Bass Baritone, Will Frost has been announced as the winner of the International Handel Singing Competition. The final, which took place at London’s St George’s Church in Hanover Square, also included performances by Isabelle Haile, Charlotte Bowden, Hannah de Priest and Angharad Rowlands, and was presented by BBC 3 broadcaster Petroc Trelawny. The Audience Prize was awarded to Isabelle Haile. The finalists are accompanied by the London Handel Orchestra, conducted by Laurence Commings, and compete to take home the prize of £5,000 in addition to the chance to work with a professional baroque orchestra.

Will Frost is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and is already busy on the UK and European opera scene, with upcoming performances of Cithéron and the Satyr in Rameau’s Platée, presented by Garsington Opera. He will be joining Stockholm’s Confidencen Opera & Music Festival in their production of Handel’s Alcina as Melisso, as well as taking part in the young artist programme at Graz Opera in Austria in their next season. As winner of the IHSC, Frost joins the ranks of previous winners including Iestyn Davies, Lucy Crowe, Grace Davidson, Tim Mead and Ruby Hughes.

The London Handel Festival’s Musical Director Laurence Cummings said, ‘The atmosphere was electric and all of the finalists sang with immense style and engagement.' Going on to say, 'Will Frost, this year’s winner, committed himself to every note and he used his beautiful voice to paint the rhetorical intentions of the text. I feel sure that Handel would have thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening.’