Department of Music

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.