Owen Willetts

Owen began singing as a choral scholar at Lichfield Cathedral. He then went on to the Royal Academy of Music, where he spent four years studying with Noelle Barker, Iain Leadingham and David Lowe.



Owen has worked with many of the leading names in historical performance, including Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Emmanuelle Haim, Marc Minkowsi and Raphael Pichon. He has performed concerts across Europe, including Bach’s Johannes Passion and Matthäus Passion, a concert of Bach solo cantatas… Show more for alto, Purcell’s Ode to St Cecilia, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for Les Musicians de Louvre, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium for the Teleman Chamber Orchestra in Japan, and Scarlatti’s Penelope la Casta and Handel’s Rinaldo (Eustazio) for the Lautten Compagney.



On the opera stage, Owen has performed the role of Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Laurence Cummings and the Royal Academy Opera, for the Reykjavik Summer Opera, and for Christian Curnyn and the Iford Arts Festival; Anfinomus and Humano Fragilitata in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ulysses in Patria for Graham Vick and the Birmingham Opera Company; the title role in Handel’s Orlando for the Halle Opera House and the Halle Handel Festival; the alto arias in Bach’s Johannes Passion in a staged production for the Dutch National Reisopera; the role of Unulfo in Handel’s Rodelinda for Christian Curnyn and the Iford Arts Festival, and was a soloist in Emmanuelle Haim’s tour of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. Recently Owen sang the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare for the Finnish national Opera, and made his American debut to critical acclaim singing the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice for Boston Baroque conducted by Martin Pearlman.



Upcoming engagements include a return to America to sing Arsace in Handel’s Partenope with Boston Baroque and Martin Pearlman, a tour of Mozart and Bach with Les Musiciens du Louvre and Marc Minkowski, and performances of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

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