Willebrords, Rik

Countertenor; he obtained his master’s degree after voice studies with Lubov Stuchevskaya at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. In 2019 he completed performance studies at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität in Vienna and URIM masterclasses at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. 

At the age of 18 he made his professional debut in a children’s opera at the Flemish Opera in Antwerp and Ghent. Still at the conservatoire, he sang major roles such as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and Arbace in Johann Christian Bach’s Artaserse. A specialist in the contemporary repertoire, he has sung several roles in modern works in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Xi’An, the State Opera in Stara Zagora, Saint Petersburg, MUK Theatre in Vienna, and State Theatre in Brunswick. 

Apart from his work in opera, he is also a well-known recitalist. He sings recitals with music from Handel to Mussorgsky, as well as oratorio parts from the Baroque to the Romantic period, including Vivaldi’s Gloria andStabat Mater, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Tchaikovsky’s Moscow Cantata. 

Highlights of the current and next season are concerts at the Musikverein in Vienna and Graz as well as at La Monnaie in Brussels. In opera, he made his debut at the State Theatre in Brunswick in Aribert Reimann’s L’invisible, and was immediately reinvited for the next season to sing Belize in Angels in America by Peter Eötvös.