A renowned interpreter of Bach, William Shelton will perform during the 2024-2025 season with the Orchestra of the Bach Festival in Montreal and various ensembles, including Capella Sollertia, Il Gardellino, Les Ambassadeurs, and Gli Angeli. The Franco-British countertenor will also make his debut at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse in Voyage d’Automne, a creation by Bruno Mantovani, and will then take on the role of Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare.

We will also hear him in Handel’s Messiah with Gli Angeli, in Carmen Case at the Opéra de Limoges, and in his program Une Vénitienne à Paris with Alice Trocellier and Léo Brunet.

For several years now, William Shelton has been a regular guest soloist with French ensembles such as Pygmalion, Le Poème Harmonique, the Orchestre National Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Les Ambassadeurs, Alia Mens, Les Cris de Paris, L’Escadron Volant de la Reine, and Le Caravansérail, as well as with international ensembles such as Vox Luminis, Collegium Vocale Gent, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble & Chor, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Musica Getutscht, Münchener Bach-Orchester, Freiburger Bachchor, A Nocte Temporis, Continuum, and Gli Angeli.

On stage, he created the role of the President in Carmen Case by the composer Diana Soh and based on Bizet’s opera, at the TAP Poitiers, the Opéra de Bordeaux and the Théâtre du Luxembourg. He has also sung the role of Messaggiera (Euridice by Caccini) with Scherzi Musicali in Brussels and Timișoara (Romania), Arsamene (Serse by Handel) with Opera Fuoco in China (Beijing, Shenzhen, and Nanjing), and Apollo (Psyche by Locke) with Ensemble Correspondances (Opéra Royal de Versailles, Caen, and Théâtre d’Hardelot).

As a keen chamber musician, in 2023 he won the Duo Prize at the Concours International de Mélodie Française de Toulouse with pianist Louis Dechambre. In 2020, he also won the Prix de l’Opéra Grand Avignon at the Concours de mélodie de Gordes, with pianist Bastien Dollinger; they were subsequently invited to give recitals at the Opéra d’Avignon as part of the Apér’Opéra series and as part of the “Jeunes Talents” program at the Petit Palais in Paris. This season, in the company of the theorbist Léo Brunet and the gambist Alice Trocellier, he will perform Une Vénitienne à Paris, a program based on the remarkable life of the composer Antonia Bembo, having recorded it for Oktav Records.

He has been an artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel since 2021, where he received guidance from Sophie Koch, José Van Dam, and Stéphane Degout. William Shelton was previously a member of the inaugural class of young singers at the Académie Philippe Jaroussky in 2017.

He is the winner of several international competitions: the “Young Artist Award” at the Cesti Baroque Opera Competition in Innsbruck, 2nd Prize at the Froville Baroque Singing Competition, 1st Prize at the Boulder Bach Festival’s “World Bach Competition,” and both the Audience Prize and the “Jeunes Talents” Prize at the Corneille Competition in Rouen (with Andreas Scholl as chairman).

William Shelton has been represented by RSB Artists since 2022.