Iestyn Davies, countertenor
Fretwork

Iestyn Davies is a British countertenor who is widely recognized as one of the world’s finest singers and celebrated for the beauty and technical dexterity of his voice and intelligent musicianship. Critical recognition of his work can be seen in two Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, a RPS Award for Young Singer of the Year, the Critics’ Circle Award, and an Olivier Award Nomination. He was appointed MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List 2017 for services to music.

After reading Archaeology and Anthropology at St John’s College, Cambridge, Davies studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London. An esteemed Handelian, he has delighted audiences globally with his vocal agility and supreme musicianship in roles such as Bertarido, Orlando, Rinaldo, Ottone Agrippina, and David Saul. Committed also to contemporary music, his intelligent and considered interpretations have led to fruitful collaborations with Thomas Adés, George Benjamin, and Nico Muhly.

On the opera stage, he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Teatro alla Scala Milan; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; English National Opera; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Welsh National Opera; Teatro Real Madrid; Salzburg Festival and in Munich, Vienna, and Zurich. Recent appearances include Arsace Partenope in Madrid, Ottone Agrippina in Hamburg and Munich, Bertarido Rodelinda for the Metropolitan Opera, and Ottone L’incoronazione di Poppea in Versailles.

Concert engagements have included performances at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan with Dudamel, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with Koopman and at the Barbican, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Centre, Carnegie Hall, and at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall with orchestras that include the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, English Concert, Britten Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In the 2022-23 season, Iestyn appeared in concerts at Carnegie Hall with Bernard Labadie, the Berlin Philharmonie with Emmanuelle Haim, and at the Barbican in a world premiere production of music by Dowland with lutenist Thomas Dunford, staged by Netia Jones.

In the 2023-24 season, opera highlights include Tolomeo Cesare at Opéra National de Paris and Oberon A Midsummer Night's Dream at Atlanta Opera and at Garsington Opera. In concert he joins Les Violons du Roy for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for Benjamin’s Written on Skin conducted by George Benjamin, the English Concert for Bertarido Rodelinda on tour to the United States and Asia, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra for a solo Bach program on tour in Australia.

An outstanding recitalist, he has performed in Vienna, Tokyo, Paris, and New York in repertoire ranging from Dowland to Clapton. He is a regular favourite at London’s Wigmore Hall and Kings Place where he has curated residencies.

His recital discs have won three Gramophone Awards, and he performed on the Grammy-winning recording of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest. He is the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award for his singing role in Farinelli and the King opposite Mark Rylance (premiered at London’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and transferring to the West End and Broadway). In 2017 he was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his services to music.

Over the last three and a half decades, Fretwork has been celebrated as the leading consort of viols. They have explored the core repertory of great English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic recordings against which others are judged. Their series of discs for Virgin Classics include CDs devoted to William Lawes, Henry Purcell, William Byrd, Matthew Locke, John Dowland, and Orlando Gibbons while their more recent work for Harmonia Mundi USA has produced three discs of J.S. Bach — The Art of Fugue, Alio Modo, and The Goldberg Variations — which have been exuberantly praised. They have also released discs of the earliest instrumental music (Petrucci); Sir John Tavener’s The Hidden Face; Thomas Tomkins; Alexander Agricola & Fabrice Fitch; Ludwig Senfl with Charles Daniels and two collaborations with the choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. Their recording of concert songs by William Byrd with Emma Kirkby has received particular praise.

In addition to this, Fretwork have become known as pioneers of contemporary music for viols, having commissioned over 40 new works. The list of composers includes many of the most prominent writers of our time: George Benjamin, Michael Nyman, Sir John Tavener, Gavin Bryars, Elvis Costello, Nico Muhly, John Woolrich, Orlando Gough, Sally Beamish, Tan Dun, Barry Guy, and Thea Musgrave, to name but a few.

In 2023 they commemorated the 400th anniversary of the deaths of both William Byrd & Thomas Weelkes in 1623 with a collaboration with The Kings Singers and new works written for them by Sir James MacMillan and Roddy Williams. The group now frequently presents programs consisting entirely of contemporary music, though most audiences find that the creative tension of juxtaposing old and new leads to a thrilling experience.

Another major area of interest is J. S. Bach. Initially, they performed and recorded ‘The Art of Fugue’ to rapturous notices; and more recently they have arranged many of his keyboard works, including ‘The Well Tempered Clavier’ and the ‘Clavierübung’, recently released on the HMU label under the title ‘Alio Modo’. Their arrangement of the Goldberg Variations was released in November 2011.