Biography

A native of Richmond, Virginia, tenor William Ferguson appeared with the Santa Fe Opera as Caliban in the North American premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest and bowed in Sydney with Opera Australia singing Truffaldino in a new production of The Love for Three Oranges—a recording of which has since been released on the Chandos label. In New York, Ferguson has performed Beppe in I Pagliacci at The Metropolitan Opera as well as Candide, Nanki-Poo, the Funeral Director in A Quiet Place, Hérisson de Porc-Épic in L’Étoile, and The Electrician in Powder Her Face at New York City Opera. Additional credits include appearances as George in Our Town, Enoch Snow in Carousel, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus all at Central City Opera; Don Basilio/Curzio with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Dudamel conducting) and Milwaukee Symphony (de Waart conducting); Remendado, Spoletta, and Guillot de Morfontaine at The Dallas Opera; a staged production of Handel’s Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony (Honeck conducting); Powder Her Face at Opéra Festival de Quebec; Andres in Wozzeck at Opera Festival of New Jersey; Male Chorus in Rape of Lucretia at Opera Memphis; Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte at Aspen; Fenton in Falstaff and Gonzalve in l’Heure Espagnole at Tanglewood (both with Maestro Ozawa); Bentley Drummle in Miss Havisham’s Fire at Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Frederic, Nanki-Poo, and Jupiter in Semele at Opera Omaha; Frederic at Virginia Opera; Dido and Aeneas with Gotham Chamber Opera, Turandot with Opera Philadelphia. In Europe, he has appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at both The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, and Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Sicily; and at the Salzburger Landestheater in both Philip Glass’ The Trial and as Louis Ironson in Eötvös’ Angels in America. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degree from The Juilliard School. 

A passionate concert and recital performer, Mr. Ferguson has appeared with The American Symphony Orchestra, BBC Orchestra (London), Boston Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (England), Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Musica Sacra New York, National Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Opera Orchestra of New York, Oratorio Society of New York, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Netherlands), and San Francisco Symphony; as well as the local symphony orchestras of Bellingham, Buffalo, Duluth, New Haven, Norwalk, Omaha, Orlando, Richmond, Santa Barbara, South Dakota, Spokane, Wheeling, and Winston-Salem. Furthermore, he has performed for the 92nd Street Y, Bard Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, and New York Festival of Song. Prizes include First Place in the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition, The Alice Tully Debut Recital Award, and awards from Opera Index, The Bagby Foundation, and Opera Orchestra of New York. Mr. Ferguson appears as Brian on the recording and DVD of Not The Messiah, an oratorio based on Monty Python’s Life of Brian recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Upcoming appearances include recitals in New York and Toronto, concerts at The Bard Music Festival, the Correspondent in John Corigliano’s Lord of Cries for performance and recording with Odyssey Opera in Boston, and a return to Salzburg for Stuart MacRae’s Anthropocene.