William Shelton, countertenor

William Shelton is a Franco-British countertenor. After obtaining diplomas in organ, horn and singing (Mention Très Bien à l’unanimité avec les félicitations du jury) at the conservatories of Besançon and Dijon, he moved to Paris in 2015 and gradually established himself in French ensembles such as Les Cris de Paris (Geoffroy Jourdain), La Compagnie La Tempête (Simon-Pierre Bestion), Les Arts Florissants (William Christie & Paul Agnew), Pygmalion (Raphaël Pichon), La Fenice (Jean Tubéry), the Alia Mens ensemble (Olivier Spilmont), the Ensemble Correspondances (Sébastien Daucé), the Musiciens de Saint-Julien (François Lazarevitch), Les Voix Animées (Luc Coadou) and also abroad with Vox Luminis (Lionel Meunier), Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe), Scherzi Musicali (Nicolas Achten), Balthasar Neumann Ensemble & Chor (Thomas Hengelbrock), La Cetra (Andrea Marcon) and Gli Angeli (Stephan MacLeod).

In 2017 he joined the first class of young singers at the Académie Philippe Jaroussky, and in 2018 he joined Opera Fuoco’s lyric workshop under the direction of David Stern.

He has won several prizes in international competitions: the “Young Artist Award” at the Cesti Baroque Opera Competition in Innsbruck, the 2nd Prize at the Froville Baroque Singing Competition, the 1st Prize at the “World Bach Competition” of the Boulder Bach Festival, the Audience Prize and the Prize of the “Jeunes Talents” association at the Corneille Competition in Rouen, presided over by Andreas Scholl.

Fond of chamber music, he created a piano-voice duo with his friend Bastien Dollinger and together they won the Prix de l’Opéra Grand Avignon at the Gordes song competition presided over by Sophie Koch. They were subsequently invited to perform in recital in Avignon as part of the Apér’Opéra, and as part of the “Jeunes Talents” programme at the Petit Palais in Paris.

On stage he is Messagiera in Caccini’s Euridice with Scherzi Musicali in Brussels and Timisoara (Romania), Arsamene in Handel’s Serse with mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet in the title role with Opera Fuoco in China (Beijing, Shen-Zhen and Nanjing) and Apollo in Locke’s Psyche with the Ensemble Correspondances (Opéra de Versailles, Caen and Théâtre d’Hardelot).

His sensitivity is most naturally expressed in Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas and oratorios (Johannespassion, Matthäuspassion, H-moll mass, Magnificat, Weihnachtsoratorium) as a soloist under the direction of Raphaël Pichon, Paul Agnew, William Christie, Olivier Spilmont, Jean Tubéry, Stephan MacLeod, Valentin Tournet, Philippe Herreweghe, Bart Van Reyn and Thomas Hengelbrock.

In the course of his career he has been fortunate enough to benefit from the advice of Hans Jörg Mammel, Jan Kobow, Michel Laplénie, Isabelle Druet, Robert Expert, Regina Werner, Sara Mingardo, Felicity Lott, Margot Modier, Marijana Mijanovic, Mickaël Mardayer, Philippe Jaroussky and Stéphane Degout.

In September 2021, William joined the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel as Artist in Residence and will train with Sophie Koch and José van Dam.

William benefits from a scholarship granted by Jean-Charles Velge Fund (Fondation Roi Baudouin)