William Shelton

Contre-ténor

William Shelton

William Shelton was born in Nancy. His two parents, singers at the Opera, encouraged him from the age of eight to awaken his musical sensibility in the choir of Salisbury Cathedral in England. He continued his training in France at the conservatories of Dole, Besançon and Dijon, studying the organ, horn, singing, writing and chamber music, and taking part in numerous concerts with local orchestras. In parallel with his scientific studies (Physics and Chemistry), which he continued until the first year of his Master’s degree, he left Burgundy-Franche-Comté with a DEM in horn (Bernard Morard’s class in Dijon) as well as a DEM in singing unanimously with congratulations from the jury (Aniella Zins’ class). He perfected his skills by taking part in masterclasses with Hans Jörg Mammel, Jan Kobow, Michel Laplénie, Isabelle Druet, Robert Expert, Regina Werner, Sara Mingardo, Felicity Lott, Margot Modier, Bernard Malet, Marijana Mijanovic and Kateryna Sokolova; by joining the professional training course at the Pantin Conservatory in Mickaël Mardayer’s class, and then by entering the first class of Young Talents at the Philippe Jaroussky Academy. In 2018 he won the young artist prize at the Cesti baroque opera competition in Innsbruck, then the 2nd prize at the baroque and sacred singing competition in Froville and he joined the Opera Fuoco workshop directed by David Stern. In 2020 he won the 1st Prize at the World Bach Competition of the Boulder Bach Festival, and Le Prix de l’Opéra Grand Avignon at the 12th International Melody Competition of Gordes.

He participates in the projects of renowned vocal ensembles: Les Cris de Paris, Pygmalion, Les Arts Florissants, La Compagnie la Tempête, Scherzi Musicali, La Fenice, Collegium Vocale Gent, Vox Luminis, and is progressively establishing himself as a soloist. He made his debut in 2018 under the baton of Raphaël Pichon for Bach cantatas at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, captured and broadcast live on the Culturebox platform and in Israel for the Eilat Chamber Music Festival. He was subsequently engaged for the Messe en Si under the direction of William Christie for the second edition of the Festival de Printemps des Arts Florissants. He was invited by festivals in Germany, the Heidelberger Frühling and the Podium Esslingen where he created Landscape with three people by Elena Langer. He sang the role of Messagiera in Caccini’s Euridice with the ensemble Scherzi Musicali under the direction of Nicolas Achten for performances in France (Festival de musique ancienne de Lanvellec), Belgium (Brussels) and Romania (Festivalul de muzica veche Timisoara). In 2019, he sings and plays the horn in Benjamin Lazar and Geoffroy Jourdain’s creation, Heptaméron, récits de la chambre obscure at the Maison de la Culture d’Amiens followed by a tour throughout France (Reims, Cherbourg, Paris, Caen) and Belgium (Liège). In June 2019 he made his debut as Apollo in Matthew Locke’s Psyche with the Ensemble Correspondances conducted by Sébastien Daucé at the Théâtre Élisabéthain in Hardelot, to be repeated in Caen and Versailles in 2020. In October 2019 he will sing the role of Arsamene in Serse with Opera Fuoco conducted by David Stern for a tour in China (Beijing, Shen Zhen and Nanjing). In March 2020 he sings Schütz’s O Jesu, nomen dulce with theorists Thomas Dunford and Thibaut Roussel and harpist Marie-Domitille Murez in a programme around Praetorius imagined by Raphaël Pichon with the Ensemble Pygmalion in Bordeaux, Paris and Versailles.