One of the foremost Bach Evangelists of his generation, tenor William Watson has been a frequent guest artist with orchestras and concert presenters throughout the world. Most recently, he performed the Bach Christmas Oratorio in Mexico City with the National Symphony of Mexico. With Mexico's Xalapa Symphony he performed Christmas Oratorio as well as the Bach St. Matthew Evangelist. Following Messiahs with the Monterey Symphony and a gala performance at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Watson sang the St. John Evangelist with the Bach Society of St. Louis to great critical acclaim as well as the St. John arias at the Boulder Bach Festival. Mr. Watson has sung the St. Matthew Evangelist with Chicago's Music of the Baroque in a live NPR broadcast, as well as with the Bach Society of St. Louis, Buffalo Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Princeton University, in début with the Nord Nederlands Orkest, and with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall. He has performed the St. John Evangelist with the Columbus Bach Ensemble as well as with the New Jersey, Youngstown, Alabama, and Kitchener-Waterloo (ON) symphony orchestras.

The versatile Mr. Watson has performed in diverse repertoire including Haydn's Creation with the Florida West Coast Symphony, Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Sacramento Choral Society and the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, Vorisek's Mass in B-flat in Prague with the Czech National Symphony (recorded by Cedille Records), Vaughan Williams' Hodie with the Dayton Philharmonic, Berlioz's Lelio with the Oregon Symphony, Rachmaninoff's The Bells with the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Brahms' Rinaldo with the Youngstown Symphony, and Britten's Spring Symphony with the Nashville Symphony.

Appearances with major orchestras include Carmina Burana and Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Cincinnati Symphony and Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Schubert's Mass in G with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony, arias from the St. Matthew Passion with Lukas Foss and the Milwaukee Symphony, various Schubert masses with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, and countless performances of Messiah. Mr. Watson performed as soloist in the St. Matthew Passion with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Sir Georg Solti, recorded for London Records.

During his long association with Chicago's Music of the Baroque, Mr. Watson has performed all of JS Bach's major works including numerous cantatas. He has also appeared as soloist in most of Händel's major cantatas and operas including Alcina and Semele; works by Purcell; Monteverdi's operas, Vespers of 1610, Orfeo, Poppea, and Ulisse; and various works of Mozart and Haydn. Mr. Watson has performed at the Grant Park Music Festival as soloist in Bruckner's Te Deum with Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Mozart's Requiem with Christoff Perrick, Carmina Burana with Leonard Slatkin, Mozart's Davidde Penitente, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, and the Rachmaninoff Vespers.

Mr. Watson has also performed with Albany Pro Musica, Bach Aria Group, Baltimore Choral Arts, Bel Canto Chorus (Milwaukee), Bethlehem Bach Choir, Boston Baroque, Carmel Bach Society, Columbus Bach Ensemble, the University Music Society of Ann Arbor, Pro Arte Chorale (NJ), Vancouver Chamber Choir, Les Violons du Roy (Québec), Virginia Consort, and the Winter Park Bach Festival (FL).

On the opera stage he apprenticed for two summers with Central City Opera where he performed Nemorino. He sang Elder Gleaton in Lyric Opera of Chicago's Susannah conducted by George Manahan, Strauss' Capriccio with Sir Andrew Davis, and in Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk conducted by Bruno Bartoletti. He created the role of President Van Buren in the world premiere of Amistad by Anthony Davis, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. He sang Jaquino in Fidelio, Pedrillo in Abduction from the Seraglio and David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Cleveland Opera. He débuted as Tonio in Daughter of the Regiment with Chicago Opera Theater, and returned to the company for Pedrolino in Mozart's Jewel Box and as Amon in Philip Glass's critically acclaimed Akhnaten directed by Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman. He also appeared as Apollo in Monteverdi's Orfeo with COT in a production which was presented in Brooklyn Academy of Music's Monteverdi Opera Festival.

Mr. Watson performed the role of Eumete in Monteverdi's Ulisse with Boston Baroque and, on very short notice, jumped into Philip Glass's In the Penal Colony as "Visitor" at the Court Theater in Chicago. He has sung other leading roles including Idamante and Ferrando with Palm Beach Opera, Aachen Stadttheater (Germany), San Sebastian Festival (Spain), Europera Festival (France), and at Klagenfurt in Austria.

In addition to the previously mentioned London recording of the St. Matthew Passion with Sir Georg Solti, Mr. Watson's impressive discography includes the Vorisek Mass with the Czech National Symphony on Cedille Records and appears on Newport Classics CD Where're You Walk (English Händel arias), performing the title aria.