Welsh National Opera are delighted to announce that we have two new Associate Artists joining us for our upcoming 2025/2026 Season: Owain Rowlands and Ross Fettes. In these roles, the pair will receive world-class training and support and will have the chance to gain performance experience through solo roles in our operas and concerts, as well as our community and engagement work.
Owain Rowlands is a baritone from Carmarthenshire, who studied at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music. Most recently, he trained at the David Seligman Opera School at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD). He has previously performed in roles such as the title role in Don Giovanni, along with A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Bottom, Alcina’s Island’s Brikbrak, and Impresario’s John & Pete. Other highlights include performing at WNO’s annual Opera Gala and representing Wales at Expo 2025 in Japan as the Cultural International Ambassador for the Urdd and RWCMD. Owain has also achieved great success in competitions; he was crowned winner of Llais Llwyfan Llanbed and London Welsh Young Singer Competition, for example, and won the W Towyn Roberts Scholarship prize and the Sir Ian Stoutzker Prize.
This Autumn, Owain will perform for WNO as Tosca’s Jailer and cover the role of Maximilian in Candide, as well as performing in our school concerts. In 2026, he will be a soloist in our annual New Year’s Celebration concert tour, cover the role of Mr Evans in Blaze of Glory! and sing in the extra chorus in both Blaze of Glory! and The Flying Dutchman.
Owain said: I’m thrilled to be joining Welsh National Opera as an Associate Artist next Season. This opportunity feels like an essential step in my development, working alongside the incredible WNO Orchestra and learning from such inspiring singers, conductors and directors.
Ross Fettes, meanwhile, is a Scottish bass-baritone and a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School in London, where he studied under the tutelage of Graeme Broadbent. Here, he performed in roles including Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Don Inigo Gomez in L’heure espagnole, Baron Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow and Pasquariello in Don Giovanni Tenorio; he has also sung as Figaro with Westminster Opera. Additionally, Ross is a Stephen Roberts Scholar supported by the Stephen Catto Memorial Scholarship Award, as well as a Countess of Munster Trust scholar and a Josephine Baker Trust Scholar.
Ross will perform as Sacristan in Tosca this Autumn, and will later join Owain as a soloist in the New Year’s Celebration concert tour. In the Spring, he will cover the role of Daland and will sing in the extra chorus in The Flying Dutchman.
Ross said: I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Welsh National Opera as an Associate Artist. Originally from Glasgow, regional theatre and opera were my first introduction to the art form, so it’s a real honour to be joining another regional company that brings opera to audiences across Wales and England. I’m excited to be working and living in Cardiff, and I can’t wait to get started.
We look forward to welcoming Owain and Ross to WNO very soon!