William Burden

American tenor William Burden has won an outstanding reputation in a wide-ranging repertoire throughout Europe and North America.

He has appeared in many prestigious opera houses in the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Thèâtre du Châtelet, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berliner Staatsoper, Madrid’s Teatro Real and the Saito Kinen Festival. His many roles include the title roles of Faust, Pelléas et Mélisande, The Rake’s Progress, Roméo et Juliette, Béatrice and Bénédict, Candide, and Acis and Galatea; Captain Vere in Billy Budd, Don Jose in Carmen, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride, Narraboth in Salome, Gerald in Lakmé, Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, and Aschenbach in Death in Venice.  He also created the role of Gilbert Griffiths in Picker’s An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera, and the role of Dodge in Daron Hagen’s Amelia at the Seattle Opera.

In concert, Mr. Burden has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and with Les Arts Florissants at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Barcelona and Lyon. He recently made his Edinburgh Festival debut as the title role in Judas Maccabeus, conducted by William Christie.

Mr. Burden’s recordings include Barber’s Vanessa (Anatol) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the Chandos label and Musique adorable: The Songs of Emmanuel Chabrier for the Hyperion label.

The season Mr. Burden makes his debuts at the LA Opera as Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw and the New Orleans Opera as Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles. He also returns to the Seattle Opera for Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and to the Opera Company of Philadelphia for the US premiere of Henze’s Phaedra.

Raised in Florida, Mr. Burden received his master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Indiana University. He was also a member of the Merola Program in San Francisco and at the Apprentice Artists Program at the Santa Fe Opera.