William Bolin, baritone

Meet William

William performs on Show 464.

William Bolin (baritone), 19, from Lake Forest, California, has long been inspired and motivated by the volume of works for keyboard and voice, choral music, and chamber and orchestral works. William is more than a fan of art music: during the past half-decade of serious musical pursuit, he has allowed it to become a significant part of who he is.  The past year was a season of intense development for Will, with several thematic recitals in Orange County; the role of Benvolio in Gounod’s opera Romeo et Juliette with a college theater; Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment with the Parnassus Society of Orange County; and several principal roles in school productions. No stranger to Broadway repertoire, he headlined two community theater musicals in 2023. Will also became nationally-ranked as a singer and competitor, finishing as a finalist in the Orange County Register’s Artist of the Year Program, as well as chosen as a “Winner with Distinction” by the highly selective YoungArts Foundation. He had the honor of singing in masterclasses with both soprano Denyce Graves and the Met’s Kathryn Lewek in Miami, FL, and finally, in addition to a YoungArts nomination to the 2024 Presidential Scholars in the Arts Program, Will was chosen out of his cohort as the recipient of the YoungArts Voice Discipline’s Gold Prize Scholarship in 2024. He took first place in the Pacific Symphony/Opera FOCUS 2024 Laila Conlin Competition, first Place in Southern California Vo-CAL, and winning SouthCoast Singers’ “Stars of Tomorrow” Scholarship Competition. Will has also recently been active in the symphonic sphere, having performed as the bass soloist for the Los Angeles Youth Phil’s presentation of Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy in 2024, and bass soloist for the Ninth Symphony in 2025 at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. He also recently performed the role of Count Almaviva in a local Orange County production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Will is brother to a sibling with intellectual disability, is a certified Red Cross lifeguard for the Boy Scouts, has worked as a sailing instructor at Newport Sea Base in Newport Beachand loves baseball. He is also an advocate for the arts among his peers, and has pushed toward an interest in serving veterans with his passion and talents. William hopes one day to have an international career in operatic, recital and digital performance that includes traveling, spreading the knowledge of known and less-well-known composers, and bringing what he knows to be the uniting, healing power of beautiful music to the world.