Baritone
William Gaunt
Biography
William Gaunt was born in Yorkshire and received his early musical education there as a chorister at Ripon Cathedral. He was a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, where he read Classics, and spent 17 years as a member of Westminster Cathedral Choir.
As a solo artist William performs a broad variety of genres and styles, from oratorio standards to brand-new commissions. Performances have included Carissimi Historia di Abraham et Isaac and Jephte; Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610; Bach Johannes-Passion, Matthäus-Passion, Mass in B Minor, Magnificat, and numerous cantatas; Handel Messiah, Acis and Galatea, Judas Maccabaeus, Brockes-Passion and Samson; Haydn Creation; Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater; Mendelssohn St Paul; Verdi Requiem; Fauré Requiem and L’horizon chimérique; Stravinsky Les Noces; Pärt Passio; Turnage The Silver Tassie; Beamish The Judas Passion. He has appeared alongside the Gabrieli Consort/Paul McCreesh; the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/Sir Stephen Cleobury; the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford/Stephen Darlington; Dunedin Consort/John Butt; Irish Baroque Orchestra/Peter Whelan; Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen; Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht/Johannes Leertouwer; Portland Baroque Orchestra/Desmond Earley; Chamber Choir Ireland, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Theatre of Voices and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir/Paul Hillier; Orchester Wiener Akademie/Martin Haselböck; Freiburger Barockorchester/Kristian Bezuidenhout.
William’s solo recordings include Blow Odes with Arcangelo/Cohen; Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 with both the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Howarth and the Dunedin Consort/Butt; Fauré Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble/Short; Handel Messiah with Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht/Leertouwer; Bach Matthäus-Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music/Cleobury.