Biography
Described by Opera Magazine as a singer “with flair, his tenor simultaneously caressing and resilient”, Joel Williams is a graduate of King’s College Cambridge, and the Royal College of Music International Opera Studio, where he was the Kiri te Kanawa Scholar. He is a former member of both the Centre de Perfeccionament at Palau de les Arts in Valencia and the Opernstudio of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.Highlights of the season 2025/26 include the return to Bayerische Staatsoper to perform in the world premiere of Brett Dean and Heather Bett’s new opera Of one Blood and to reprise the role of Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos.
Most recently he debuted at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as Eurimaco in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, as Zotico in Calixto Bieito’s production of Cavalli’s Eliogabalo at Opernhaus Zürich and sang Hirt/Seemann in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg. He returned to Bayerische Staatsoper as Léodès in a new production of Fauré’s Pénélope at the Münchner Opernfestspiele, and to Valencia as Chaplitsky in Richard Jones’ new production of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, and as Arnalta/Nutrice in Ted Huffman’s acclaimed staging of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.
Other roles he performed at Bayerische Staatsoper and Valencia include Vittellozzo/Lucrezia Borgia, Gaston and Victorin in Die Tote Stadt, Rooster/Cunning Little Vixen, Basilio/Le nozze di Figaro, Nencio/L’infedelta delusa, Bardolfo/Falstaff, Beppo/Pagliacci, Le Mari/Les mamelles de Tirésias, Hirte and Stimme eines jungen Seemanns in Tristan und Isolde, Gernando in Manuel Garcia’s L’isola Disabitata, Parpignol/La Bohème, 4.Knappe/Parsifal, Don Luigino/Il Viaggio a Reims and Narr in a new production of Wozzeck. Joel also appeared as Delfa in Alessandro Melani’s opera L’empio punito at Innsbrucker Festwochen für Alte Musik.
Joel has worked with esteemed conductors including James Gaffigan, Vladimir Jurowski, Leonardo García Alarcón, Daniele Rustioni, Christopher Moulds, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Antonino Fogliani, Lothar Koenigs, Ulf Schirmer and Mikko Franck and stage directors such as Robert Carsen, Simon Stone, Barrie Kosky, Marie-Eve Signeyrole, Christof Loy, Pierre Audi and Andreas Kriegenburg.
His operatic career began as a boy treble, performing with the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, and Glyndebourne. As a chorister and oratorio soloist, he has performed with Paul McCreesh, and toured internationally with the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
In concert, Joel has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hermann Levi Akademie of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under Vladimir Jurowski, the Verbier Festival Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Choir of King’s College Cambridge under Stephen Cleobury, the Noord Nederlands Orkest, Het Residentie Orkest, EuropaMusicale Festival Strings, Cambridge University Musical Society under Richard Farnes, and Merton College Choir.
As a Pembroke Lieder Scholar working with Joseph Middleton, Joel has appeared as a recitalist at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Leeds Lieder, the Barber Institute (University of Birmingham), the Leeds University International Concert Series, the Victoria Rooms in Bristol, and Wigmore Hall, where his performance was broadcast live on BBC Radio.
During his studies he performed Le Ruisseau/Les Fêtes D’Hébé at Opéra de Bastille in Paris, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni at Opera Holland Park, Lysander/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Count Belfiore/La Finta Giardiniera, the title role in Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoe, Mayor/Albert Herring, Hexe/Hänsel und Gretel, Dr Blind/Die Fledermaus, all as part of the Royal College of Music International Opera Studio.
Joel is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, a former Young Artist at Opera Holland Park and an Alvarez Young Artist at Garsington Opera. His awards include the Somerset Song Prize and second prize in the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards.
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