Harriet Williams studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and took part in Masterclasses with Barbara Bonney and Sir Thomas Allen at the Linbury Studio Theatre (televised by the BBC) and with Brigitte Fassbaender at the Wigmore Hall.

Harriet Williams made her Royal Opera début as the Erster Knappe Parisfal, her English National Opera début as Polinesso Ariodante and her début with the Royal Ballet as the featured soloist in Duparc’s L’Invitation au Voyage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in which she sang six of Duparc’s songs.

Harriet Williams’ operatic roles also include Ottavia and Fortuna L’incoronazione di Poppea (latter recorded for BBC Television), Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro, Flora La traviata, Old Sister I Babette’s Feast (John Browne), Parseis Esclarmonde (Massenet), Nenila The Enchantress, Hannah Kennedy Maria Stuarda, Albine Thais, The Governess Queen of Spades, Smeaton Anna Bolena, Mistress Quickly Falstaff, Fenena Nabucco, Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro, Kate Pinkerton Madama Butterfly, Angelina La cenerentola, Suzuki Madama Butterfly, Dido Dido and Aeneas, Annina La traviata, the title roles in Carmen and Ariodante and Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Among the other opera companies Harriet Williams has appeared with are Welsh National Opera, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park and Grange Park Opera. She sang Mab La jolie fille de Perth with Chelsea Opera Group and Mrs Olsen Street Scene(Weill) for The Opera Group, which was voted ‘Best Musical’ in the 2008 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. She also took part in a series of specially commissioned new operas for BBC 2 Television.

Harriet Williams has performed under the baton of Petr Altrichter, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Bernard Haitink, Owain Arwel Hughes, Sir Neville Marriner, Christopher Moulds, Wolfgang Seeliger and Carlo Rizzi and with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Her concert repertoire includes Bach Christmas Oratorio and the St Matthew Passion, Beethoven Symphony No.9, The Dream of Gerontius, The Music Makers, Storge Jephtha, Messiah, the Mahler Rückertlieder, Elijah, Mozart Mass in C Minor and Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Saint-Saëns Requiem, Durulfe Requiem, Verdi Requiem, and the Vivaldi Gloria.

Recent engagements have included a return to London’s Royal Albert Hall for Handel’s Messiah,.Mrs Olsen Street Scene for Opera de Toulon, Arnalta L’incoronazione di Poppea with the Early Opera Company, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Ravel’s Chansonnes Madecesse with the Northern Sinfonia at The Sage, Gateshead and on tour in Hong Kong, Bach Cantata No 21 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo also broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Messiah at The Royal Albert Hall.

Engagements this season include Waltraute Die Walküre at Longborough Festival, Marie For You by Michael Berkeley to a libretto by Ian McEwan in Rome, and further performances as Mrs Olsen Street Scene for Opera de Toulon.