The international baritone who composes for choirs

The Telegraph has a good interview with Roderick Williams, a former schoolteacher who has become one of the most popular opera baritones on the professional circuit. He is half-Jamaican. ‘Our obsession with diversity maybe means that my skin colour works in my favour,’ he says. ‘But I’d rather be judged on my singing.’

He’s about to sing Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses at the Royal Opera House. ‘People often ask me why I always seem so cheerful. And I just say to them, why shouldn’t I be? I’m singing wonderful music, and I even get paid for it, too.’

What modest Rod fails to mention is that he has a debut disc out this month – as a composer. He writes really good choral music in the English tradition.