Shimell, William (1952– )

English baritone. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre. From 1980 he sang with the English National Opera ensemble, as Schaunard, Mercutio (Gounod's Romeo), Papageno, and Don Giovanni. He sang in Egisto for Scottish Opera, was in The Rake's Progress and was Figaro for Opera North, and was Guglielmo at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (1988). He made his US debut as Nick Shadow at San Francisco (1988). He was best known as Mozart's Figaro, which he has sang at Geneva, the Vienna Staatsoper, and La Scala, Milan; he appeared as Don Giovanni at Zurich, in 1993.