Sir Willard White was born in Jamaica, where he commenced his musical training at the Jamaican School of Music and then went on to the Juilliard School in New York. He was born into a Jamaican family in Kingston. Recent highlights include Jupiter Orpheus in the Underworld at English National Opera, Luther and Crespel Les contes d'Hoffmann at La Monnaie, Trinity Moses Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Gorjantchikov From the House of the Dead at Opera National de Paris, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Monnaie and Opéra National de Lyon, Thibaut d'Arc The Maid of Orleans at Theater an der Wien, Créon Médée at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Publio La clemenza di Tito for Dutch National Opera, Cadmus The Bassarids at the Salzburg Festival, Commendatore Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Cunning little Vixen with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, Schigolch Lulu at English National Opera and for Rome Opera, Doktor Wozzeck for Dutch National Opera, Publio La Clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival, for Rome Opera and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Metropolitan Opera. Highlights of the 2020/21 season include Esteban Montejo El Cimarrón for Opera Philadelphia, Seneca L'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Wiener Staatsoper and Priesterkönig in Jörg Widmann’s Babylon at the Staatsoper Berlin. His father was a dockworker, his mother a housewife.
He was also inspired by the American bass baritone singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.
Awards: Commander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE), 1995; Knighthood, 2004, for services to music. Education:Jamaican School of Music, Jamaica; Juilliard School, New York, New York. Gould American Salute (When Johnny comes marching home), Berlioz Pope Clement VII Benvenuto CelliniMephistopheles La Damnation de FaustHerod L’Enfance du Christ, Handel Polyphemus Acis and GalateaSomnus Semele, Janacek Forester Cunning Little VixenGorianchikov From the House of the DeadPrus The Makropoulos Case, Messiaen St. Francis Saint Françoise d’Assise, Monteverdi Seneca l’Incoronazione di Poppea, Mozart Osmin Die Entführung aus dem SerailSpeaker/Sarastro Die ZauberflöteCommendatore Don GiovanniBartolo Le nozze di Figaro, Mussorgsky Boris Boris GodunovPimen Boris GodunovKhovansky Kovanshchina, Offenbach 4 Villains Les Contes d‘Hoffmann, Prokofiev Title role Ivan the TerribleTchélio The Love for Three OrangesKutuzow War and Peace, Rimsky-Korsakov Title role Ivan the Terrible, RossiniAlidoro La CenerentolaMustapha L’Italiana in AlgeriSelim Turco in Italia, Shostakovich Boris Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Stravinsky Nick Shadow The Rake’s ProgressTiresias / Creon Oedipus Rex, Tchaikovsky Gremin Eugene OneginIbn-Hakia Iolanta, Verdi King/Ramfis AidaPhilip Don CarlosFalstaff FalstaffFerrando Il TrovatoreMaximilian I MasnadieriBanquo MacbethZaccaria NabuccoSparafucile Rigoletto, Wagner Wotan/Alberich Das RheingoldDutchman / Daland Der Fliegende HolländerWotan /Hunding Die WalküreKlingsor ParsifalLandgraf TannhäuserKing Marke Tristan und IsoldeHagen Götterdämmerung, Weill Trinity Moses The Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Zemlinsky Simon Eine Florestinische Tragödie, Willard White, still impressive of torso and timbre, proved luxury casting as Vodnik, What a joy it was to welcome the massively experienced Sir Willard White as Mephistopheles. On the concert platform, White sings regularly with the world’s major conductors and orchestras, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, The Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, La Scala, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland orchestras and the Berliner Philharmoniker, and he has appeared as soloist many times at the BBC Proms, including the First and Last Night of the Proms and at the Proms in the Park.