Star bass-baritone Sir Willard White talks Bartók, Gershwin and folk roots before Opera House show

Now 75, Jamaican-born bass-baritone Sir Willard White is no stranger to Bluebeard’s Castle – “I’ve sung it many times, in London, in St Petersburg, in Madrid…” – but this is his first visit to Budapest. Having performed at the world’s great opera houses and festivals, Sir Willard’s appearance here for four shows coincides with the reopening of the city’s historic landmark after nearly five years of renovation.

“As I’ve said many times, the city is the people and from my very first moment here, I’ve had a very open, straightforward welcome,” says Sir Willard, his deep voice resonating as a soprano on the main stage rehearses Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with gusto.

“The attitude was one of hospitable, amenable responses. It is my first time here. It’s a beautiful Opera House, the acoustics are terrific, I would have nothing but praise for it. At the same time, I don’t go round looking for acoustics because you have to take what you find. You can’t change that.”

“Bartók is a very interesting composer. For me, I find every piece of music a challenge. And I think I’d be stupid from my personal experience if I didn’t regard it as a challenge because I didn’t have early formal training as such, playing the piano or whatever. So I approach things cautiously. For me, the challenge is only there as an opportunity for me to discover and find a way of dealing with it and refining it.”

Sir Willard’s journey of discovery began in Kingston, Jamaica, where his father worked at the docks. Studying at the Jamaica School of Music, he co-founded The Jamaican Folk Singers – of which more later – and was encouraged by pioneering English oboist Evelyn Rothwell, who happened to be visiting the island.

Winning a scholarship to the world-famous Juilliard School in New York, Sir Willard was selected for a master class with Maria Callas: “She was a formidable, interesting person. I remember I sang Fiesco's Aria for the class. And she then sang it herself, how she thought it could go and explained to me why she had made certain choices of phrasing. And then she asked to repeat some of it, and she told me to keep warming the voice and always allow the voice to soar”.

“A few months later, I auditioned for Kurt Adler at the San Francisco Opera and used some of Madame Callas’ suggestions. Afterwards he came to me, and he said, ‘Mr White, you know those phrases that you used, those pauses are very good, very impressive!’ I didn’t tell him that those suggestions were from Maria Callas.”

Sir Willard didn’t find every door open to him, however. “I never knew if I’d get a job. I had a great learning experience, actually, because I did an audition once, with a few of my white colleagues, and they got jobs and I didn’t. And I went back to the Julliard, and some of my black colleagues explained that when you’re black you have to do extra things in order to get a job. So I decided that I would just have to sing the best I can sing. I spent the next six months in a practice room, refining and determining how I can equip myself better.”

Sir Willard made his operatic debut at the New York City Opera in 1974, then headed to London with his newly wedded English wife. He would go on to perform at the English National Opera, Glyndebourne and at the world’s great opera houses and festivals.

His performance on the first stereo recording of Porgy & Bess earned a Grammy in 1977 and he was later invited by the famous theatre director Trevor Nunn to reprise the role in 1993:


“I had resisted for many years doing Porgy & Bess, actually, and then I was invited to do it at Glyndebourne. I said yes, I would do it, because I had an admiration for the whole dramatic musical journey of the piece, it’s a fantastic human representation, in my opinion. Then I met Trevor Nunn, whose main insistence was that we respect our heritage, we respect the cultural experience, respect the life experience, and transport some of those as appropriate in the interpretation of roles, which is something that I believed in anyway.”

“Interestingly enough, before we did this Porgy, I remember studying in music history at the Juilliard that Porgy & Bess is not really an opera, and the reason why it wasn’t called an opera was that it had folk melodies and also spoken dialogue. And as I sat there in the class, I knew that there were other operas by Mozart and Bizet with unaccompanied spoken text… Interestingly enough, after we had done it at Glyndebourne, it came to me that by then it was regarded as an opera. And people said afterwards, ‘You’ve Porgy so many times’, and I said, ‘No, I haven’t done it that many times’. Why not? Various reasons. C’est la vie”.

Back in the 1960s, he had co-founded the Jamaican Folk Singers with eminent musicologist Dr Olive Lewin. As the group expanded, so did Dr Lewin’s research.

Sir Willard sees comparisons between Béla Bartók’s search for the roots of Hungarian folk songs in Transylvania, and Dr Lewin’s in Jamaica: “Transcribing them, recording them, arranging them for their use. Because in those folk songs are historical documents. That is one way how history was recorded and related, and legends passed on, through storytelling”.

Sir Willard has also performed in non-singing roles, such as in Othello with the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside Sir Ian McKellen – “a one-off venture that I wouldn’t mind doing again” – and, when pressed, expresses an interest in more taking on more Shakespeare: “I did a Falstaff many years ago in Aix-en-Provence which was quite controversial as they thought that in that production, Falstaff was too self-assured. I wouldn’t mind doing a Falstaff again”.

“It’s not that I take what I’m offered. Each thing that I’m offered is always a guide or a refining opportunity for my philosophy, my spiritual journey. Because in the dramatic presentation of all the scenarios in opera, it’s an opportunity to discover how I would equip myself in such a situation. So I learn about me and my environment.”