W I L L  G A R D N E R

William Gardner (b. 2000) is an award-winning composer, conductor performer based in London. He is currently a scholar at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and studies with Toby Young. His first opera, ‘A New England’, premiered at the inaugural Students Create Festival in January 2022 at the Royal Academy of Music, and was selected to be part of Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival 2022, where it sold out and received critical acclaim. His second opera, ‘The Prisoner’, which won the Steven Oliver Award, was premiered at a sold out performance at the Students Create Festival 2023, and has is being revived as part of Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival 2024. Other recent works include an Organ Concerto, a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis, and an adaptation of the fifth chapter of Matthew Green’s Times Top 10 bestselling book ‘Shadowlands’, which received its first public performance in March 2022 at the launch of ‘Shadowlands’. He has also attended a set of ‘Opera Makers’ workshops led by the Artistic Director of Glyndebourne, Stephen Langridge, and the critically acclaimed singer and writer Jessica Walker.

 

Gardner’s singing career began at a young age, performing the role of Miles in Britten’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’ in Düsseldorf and Vienna, singing other solo treble roles in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Glyndebourne, Garsington, Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Helsinki Music Centre, as well as for films such as Maleficent and The Hunger Games. He currently studies with Marcus van der Akker. 

 

Gardner occasionally models, having modelled for Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier and Vogue, amongst others. He also enjoys reading, sudoku, cats, English sparkling wine, and is currently learning Latin.