The Australian baritone Derek Welton is now resident in the UK and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in German and Linguistics, and of the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from which he gained a Master of Music (Vocal Studies) degree and a Master of Music Performance (Opera Studies) degree, both with Distinction. He is currently a Vocal Department Fellow at the Guildhall School and is supported by a Wingate Scholarship.

Derek Welton’s operatic roles include Count Almaviva and Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Masetto Don Giovanni, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Papageno and Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, Silvano in La Calisto (Cavalli), Vertigo in La rencontre imprévue (Gluck) and the title role of Salieri’s Falstaff. In 2009 he appeared as the Prince/King in Sallinen’s The King goes forth to France and Mill in La cambiale di matrimonio (Rossini) at the GSMD and Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress for British Youth Opera.

Derek Welton won many prizes in Australia including the Australian Youth Aria and the Runner-up Award in the Herald Sun Aria. His successes in the UK include winning the Handel Singing Competition and reaching the finals of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the Richard Tauber Prize.

Derek Welton’s wide concert experience comprises performances in the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican Hall, the Wigmore Hall, Hamer Hall (Melbourne), Verbrugghen Hall (Sydney) and many others in performances as soloist in diverse repertoire ranging from Charpentier to Tavener and including Bach Magnificat, St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Handel Messiah, Haydn Creation and the title role of Mendelssohn Elijah. He is also an experienced song recitalist, having performed works including Butterworth Six Songs from ‘A Shropshire Lad’, Schubert Die Winterreise and Schwanengesang and Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, Songs of Travel and The House of Life.

Recently Derek Welton made his debut in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, singing Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé Orchestra and was involved in The Opera Group’s UK and US tour of The Enchanted Pig (Jonathan Dove). Future engagements include a busy concert diary, Farfarello L’amour des trois oranges and Bonzo Madama Butterfly at Grange Park Opera and Creonte L’anima del filosofo ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (Haydn) for Pinchgut Opera, Sydney.