Biography - Paul Esswood
British born Paul Esswood is one of the world's leading countertenors. He has worked in opera houses throughout Europe and America and was the first countertenor ever to sing at La Scala, Milan. He took part in the historic Harnoncourt-Ponelle Monteverdi Cycle at Zurich Opera, which has also been recorded and filmed for television worldwide. He has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, performing Handel's Jephtha and Saul and Monteverdi's Orfeo. He has sung Oberon in the Cologne Opera production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and title roles in the Karlsruhe Handel Festival production of Handel's Admeto and the English Bach Festival production of Handel's Riccardo Primo at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Several roles have been written for him, including the title role in Philip Glass's Akhnaten (Stuttgart) and Death in Penderecki's Paradise Lost (Chicago, La Scala Milan and Stuttgart). Most recently, he sang the role of Seff in Schlafes Bruder by Herbert Willi in the world première in Zurich, followed by the first Austrian production in Innsbruck.
As a concert and recital singer, Paul Esswood works in the world's most important musical centres: London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Stockholm, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and in key festivals such as Salzburg, Graz, Aix-en-Provence, Three Choirs and London Promenade Concerts. His repertoire is extensive. From the major works by Bach, Handel, Purcell, Monteverdi, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Schumann to contemporary composers, including Schnittke’s Faust Cantata (world première in Vienna) and 2nd Symphony St Florian (world première in London), and Penderecki’s Magnificat and Paradise Lost.
Paul Esswood has made over 150 recordings, including the Monteverdi Operas and Bach's St Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, B Minor Mass and the Teldec complete Cantata project under Harnoncourt/Leonhardt. His 4th recording of Handel's Messiah was with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah, under David Willcocks and under Roger Norrington he made a video recording of Purcell's 1692 Ode Hail, Bright Cecilia. He has also recorded the title role of Philip Glass's Akhnaten for CBS. His solo recordings include Purcell songs, Schumann Dichterliebe and Liederkreis Op.39, Songs to my Lady (English Lute songs) and Britten's Abraham and Isaac and Folksongs.
As a teacher, he is Professor of baroque vocal interpretation at the Royal Academy of Music and gives regular masterclasses throughout the world. He is the visiting professor for vocal interpretation at the Gdansk Academy of Music. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded the German Handel prize in 1992.
He regularly performs with the male vocal ensemble Pro Cantione Antiqua, of which he is a founder member, and the ensemble The Musicke Companye. He frequently works with his harpsichordist Helen Rogers and the world-renowned lutenist Jürgen Hübscher.
Paul Esswood, utilizing his considerable experience in the baroque vocal field, has now begun a career as a conductor. In England, he conducted Purcell's The Fairy Queen, King Arthur and Dido and Aeneas, Handel's Messiah and Jephtha, Bach's B Minor Mass and Mozart’s Requiem. In Russia he has conducted the Pratum Integrum baroque orchestra at the 1st International Chorus Festival in St. Petersburg in a staged performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas presented in the Hermitage Theatre; and Handel’s Water Music at the International “Antiquarium” Music Festival in Moscow. In Croatia, he has appeared on several occasions at the Varazdin Baroque Evenings. He conducted the Opera Pompeo Magno by Cavalli, a world premiere in modern times, in 2002. This project received the Ivan Lukacic prize. In 2003, he sang with the male ensemble Pro Cantione Antiqua and also gave a recital of Vivaldi and Scarlatti with the Zagreb Soloists orchestra and in 2009 he gave recitals, together with the Polish soprano Jolanta Kowalska, of Italian and English song of the baroque period.
Paul Esswood has had considerable success in Poland as a Conductor and teacher. In Krakow he has conducted Capella Cracoviensis in Purcell's The Fairy Queen, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Handel's Israel in Egypt, Gloria and Dixit Dominus. For the Academy of Music he conducted Handel’s Birthday Ode for Queen Anne and Purcell’s Birthday Ode for Queen Mary, Come ye sons of Art and staged productions of The Fairy Queen which was also presented in the Library of the University of Warsaw. He also conducted the Krakow Radio Choir and Chamber Orchestra, ‘Fresco Sonare’ in a performance of Vivaldi’s Introduczione and Gloria in D, RV588, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.
In Bydgoszcz he conducted the Capella Bydgostiensis in various programmes including Handel’s Messiah and extracts from his Oratorios and Operas including performances in the Royal Castle and the Philharmonic in Warsaw. For the Academy of Music, he conducted Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Handel’s Messiah.
As visiting professor of baroque vocal music at the Academy of Music in Gdansk, he conducted Bach's Matthaus Passion in 2009 and in 2010 Bach's Magnificat and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. In 2009 he directed the Opera Giulio Cesare in the Teatr Wielki in Lodz; a joint co-operation between the Theatre and the Lodz Academy of Music.
Since 2008, Paul Esswood has been Chief conductor of the Polish Orchestra of the XVIII Century and has directed them in sacred choral concerts in music by Mielczewski, Stachowicz, Ivancic Biber and J.Engel. His first commercial recording as a conductor was made with this orchestra in 2008 in Jasna Gora, Czestochowa; the Mass in C Major and Te Deum by Amando Ivancic.
