Australian / British baritone Byron Watson completed an Honours Music degree at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Rudolf Piernay and Janice Chapman.  He received scholarships from the Australian Opera Auditions Committee Inc., the GSMD Trust and The Ian Potter Foundation.  Whilst at GSMD, he understudied Anthony in Sweeney Todd (directed by David McVicar) for Opera North, was a prize winner of the Great Elm Vocal Awards, and was a finalist of the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary. In 2002, Byron made his film and television debut as Dick in Tomorrow La Scala (based on Sweeney Todd), a BBC feature film which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.

Following this, Byron joined the Opera School of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, receiving the RSAMD Endowment Trust International Scholarships on two occasions, two bursaries from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and an award from the Tait Memorial Trust. Roles there include Count Almaviva (which played at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre), Demetrius, Don Inigo Gomez and Melisso. Other roles performed in part include Onegin, Pandolfe (Cendrillon), Lescaut, Marcello, Papageno, Bottom, Guglielmo and Don Giovanni.

Byron was a guest of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Barony Hall, Glasgow, and was a baritone soloist in the Matthäus-Passion with the Northern Sinfonia under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington, and similarly with the Glasgow Symphony Orchestra.  He also sang the role of Peter in Elgar’s The Kingdom with the Buxton Symphony Orchestra. 

Byron received a full scholarship to attend the inaugural “Song in Collaboration” Summer School at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada, where he gave recitals and participated in masterclasses with Ian Burnside and Edith Wiens.  Other masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen and the Samling Foundation, Donald Maxwell in association with the Friends of Scottish Opera, Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, Francois le Roux, Rosalind Plowright and others.  He has given solo and joint recitals in the UK, Norway, Portugal and Australia, where he has been broadcast on ABC Television.