc_podcasts Facebook – bit.ly/2CvJ7rD Blog – talkingclassicalpodcast.wordpress.com