Bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams enjoys a vibrant career on both the opera and concert stage and a vocal versatility that allows him to present repertoire ranging from the classics of Bach, Gluck and Handel through to more recent masters such as Britten, Stravinsky and Wagner. His career, initially built on his strong Baroque credentials, has found a new dramatic direction with successes as Pizarro (Fidelio) at Philharmonie de Paris, and as Telramund (Lohengrin) under Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Festival de Lanaudière. A subsequent portrayal of Captain Balstrode in Christoph Loy’s staging of Peter Grimes at Theater an der Wien, alongside acclaimed performances as Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) and Donner (Das Rheingold) further enhanced an already highly regarded operatic profile.
Praised for his facility in the French operatic repertoire, roles include Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Mefistofeles in Gounod’s Faust and specially curated performances at Opéra National de Bordeaux to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Cervantes featuring music from Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée and Massenet’s Don Quichotte. He made his house debut at Opernhaus Zürich in 2021 as the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann and last season reprised the roles in Barrie Kosky’s fantastical staging at Komische Oper Berlin.
An extensive discography includes Beethoven’s Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II with the San Francisco Symphony (Tilson Thomas) and The Seasons with the Gabrieli Consort and Players (Paul McCreesh).
This season includes Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Hungarian State Opera, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra (Kazushi Ono) and a recording of The dream of Gerontius with Gabrieli Consort (McCreesh).