William Shimell is a renowned British operatic baritone, boasting an international reputation garnered through his performances in the world's leading opera houses.
Since commencing his career in the United Kingdom, Shimell has appeared at prestigious venues such as La Scala in Milan, the Vienna Staatsoper, Paris Bastille, Geneva, Zurich, Munich, Chicago, Madrid, and Glyndebourne, taking on iconic roles like Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Shimell is particularly celebrated for his interpretations of Don Giovanni, which he first performed in Britain for Welsh National Opera and the English National Opera, subsequently singing the role in opera houses worldwide, including Amsterdam, Zurich, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Santiago, Lyon, and the Aix Festival.
Notably, Shimell has recorded the role of Don Giovanni for EMI with Riccardo Muti and has also performed Marcello in La Bohème at Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, and San Francisco.
Shimell's repertoire encompasses a wide range of roles, including Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress, Sharpless in Madame Butterfly, Escamillo in Carmen, and Dourlinski in Cherubini's Lodoïska, which was recorded live for Sony.
In recent seasons, Shimell has performed Don Giovanni and Strauss' Capriccio in Vienna, Così fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera and in Israel, Le Nozze di Figaro in Paris, Berlin, and Israel, La Bohème in Munich, and Madam Butterfly at the MET.
As a concert artist, Shimell has performed with renowned orchestras, including Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Orange Festival, Bach's B Minor Mass, Pergolesi's La Serva padrona, Stravinsky's Pulcinella, and Diepenbrock's Im grossen Schweigen with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly.
In the 2008/09 season, Shimell appeared as Don Alfonso in concert performances of Così fan tutte under Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Budapest and in Britten's War Requiem with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir under Simone Young.
Recent opera engagements have included Così fan tutte in Japan, Cincinnati, Hamburg, and Aix-en-Provence, Don Giovanni at Opera Pacific, in Pittsburgh, Munich, and Hamburg, Madam Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, and Iphigenie at the MET, The Rake's Progress in Munich, Dresden, La Monnaie, Lyon, and at the MET, and the title role in Handel's Hercules in a Luc Bondy production for Aix-en-Provence, Paris, Vienna, New York, and London.
Upcoming plans include The Rake's Progress at La Scala and La Monnaie in Brussels, as well as a return to Covent Garden for Così fan tutte and Manon.
