H E L E N S Y K E S ARTISTS’ MANAGEMENT
K E E L W A T S O N
B a s s B a r i t o n e
Keel Watson made his Royal Opera début as the Bosun Billy Budd. His international engagements include Fasolt Das Rheingold and Creon Oedipus Rex at the Teatro Nacional di Sao Carlos, Lisbon, The King Aida at Bregenz Festival, Reinmar Tannhäuser at the Greek National Opera, Frazier Porgy and Bess at the Opera de Lyon and at the Edinburgh International Festival,,Caronte La favola d’Orfeo Opera Zuid, Henry Davis Street Scene in Turin, The Doctor Punch and Judy Casa da Música in Porto, Elder Ott Susannah Opéra de Nantes, Porgy Porgy and Bess TCC Productions, Lisbon, Mephistopheles Faust Anna Livia International Opera Festival, and Achilla Giulio Cesare Opera Ireland.
In the UK Keel Watson has sung Caronte La favola d’Orfeo for English National Opera, Zuniga Carmen, Mandryka Arabella, and the Speaker, Second Armed Man and Second Priest The Magic Flute with Opera North, Iago Otello, Don Pizarro Fidelio, First Apprentice Wozzeck, Abbot Curlew River, Pluto Il ballo delle ingrate, Neptune The Return of Ulysses, Commendatore Don Giovanni and Voice of Neptune Idomeneo, all with Birmingham Opera Company, Asantehene and Second Messenger The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi (Jonathan Dove) for Opera OT in Rotterdam, Nourabad Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Tonio I pagliacci, Jorg Stiffelio and Bertrand Iolanta at Opera Holland Park, Junius The Rape of Lucretia for the European Opera Centre, and Dr Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro and Colline La Bohème with English Touring Opera.
Keel Watson has created a number of roles including The Elder The Country of the Blind by Mark-Anthony Turnage at the Aldeburgh Festival/ENO Contemporary Opera Studio and Parlaine Palace in the Sky by Jonathan Dove for the ENO Baylis Programme. His other roles include Scarpia Tosca, Dr Bartolo Il barbiere di Siviglia, Kunrad Feuersnot, Wotan Das Rheingold, Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leporello Don Giovanni and Zuniga Carmen.
Keel Watson has sung the concert version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess many times, including his débuts with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, at the Royal Albert Hall and London’s Barbican Centre. He made his Queen Elizabeth Hall début in Mike Westbrook’s Coming Through the Slaughter and his début with the London Symphony Orchestra under Kent Nagano in Bernstein’s White House Cantata, which was also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.
He made his début at the BBC Proms as the Abbot Curlew River with Birmingham Opera Company. Other major concert engagements include Carmina Burana in the Royal Festival Hall, A Child of our Time with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival and with the The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. His concert repertoire includes Pater Profundis Symphony No. 8 (Mahler), Walton Belshazzar’s Feast, Rossini Stabat Mater, Verdi Requiem and Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony.
Keel Watson performed Second Armed Man in a film of The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh. He is the voice of Harasta in Geoff Dunbar’s animated version of The Cunning Little Vixen. He is a regular guest soloist on BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night...... / 2
HELEN SYKES ARTISTS’ MANAGEMENT 100 Felsham Road . Putney . London . SW15 1DQ . Telephone +44 (0)20 8780 0060 . Fax +44(0)20 8780 8772 E-mail: [email protected] . www.helensykesartists.co.uk
Member of the International Artist Managers’ Association Helen Sykes Artists’ Management acts as Agents only and can accept no responsibility as Principals H E L E N S Y K E S ARTISTS’ MANAGEMENT
Keel Watson’s recent engagements have included Oroveso Norma and further performances of Caterpillar Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Opera Holland Park,,Dosifey Kovanschina and Clotaldo Life is a Dream by Jonathan Dove for Birmingham Opera Company, Fasolt Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Commendatore Don Giovanni for Mid Wales Opera, Nourabad Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor and Caterpillar Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Opera Holland Park, King Seven Angels in a co-production between the Opera Group and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and Don Pasquale and Fiesco Simone Boccanegra for English Touring Opera.
October2014
Fasolt / Das Rheingold / Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon
“The cast is young, committed and well-matched….Keel Watson’s compelling Fasolt is flawlessly articulated.” Financial Times
Zuniga / Carmen / Mid Wales Opera
“Keel Watson’s Zuniga, a mountainous, black-voiced bully, is terrific.” David Blewitt – Opera
Tonio / I Pagliacci / Cavalleria Rusticana / Holland Park Opera
“Keel Watson as Tonio helped put Holland Park Opera’s Pagliacci in a totally different class from their Cavalleria. Watson has an extremely well-focused and powerful baritone. What sets him apart is his extraordinary charisma. Like Bryn Terfel he is not one of the world’s beauties, but watchability stems from conviction, intensity and firing on all cylinders.” Who’s Hot, Opera Now
“… good principals who played and sang as if their lives depended on it: Keel Watson’s dramatic baritone raised the curtain with a vividly declaimed Prologue and he succeeded in making the mal- formed Tonio sympathetic.” The Sunday Times
“…and it went with a swing, right from Keel Watson’s entrance through the auditorium, treating audience, orchestra and stage alike with sneering contempt before launching unto Tonio’s Prologue. He’s an extraordinary artist.” The Times
“From the moment Keel Watson dragged himself across the auditorium to deliver the prologue, we were in the presence of someone who dominated proceedings physically and vocally.” Opera Now
HELEN SYKES ARTISTS’ MANAGEMENT 100 Felsham Road . Putney . London . SW15 1DQ . Telephone +44 (0)20 8780 0060 . Fax +44(0)20 8780 8772 E-mail: [email protected] . www.helensykesartists.co.uk
Member of the International Artist Managers’ Association Helen Sykes Artists’ Management acts as Agents only and can accept no responsibility as Principals