Steven Caldicott Wilson’s limpid tenor was marked by wondrous phrasing and aching lyricism in ‘Thy rebuke hath broken his heart.’

Landon Hegedus
Chicago Classical Review
2022

Steven Caldicott Wilson was a powerful, polished and moving Evangelist.

Steve Smith
New York Times
2011

The soloists were well matched in the duets, and consistently moving in their solo contributions.

Allan Kozinn
New York Times
2012

The part of Nicolas was sung with steadiness and sensitivity by the tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson, who was impassioned without ever straining, and calm in his death scene.

Zachary Woolfe
New York Times
2015

New York Polyphony photo by Jacob Blickenstaff

Chicago-based oratorio tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson has made solo appearnaces at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Symphony Hall Boston. A member of the Handel + Haydn Chorus since 2015, he is also a tenured member of Chicago’s acclaimed Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, and since 2011 has been a member of New York Polyphony, peerless among chamber ensembles of its kind in the U.S. From 2007-2012, Mr. Wilson was a gentleman of the choir at St. Thomas 5th Avenue under the direction of the late John Scott.

Recent seasons have brought a range of compelling solo and ensemble work. In spring 2026, he returned to his alma mater for an alumni recital at Ithaca College, and sang the Evangelist in Leo Sowerby’s Forsaken of Man at St. James Cathedral Chicago. Earlier that season, he performed the Evangelist role in Bach’s St. John Passion with both Princeton Pro Musica and the Central Coast Chamber Choir, and sang with Musica Atlantica in Savannah, Georgia in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. The 2024–25 season also included a solo and ensemble appearance in the Clarion Music Society’s St. John Passion, and a solo and ensemble appearance with the Newberry Consort in Chicago. In fall 2024, he was soloist in Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass with Downtown Voices at Trinity Church Wall Street. He opened the Bloomington Early Music Festival in spring 2025, and has made multiple appearances at the Bach Virtuosi Festival in Portland, Maine, and with Bach Charlotte (formerly Bach Akademie Charlotte) in North Carolina.

One of his signature works across three decades has been Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, in which he has appeared as soloist and ensemble singer over twelve performances from 1996 to the present, with ensembles including the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Madison Bach Musicians, and Apollo’s Fire.

Past solo appearances include Handel + Haydn’s Israel in Egypt, Messiah solos with Musica Sacra at Carnegie Hall, Monteverdi Vespers and Handel Messiah with Apollo’s Fire, Chatham Baroque, TENET Vocal Artists, Clarion Orchestra NYC, and multiple Evangelist roles and Bach cantata recitals with Trinity Baroque Orchestra in Montreal and New York City.

New York Polyphony is one of the world’s foremost vocal chamber ensembles, praised for a “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts” (NPR) and “singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure” (The New Yorker). Their innovative programming spans Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions, and their focus on familiar and rare works of the 12th–17th centuries has helped bring early music to modern audiences. Founded in 2006, the quartet’s discography includes two GRAMMY-nominated albums, and many of their releases have topped the “best of” lists of The New Yorker, Gramophone, and The New York Times.

Sky of my Heart (2025, BIS) incorporates commissions and collaborations alongside revered works from the early music repertoire, with selections ranging from Byrd and Gibbons through 21st-century compositions by Ivan Moody, John Tavener, Becky McGlade, Akemi Naito, Paul Moravec, Andrew Smith, and Nico Muhly. And the sun darkened (2021, BIS) was hailed by BBC Music Magazine as “imaginatively programmed” and “immaculately sung,” while Early Music America called the disc “radiant.” Lamentationes (2019, BIS) was a finalist in the 2020 Gramophone Awards. Roma Æterna (2016, BIS) debuted at #4 on the Billboard Classical chart and its Missa Papae Marcelli was chosen by Gramophone as the top solo ensemble performance in their July 2025 guide to the greatest recordings. The quartet earned its first GRAMMY nomination in 2013 for Times go by Turns and a second in 2014 for Sing thee Nowell, both in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category.

New York Polyphony tours extensively, with engagements including Wigmore and Cadogan Halls in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Stavanger Kammermusikkfestival in Norway, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Taipei International Choral Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, and festivals in Spain, Colombia, and Canada. As of 2025, the quartet has performed in all but eight U.S. states.

An engaging and versatile musician, Steven brings sensitive expression and disciplined attention to solo and ensemble settings, with a career grounded in historical performance practice and a genuine commitment to new music. He is also a skilled pianist, teacher, and coach. A native of Virginia, he has been based in Chicago since 2022, and is an enlisted veteran of the United States Air Force Band Singing Sergeants. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College and a Master of Music from Yale University, where he studied in the Voxtet program in early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble.