Willie Anthony Waters is a regular guest of the opera companies in North America, Europe, and Africa, including notable recent appearances with the Australian Opera, Arizona Opera (Aida, La Fanciulla del West), Boston Lyric Opera (The Abduction from the Seraglio and a gala concert), Deutsche Oper Berlin and Capetown, South Africa (Porgy and Bess), Chautauqua Opera (The Daughter of the Regiment), Cincinnati Opera (Carmen), Cologne(Germany) Opera, Dayton Opera (Carmen), Edmonton Opera (Nabucco), Fort Worth Opera (Turandot), Kentucky Opera (Salome), Manitoba Opera (Nabucco), Michigan Opera, Montreal Opera (La Gioconda, Aida and Tosca), New York City Opera (Rigoletto and Of Mice and Men), Opera Memphis (Tosca, Rigoletto and La Traviata), Opera Carolina (Der Fliegende Holländer), Opera Colorado (Porgy and Bess), Opera de Quebec (Carmen), Orlando Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor, Falstaff, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni), San Diego Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor), San Francisco Opera, Vancouver Opera (La Traviata), and the Florida Grand Opera. 

He served as General and Artistic Director of the Connecticut Opera for twelve years, conducting more than thirty productions.  He also served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Florida Grand Opera for seven seasons.  During his tenure, he led a number of noteworthy productions, including Salome, Manon Lescaut, Die Walküre, Macbeth, Aida, Of Mice and Men, Falsfaff, Bianca e Falliero, Cristoforo Coolmbo, La Gioconda, Turandot, Tosca, Carmen, Trouble in Tahiti, and Lucia di Lammermoor.  He recently returned to the company as a guest to conduct Carmen.

On the concert stage, he has conducted the Brucknerhaus Orchestra(Linz, Austria), Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Essen(Germany) Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, at the Spoleto Festival, Southwest German Radio Orchestra, and Tallahassee Symphony.

He has conducted recordings for Philips Records for Simon Estes and for Shirley Verrett, and conducted concerts for many of opera's notable artists.

Mr. Waters is a native of Miami and graduate of the University of Miami.  Following that, he served as Artistic Administrator of the San Francisco Opera under Kurt Herbert Adler.  In 1991, he was the recipient of the "prix de Martell," in honor of his contributions to the community.