Biography
William Towers read English at Cambridge University and was a postgraduate scholar at the Royal Academy of Music where he won several prizes for singing and acting, and graduated with Distinction, the Dip.RAM and the Clifton prize for the best Final Recital. In his first year after leaving the Academy he appeared extensively as a soloist in Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, including appearances in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Dijon Auditorium, the Metz Arsenal, Buckingham Palace and the final concerts in New York. His performances in the complete Bach Cantata series are being issued on CD.
His opera engagements have included Medoro (Händel: Orlando) and Farnace (Mozart: Mitridate Re di Ponto) for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Oberon (Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream) with John Eliot Gardiner and David Pountney for Teatro La Fenice Venice and with Richard Hickox at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, Death in Venice (Britten) directed by Keith Warner and Agripinna (Händel) for Frankfurt Opera, Poro and Orlando (title roles) at the Göttingen Händel Festival with Konrad Junhänel, Händel´s Giulio Cesare for Gothenburg Opera with Laurence Cummings, Death in Venice for La Monnaie Brussels and in Prague, Ottone (Händel: Ottone) and La Guiditta at the Casa da Musica Porto, Orfeo (Gluck: Orfeo) with Opera North in Monte-Carlo, Apollo (Death in Venice) for the Aldeburgh and Bregenz Festivals, Playing Away for Bregenz Festival and Festpielhaus St Pölten, Ottone (Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Orlando for Opera Theatre Company, Lotario (Händel: Lotario) for the London Händel Festival, Eustazio (Händel: Rinaldo) for Grange Park Opera, Sorceress (Purcell: Dido and Aeneas) with Paul McCreesh and Lance in the premiere of Paul Frehner’s Sirius on Earth for the Almeida Festival.
His oratorio and recital schedule has featured appearances in many major venues and festivals in the UK and abroad, including Symphony Hall Birmingham, Barbican Hall, Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, the Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg, Konzerthaus Vienna, National Auditorium Madrid, Three Choirs Festival, Ravenna Festival, Flanders Early Music Festival, the Festivale de Musique Ancienne de Lyon and La Chaise Dieu with distinguished conductors such as Sir Roger Norrington, Paul McCreesh, Robert King, Emmanuelle Haim, Barry Wordsworth, Stephen Layton and Jeffrey Skidmore. Orchestras he has worked with include the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, The King’s Consort, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, The Sixteen, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Bach Society, Concordia and Abendmusik.