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About
Born: Nancy, France
The French counter-tenor, William Howard Shelton, was born in Nancy, where both parents were members of the professional opera chorus. At the age of 8, after obtaining a Choristership, he was admitted at Salisbury Cathedral School in England. He continued his musical studies in France at the Conservatoire de Musique de Dole, where he began the organ with Étienne Baillot; then at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Besançon, with Bernard Coudurier and Pierre-Yves Fleury, the horn with Walter Bellagamba, Pierre Bier and Bernard Morard (Dijon). In 2011, he enters the singing class of Aniella Zins and obtained in 2015 his Diploma of Music Studies with the highest distinctions and congratulations of the jury. The same year he was awarded a Horn Diploma in Dijon. He participated in master-classes with Hans Jörg Mammel, Jan Kobow, Pierre Sciama, Michel Laplénie, and Isabelle Druet.
For 9 years, William Shelton was a member of the youth choir for humanitarian purposes Les Enfants de l'Espoir, with whom he sang in many European countries and where he played one of the leading roles in the children's opera La Boîte Bleue. After obtaining his scientific baccalaureate from Lycée Nodier in Dole, he entered the Université de Franche-Comté de Sciences et Techniques and obtained in 2015 his degree in Physics and Chemistry.
William Shelton made his debut as a soloist at the age of 13 in Malcolm Archer's Requiem, Allegri's Miserere Mei and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. He has appeared several times in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 137 Lobe den Herren, den König mächtigen with the Orchestre Victor-Hugo Franche-Comté and the Chœur Contre z'Ut under the baton of Michel Brown. He has also appeared in several productions with Les Cris de Paris under the direction of Geoffroy Jourdain and Daniel Cuiller, notably in June, July and August 2015 at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, and at the festivals of Lessay, Beaune and Chaise-Dieu. In October 2015, he performed as a soloist under the direction of Bernard Thomas at the Église St Roch in Paris, and under the baton of Christophe Coin in J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 115 at the Oratoire du Louvre. In February 2016, he participated at the Festival Présences à Radio France in a concert of contemporary Italian music with with Les Cris de Paris, under the direction of Geoffroy Jourdain. In March 2016, he joined the company La Tempête (Director: Simon-Pierre Bestion) for a recording on the label Alpha of "Messes à travers les siècles" (Machaut, Stravinsky).
William Shelton performed with Les Cris de Paris at the Amphithéâtre de la Bastille in May 2016 in Monteverdi's Orfeo, in Limoges in J.S. Bach's Cantatas BWV 44 and BWV 183 with the workshops of La Tempête, at the Opéra de Rouen with Le Poème Harmonic (Director: Vincent Dumestre) in H. Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary. He performed Monteverdi's Vespers with Arsys Bourgogne (Director: Pierre Cao) and La Fenice in Portugal, and Tréguier for the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Lanvellec under the direction of Jean Tubéry. This production was reprised by Mihaly Zeke in August 2016 at the Basilique de Vézelay. In June 2016, he debuted with Ensemble Pygmalion (Director: Raphaël Pichon) in Monteverdi's Vespers in Amsterdam, Leipzig, Versailles and London (BBC Proms).
Since the fall of 2016, William Shelton is studying singing at the CRD de Pantin in the class of Mickaël Mardayer to prepare the CNSMDP competition, in parallel to musicology studies at Paris-Sorbonne.