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The English lyric tenor, Richard Wilson (he changed his name Richard Edgar-Wilson on joining Equity to prevent any possible confusion with the well-known Scottish actor), attended Ipswich School and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar and read History. He later won a postgraduate scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied with Edward Brooks and Alasdair Graham.
Richard Wilson has had an international career on the concert platform and the opera stage. Early singing engagements included concerts and recordings with the Consort of Musicke, The Tallis Scholars (Director: Peter Phillips), the Deller Consort, Combattimento and the Scholars. He was also a member of the Cambridge Singers (Director: John Rutter).
Since 1989, when he began working exclusively as a soloist, Richard Wilson he has sung in over thirty countries. With an oratorio repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Berio, including collaborating with many conductors, including Steuart Bedford, Ivor Bolton, Martyn Brabbins, Ronald Corp, Sian Edwards, Thierry Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, Richard Hickox, David Hill, Sir Raymond Leppard, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Diego Masson, Marc Minkowski, Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock, Alexander Polianichko, Ross Pople, Christoph Spering, Jeffrey Tate, and Sir David Willcocks; and with orchestras such as the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Le Concert Spirituel, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Opera appearances include Acis (Spain, Canada and London), Tamino in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Portugal and New Zealand), Don Ottavio in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni (Lisbon), Thespis/Mercure in Platée at the Palais Garnier, Gonsalve in L’Heure Espagnole for Grange Park Opera and Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice for English National Opera (ENO), La Monnaie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and La Scala, Milan; Quint (Garsington), Orfeo with Laurence Cummings. He has appeared in the world premieres of operas by Mark-Anthony Turnage (ENO), Huw Watkins, Nicola Lefanu, Edward McGuire, Eleanor Alberga and Stephen McNeff (Royal Opera House).
Highly sought after as an Evangelist and as an interpreter of the music of Benjamin Britten, Richard Edgar-Wilson has sung J.S. Bach’s Passions around Europe, and performed Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in Norway and Greece, War Requiem in England, Northern Ireland and Italy, Spring Symphony in Budapest, and Death in Venice for ENO, La Monnaie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and La Scala, Milan. Other notable performances have included Faust La damnation de Faust at the Three Choirs Festival, Judas Maccabæus with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Royal Festival Hall and Pastore in Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex under Jeffrey Tate for Italian Television.
In recital, Richard Edgar-Wilson has performed with Graham Johnson and the Songmakers' Almanac, and with John Constable, Malcolm Martineau, Eugene Asti, Iain Burnside, Roger Vignoles and Julius Drake.
Richard Edgar-Wilson won a Gramophone Award for Stradella's San Giovanni Battista with Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski and his many solo recordings include Coates Songs with Sir Thomas Allen and the BBC Concert Orchestra, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Die Schöne Müllerin, Ralph Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge and works by Arne, Monteverdi (with the Consort of Musicke), J.S. Bach, Purcell, Boyce, Howard Blak, Bernard Herrmann and B. Britten amongst many others. Film and television work includes Beauty in the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit for Channel 4 TV and Radames in the award winning Norwegian feature film Suffløsen.
For seven years, Richard Edgar-Wilson has featured both as a solo recitalist and director of vocal master-classes at Dartington International Summer School. Among his pupils: Nina Vinther (Mezzo-soprano).
Richard Edgar-Wilson is married to Dr Jennifer Barnes, Pro-Vice Chancellor (International Strategy) at the University of Cambridge and President of Murray Edwards College. They have a son and a daughter. |
