The Voice for Desire

Few countertenors have pushed the boundaries of repertoire and sound more than Andrew Watts. A dramatic voice unlike any other and extraordinary stage craft and presence make him a unique performer not only of parts traditionally associated with the voice type, but also a pioneer of 20th and 21st century repertoire. He is associated particularly with parts like Edgar in Reiman’s Lear, which he has performed at Staatsoper Hamburg, Opéra national de Paris, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich and which will take him to Teatro Real Madrid next season. As well as singing core roles of the countertenor repertoire such as Ottone Agrippina (Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon), Athamas Semele (Oper Graz) and Arsamene Xerxes (English National Opera), Oberon A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Prince Go-Go (Komische Oper Berlin, ENO, Oper Graz) and such less frequently done by countertenors like Baba the Turk The Rake’s Progress (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Dutch National Opera, Stanislavsky Theatre, Moscow) and Orlofsky Die Fledermaus (Oper Graz), he has performed over 60 world premieres. Creating roles specifically written for him, Andrew has also performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, La Fenice, Staatsoper Berlin, Opera de Lyon, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at the Salzburg, Bregenz, Lucerne, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh International Festivals as well as the Ruhrtriennale and the BBC Proms, and premiered works by Harrison Birtwistle (The Minotaur; Gawain; The Last Supper), Olga Neuwirth (Bählamms Fest; Lost Highway; The Outcast; Keyframes for a Hippogriff), Unsuk Chin (Alice in Wonderland), Nuñez (Märchen), Guarnieri (Medea), Raymond Yiu (The Original Chinese Conjuror), Michael Finnissey (Thérèse Raquin), Judith Weir (Miss Fortune), Torsten Rasch (The Duchess of Malfi), Tansy Davies (Between Worlds) and Elena Langer (Figaro Gets A Divorce). In 22/23 Andrew’s perfomances include The Outcast at the Philharmonie de Paris with Ensemble Intercontemporrain, Keyframes for a Hippogriff with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and in Lyon, Lear at Bayerische Staatsoper, Peter Pan in Bolzano and Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.

Gavin Roberts enjoys a varied career as a piano accompanist. He has partnered singers in recital at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, and is Artistic Director of the recital series Song in the City. He has appeared at The Cheltenham Festival, Dartington International Festival, The Ludlow Weekend of English Song, The Ryedale Festival and The Oxford Lieder Festival. He works regularly with soprano Lucy Hall, with whom he was the winner of the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform, and actor Rosamund Shelley, with whom he performs her one-woman shows Novello & Son and War Songs.Read More