Countertenor William Purefoy makes his Handel and Haydn Society debut with Handel Jephtha. With a reputation consolidated by successful appearances in the UK with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Hanover Band, English Concert, and The Sixteen, Purefoy is also generating a strong international following, with recitals and operatic appearances in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, and his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. A graduate of Magdalen College Oxford and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and a winner of the NFMS Young Concert Artists Award.

Purefoy’s international operatic engagements have included Ottone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) for Theater Basel, Ptolemy (Guilio Cesare) and Dr. Nice (Evening Hymn) for the Staatsoper Hannover, while highlights of his UK appearances include Sir Philip Sydney in Harle’s Angel Magick (directed by David Pountney at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms), Apollo (Mozart’s Apollo and Hyacinth) for Opera Theatre Company, Asciano in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba, and the Handel roles Athamas (Semele), Lychas (Hercules) and Arsace (Partenope) for the Buxton Festival. In addition he appeared as Ernesto (Il Mondo Della Luna) for Garsington Opera, while for Scottish Opera he sang Andronico (Tamerlano) and Antonio (Gesualdo).

His many recordings to date have included Vaughan-Williams’ Mass in G Minor (Hickox/Chandos), Boyce’s Ode for Saint Cecilia's Day and David's Lamentation Over Saul and Jonathan (Hanover Band/ASV Gaudeamus), Rosie Blood (John Harle Terror and Magnificence/Decca Argo) and the role of Spirit in Dido and Aeneas (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Chandos). He has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Barbican, and Purcell Room, as well as in Innsbruck and Graz.