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Scholes singer handed star role by Domingo
A WIGAN singer has been head-hunted by the legendary Placido Domingo to star in a major US operatic production.
The world-famous tenor was so impressed with Scholes-born Andrew Foster-Williams after sharing the stage with him two years ago that he now wants him to take the biggest role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni when he conducts it in Washington DC in 2012.
It is yet another new high for the 36-year-old bass-baritone who has already won many international plaudits both on the stage and in the concert hall.
Andrew first encountered Domingo after landing a small role in Handel’s opera Tamerlano a couple of years ago, and won praise from both his illustrious co-star and the critics.
And he says he was both flattered and delighted to be asked to star as Leporello alongside Nathan Gunn’s Giovanni.
He said: “This is a dream come true. Leporello is a massive role – bigger than Giovanni himself – and it is also one of my favourites.
“I did it once before at Opera North but have not revisited it since.
“Of course, it was a huge honour to be asked by Placido to sing it under his musical direction. I think it sets a new high for my opera career.
“Placido is of course a legend but he is also a very normal, very friendly man.
“He is incredibly busy and so can never be in one place for long but he is charming, very supportive and a great role model.”
Andrew says he likes to set himself one very big, challenging project each year.
Last year was an acclaimed performance as Gollaud in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande.
And next year he will be Don Pizarro in Opera North’s production of Fidelio by Beethoven.
But he also wants to maintain a balance between the stage and the concert platform.
So future projects also include playing the Four Villains in a Moscow production of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, and the bass solo in Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis. The latter is also to be recorded for their LSO Live label.
Other top-notch engagements include recording Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic and Yakov Kreizberg, a debut with the Toronto Symphony under Helmuth Rilling (Bach’s B Minor Mass) and a return to the Cleveland Symphony to sing Bach’s Lutheran Mass with Franz Welser-Möst.
Another highlight will be singing bass solo in Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Bernard Labardie at the Avery Fisher Hall.
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Weather for Wigan
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 14 C to 25 C
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