He is a frequent lecturer/speaker on opera at a variety of venues, including the Embassy of Finland, the Italian Cultural Institute (New York), the Smithsonian Institute, the Wagner Society of America (New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Boston), and the National Museum of Women in the Arts-as well as for the opera companies of Seattle, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. Berger is the author of several books on opera, including Wagner Without Fear, Verdi With a Vengeance, and Puccini Without Excuses (Vintage Books) and wrote the tribute “Chris De Blasio” in Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS (University of Minnesota Press). He can’t remember a time when he didn’t write, and has published on a variety of subjects, including architecture, religion, and sports.

In 1984, Berger moved to New York, worked in architecture/design, taught Romance languages at Baruch College, and became a constant presence in audience of the Metropolitan Opera. During college, he got his first taste of the opera world at the San Francisco Opera working in various capacities, including merchandising and translating for artists who didn’t speak English.

After spending time during his teen years in various places around the US and Europe, he earned degrees in Latin and Italian literature at the University of California at Santa Cruz. William Berger grew up in Los Angeles in a bilingual (Spanish and English) and multicultural (Mexican, Italian, and Jewish) home where everyone listened to opera and had strong opinions about it.

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