IestynDavies

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Countertenor
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News

  • 14 May 2021

    Harry Bicket, Lucy Crowe and Iestyn Davies release a “deluxe” Rodelinda

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Press

  • Handel Rodelinda Tour

    Carnegie Hall, New York
    Dec 2023

    • When Davies finally came onstage, he stopped the show with his delicate, heart-wrenching rendition of the aria “Dove sei?”... It was a startling performance. No less astonishing was Davies’ mathematical yet acrobatic singing, as expressive as it was exact

  • Clori, Tirsi e Fileno

    Wigmore Hall, London
    Oct 2023 - Oct 2023

    • Davies, in contrast, was all soulful reflection and refinement: his final aria, Come la Rondinella dall’Egitto, with its beguiling theorbo solos, was very much a highlight.

  • Bach Cantatas

    Royal Albert Hall, London
    Aug 2023

    • Why Bach’s intimate music is perfect for the Royal Albert Hall. Britain's leading countertenor explains that the cantatas were actually written with huge audiences in mind

    • Few singers can match the exhilarating range of counter-tenor Iestyn Davies’ performances, whether it’s in the free-soaring clarity of his voice in rapid recitative-style

  • Mitridate, re di Ponto (Farnace)

    Garsington Opera
    Jun 2023

    • the countertenor Iestyn Davies relishes his opportunities as the playboy prince and projects sculpted lines with glowing tone.

    • Iestyn Davies sings deliciously dastardly and petulant Farnace ... consistently musical, expressive, and characterful, turns louche Farnace from villain to hero.

    • Countertenor Iestyn Davies’s Farnace is resplendent with supreme vocal purity.

  • Solomon

    Berliner Philharmonie
    Feb 2023

    • Iestyn Davies in der Titelrolle ist eine Sensation: Seine enorm klare und höhenstabile Altus-Stimme, an deren männlicher Charakteristik dennoch nie zu zweifeln ist, singt sich bis zum Schluss nicht ab und vermag aus der ewigen Weisheit und Gerechtigkeit dennoch immer neue gestalterische Nuancen zu ziehen. Iestyn Davies in the title role is a sensation: his enormously clear and high-pitched alto voice, whose masculine characteristics can never be doubted, does not fade away until the end and is nevertheless able to draw new creative nuances from the eternal wisdom and justice.

  • An Anatomy of Melancholy Recital

    The Barbican, London
    Oct 2022

    • Iestyn Davies' tone ranges from subtle vibrato to pure liquid gold.

    • Davies manages to deliver these soul-baring miniature masterpieces with unwavering expressive intensity and flawless vocal technique.

    • Nobody articulated the essence of melancholy better than John Dowland, and nobody could give it more eloquent voice than countertenor Iestyn Davies.

  • Counter tenor duets with Hugh Cutting

    Wigmore Hall, London
    Sep 2022

    • Davies made the flowing melismas of Monteverdi’s ‘Ego flos campi’ as smooth as silk, and he used the low register of the vocal line to wonderfully balance the mystical quality of the text with the suggestion of physical ecstasy. Davies’ phrasing was stunning, a simple falling gesture breathtaking in its beauty and emotive impact. This was a gorgeous recital, vibrantly emotive and musically uplifting.

  • Bach B Minor Mass

    Royal Albert Hall, London
    Aug 2022

    • Of the soloists, countertenor Iestyn Davies was in a league of his own, though. How does he do it, time and time again? The fulsome beauty of his tone, particularly in the upper regions; the effortless projection; the nuanced shading, without mannerism, of every phrase. It’s simply stunning. I held my breath through both the ‘Qui sedes’ and the ‘Agnus Dei’. One listener to the radio broadcast remarked to me that they were put in mind of Chaucer’s description of the Pardoner who makes his voice ‘rynge [it] out as round as gooth a belle’ – though one would add that Davies soars with sweetness and sincerity not subterfuge and sinfulness. The long phrases of ‘Qui sedes’ were beautifully creamy without being affected, and were lovingly complemented by oboist Katharina Spreckelsen. No deity could surely deny this prayer for mercy. Davies’s duet with Redmond, ‘Et in unum Dominum’, was nimble but certainly not light-weight, and there was some lovely string playing here, varied articulations used to expressive effect. The opening note of the ‘Agnus Dei’ was so effortlessly placed it seemed that it must have been ringing in the celestial ether, waiting to be sounded in earthly realms. The richness of Davies’s lower register was beautifully communicative here. I’m not sure if it’s ‘right’ to hear both spirituality and sensuality in this aria, but Davies’s singing was manifold and heart-touching in its expressiveness. The Hall was silent, still, rapt.

    • With the Qui sedes, counter-tenor Iestyn Davies instantly hit his mellifluous yet powerful stride: velvet and steel combined, utterly in control across the range but especially commanding at the faultless top, well supported by Butt’s firmly fluent tempi.

  • Saul (David)

    Edinburgh International Festival
    Aug 2022

    • Davies uses his countertenor like a precision instrument, dazzling up and down the scale in his coloratura, but creating the most bewitching, almost erotic sound in his slower music.

    • And then there was Iestyn. His voice is incredible – the range, the power, the passion, the searing intensity that has the whole auditorium ringing with plangent lament or soaring joy – he is simply unsurpassed in music of this period.

