William
Duffy
COUNTERTENOR
praised for his “command of the seemingly impossible high tessitura” (South Florida Classical Review)
About
William Duffy is a California-born, Montréal-based countertenor soloist and ensemble singer, praised for his “command of the seemingly impossible high tessitura” (South Florida Classical Review). William first encountered music as a young Suzuki violinist, often facing admonishment for improvising new endings to classic repertoire. William’s appetite for variation keeps him exploring the extremes of his musical voice, finding him at various times performing jazz, Gregorian chant and music of the renaissance, baroque, and today.
His recent performance highlights include staged operas Les Plaisirs de Versailles and Actéon with Clavecin en Concert; “Negro Spirituals”, a lecture-recital given by conductor Floydd Ricketts of newly-founded Ensemble Noir, whose mandate is to illuminate choral works written by or about people of colour; Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil with The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul; Carlo Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday with Seraphic Fire; and performances of J.S Bach’s cantatas, Trauerode, and the B-minor mass with the American Bach Soloists Academy.
William’s other notable endeavours include recording Alessandro Scarlatti for award-winning filmmaker Micheline Lanctôt and performing Songs of Unrequited Love written for countertenor, horn, and harp by esteemed Canadian composer Donald Patriquin. William also sings weekly at The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montréal, where he has performed various works by contemporary composers, including: David Lang's Little Match Girl Passion, Gregory Spears’s completion of the Mozart Requiem, Robert Koolstra's Bach Markus-Passion reconstruction, and Arvo Pärt's Passio. William is a member of the chorus of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2019-2020 season, William enjoyed performances, both in-person and virtually, with Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, The Thirteen, and Ensemble Noir. His upcoming engagements will see him on stage in several spacious venues across Québec for distanced concert-installations of Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles with Voces Boreales; with Les Rugissants performing their program, “Voces de España”; and at the International Bach Competition, Leipzig, in 2021.
William holds degrees in vocal performance (California State University, Chico) and choral conducting (McGill University).
Schedule
William sings in services every Sunday at 11 AM at The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, corner of Redpath and Sherbrooke in Montréal, September through May.
Click here for a list of past performances.
