Iestyn Davies MBE FRAM (born 16 September 1979) is a British classical countertenor, active internationally as an Baroque music soloist and opera performer.
Davies was born in York, England and first studied piano and recorder, mentored in his early years by his father Ioan, the founding cellist of the Fitzwilliam Quartet.
[15] He has appeared in concert at Teatro alla Scala with Gustavo Dudamel,[7] at the Concertgebouw and the Tonhalle with Ton Koopman, at the Barbican, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Lincoln Center, and at the Royal Albert Hall in the BBC Proms.
Leading interpreters with whom Davies has collaborated include[7] conductors Rinaldo Alessandrini, Philippe Bender, Harry Bicket, Ivor Bolton, Frans Brüggen, Harry Christophers, Stephen Cleobury, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Alan Curtis, Steven Devine, Richard Egarr, John Eliot Gardiner, Edward Gardner, Jane Glover, Paul Goodwin, Emmanuelle Haïm, Matthew Halls, Nikolas Harnoncourt, Edward Higginbottom, David Hill, Benedict Hoffnung, Christopher Hogwood, Peter Holman, Robert King, Nicholas Kraemer, Stephen Layton, Iain Leddingham, Charles Mackerras, Paul McCreesh, Kenneth Montgomery, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Kent Nagano, Donald Nally, James O'Donnell, Enrico Onofri, Daniel Reuss, Jeffrey Skidmore, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Charles Stewart, Patrick Summers, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Alison Balsom and Dominic Wheeler, and recitalists Julius Drake, Mark Padmore, Philip Langridge and Roger Vignoles.
[17] In April 2021 Davies sang with English National Opera in a social distanced performance of Handel's Messiah, staged at the London Coliseum and conducted from the harpsichord by Laurence Cummings, broadcast by BBC Two.