Willie Anthony Waters
2008 Regional Judge

Maestro Willie Anthony Waters is currently Artistic Director of Connecticut Opera. He has conducted numerous noteworthy productions and events for the company, including the Arena production of Aïda in 1991, Otello in 1997, Porgy and Bess in 1998, A Capitol Concert in Bushnell Park during the summer of 2000, and "Denyce Graves in Concert" (which opened the company's 60th anniversary season in the fall of 2001).

Maestro Waters has been a guest conductor for the Arizona Opera, Australian Opera, Cologne Opera (Germany), Edmonton Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Houston Ebony Opera, Manitoba Opera (Winnipeg), Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Carolina, Opera Colorado, L'Opéra de Montréal, Opéra de Quebec, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Orlando Opera, San Francisco Opera, Vancouver Opera, Kentucky Opera, and the opera companies of Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban, in South Africa. Among his orchestral engagements are performances with the Hartford Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra (Munich), Essen Philharmonic (Germany), Brucknerhaus Orchester (Linz, Austria) and Indianapolis Symphony. Maestro Waters also serves as Artistic Director for Opera of the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, where he has conducted Otello, Tosca, Suor Angelica and Highway One, USA (William Grant Still), The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto, and La Bohème, set during the Harlem renaissance of the 1920's.

In October, 2001, Maestro Waters conducted a gala concert with Denyce Graves in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Connecticut Opera. In 2002 he conducted a similar concert with Ms. Graves celebrating the 20th anniversary of Opera Colorado in Denver. In November of 2002 Maestro Waters made his New York City Opera debut conducting Rigoletto. After rave reviews in the New York Times, he returned to New York City Opera in the fall of 2003 to conduct Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men.

Maestro Waters hosts a monthly radio program on Beethoven Radio on the internet, "Looking Through the Opera Glasses," and is a regular guest panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Quiz during the intermissions of the renowned Saturday afternoon broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera.

The 2004 - 2005 Season marked the 25th anniversary of Willie Anthony Waters' conducting debut at Connecticut Opera. In the 2005-2006 season Maestro Waters conducted Il trovatore, L'Italiana in Algeri, and the double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Gianni Schicchi for Connecticut Opera. In September of 2006 he conducted a gala concert for Boston Lyric Opera, where he returns in April, 2008 for Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio.

He conducted Turandot for Michigan Opera Theatre in the spring of 2007 in addition to Madama Butterfly for Houston Ebony Opera during the summer. During the 2007 - 2008 season, he will conduct Tosca, La cenerentola and The Abduction from the Seraglio for Connecticut Opera. In July, 2008, Maestro Waters will make his debut with the Deustche Oper, Berlin conducting Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

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