    • Iestyn Davies filled the hall with pure sound, poise, the highest quality musicality, and simply consistent brilliance. It was a privilege to hear this singing. There were so many highlights, but if forced to choose, David’s soulful entreaty, ‘Brave Jonathan, his bow ne’er drew’, was exquisite, as was the balance and sheer elegance of David and Michal’s duet, ‘O fairest of ten thousand fair’.

  • Solomon

    Royal Albert Hall, London
    Aug 2022

    • Iestyn Davies made a profoundly beautiful Solomon, singing everything with gorgeous tone and lovely phrasing. His manner was perhaps, slightly cool, but he seduced with his voice giving us plenty of superbly shaped music. This counted for a lot not just in the arias and ensembles, but in the recitatives and Solomon has a number of accompanied ones and Davies' really made these count. But we also see Solomon through his interactions with the four women in the work.

    • Iestyn Davies’s regal, assured and deeply expressive counter-tenor commanded from first note to last as the sage monarch. Davies’s Solomon showed such a warm, relaxed mastery across his range that bathos never threatened.

    • Iestyn Davies’s pure, incisive performance gave the title role a composed, rarefied dignity, if not particularly a multi-dimensional personality.

    • Iestyn Davies, but his countertenor has more than enough bloom and richness to equal the ripest mezzo, and his easeful projection and coloristic nuance was especially noticeable in the recitatives which had a flowing naturalness. He was perhaps more persuasive in the arias of absorbed introspectiveness and spiritual wisdom, than in the more amorous numbers, though. ‘What though I trace each herb and flow’r?’ had a lovely inwardness and calm, and Davies’ attention to detail, aided by a superlative technique, was apparent in the ornaments which graced the broadening then flowering phrase, “Did I not own Jehovah’s pow’r/ How vain were all I knew”, and in the beautiful decorations of the da capo which paradoxically evoked the pedantry, vanity and boastfulness that Solomon here rejects. The easeful ringing roundness of Davies’ tone never ceases to impress and amaze. The Act 3 Cecilian sequence on the power of music displayed all of Davies’ musical intelligence and artistry.

  • Rodelinda (Bertarido)

    Metropolitan Opera, New York
    Mar 2022

    • "Only the countertenor Iestyn Davies’s mellow voice, with the floating warmth of thin cashmere, truly seduced.

    • Davies possesses a voice of remarkable beauty and nuance. It is rare to find a voice so unified and balanced. His coloratura was fluid and precise, his interpretation sensitive and sophisticated... the sheer beauty of his instrument made every moment worth the listen. His interpretation of Bertarido's Act one aria 'Dove sei?' was a stunning introduction to a character and a singer I loved to encounter again and again. He carried well over the orchestra, a common issue with countertenors, even out-singing the soprano lead in the beloved duet that ends Act two.

    • Friday night he was just as superb... In 'Dove sei,' he let his sound and color grow and develop in an organic way, not just a crescendo but a modulation of quality. His was the most emotionally palpable singing of the night, and throughout the performance, his characterization was so expressive and natural that he disappeared into the part. In a night when all the music-making was excellent, he and Bicket seemed to share an effortless communication.

  • Partenope (Arsace)

    Teatro Real Madrid
    Nov 2021

    • Quien canta estas dos arias del sueño es Iestyn Davies, Armindo en Londres en 2008 y Arsace ahora en Madrid, donde se convierte, sin duda, en el cantante más destacado de la representación. No es solo el que mejor conoce el lenguaje barroco, el que lleva impreso en su piel el estilo de Handel, sino también el intérprete con mejor técnica y proyección vocal, dicción más clara y mayor inteligencia escénica. Domina por igual todos los registros: al final del segundo acto, su “Furibondo spira il vento” es un alarde de virtuosismo y precisión (es un gran acierto por parte de Alden hacer despertarse de golpe a Parténope en el preciso momento en que amaina el vendaval de agilidades de su pretendiente); al comienzo del tercero, su “Ch’io parta?” es apenas un susurro que irradia musicalidad y expresividad en cada nota, al igual que la citada “Ma quai note di mesti lamenti”, donde hace perfectamente creíbles su desolación, angustia y desamparo. Iestyn Davies is, without doubt, the most outstanding singer of the production. He is not only the one who knows the Baroque language best, the one who has Handel's style imprinted on his skin, but also the interpreter with the best technique and vocal projection, clearest diction and greatest stage intelligence. He dominates all the registers equally: at the end of the second act, his "Furibondo spira il vento" is a display of virtuosity and precision ... at the beginning of the third act, his "Ch'io parta?" is just a whisper that radiates musicality and expressiveness in each note, as is the aforementioned "Ma quai note di mesti lamenti", where he makes his desolation, anguish and helplessness perfectly credible.

  • Best British Singers: 10 greatest of all time

  • Guilio Cesare

    Opéra National de Paris
    Jan 2024

    • Tolomeo is performed by the counter-tenor Iestyn Davies, very in shape scenically and vocally, for his debut at the Paris opera. He shows a quite sensational agility in his tunes S"i spietata, il tuo rigore" and ""Domerò la tua fierezza.