Artists biographies

Simon O’Neill

"A magnificent new tenor" The Telegraph, London.

Simon O’Neill has rapidly established himself as one of the finest young Helden-tenors on the international stage. A native of New Zealand, he is a principal artist with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Salzburg Festival appearing with such illustrious conductors as James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Sir Charles Mackerras, Seiji Ozawa, Edo de Waart and Donald Runnicles amongst many others.

Simon O'Neill's debuts as Siegmund (in the 2007 Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Pappano, at the Metropolitan Opera with Runnicles and in the new McVicar production at Opera National du Rhin) were all received to wide critical acclaim. He was described as "the star", "an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice", "THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation", "a towering presence" and "a turbo-charged tenor". On the concert stage he has performed the title role of Parsifal in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Daniele Gatti, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in Glasgow with Runnicles, Mahler's Eighth Symphony in Montreal with Kent Nagano, Rachmaninoff's The Bells and Die Walküre with Edo de Waart and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and made his BBC Proms debut performing the Glagolitic Mass with Pierre Boulez. He also had the honour of touring Europe with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performing Act One Die Walküre.

Appearances in the 2008/09 season also included the title role of Lohengrin at Covent Garden with Semyon Bychkov, Sergei in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for Opera Australia and Florestan in Fidelio at Teatro Sao Carlos, Lisbon and at the Salzburg Festival with Daniel Barenboim. On the concert stage Simon performed Caesar in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with New York City Opera at Carnegie Hall, Das lied von der Erde with Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle, Ferdinand in Martin's Der Sturm at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Glagolitic Mass with Boulez in Paris and Ravenna and returned as guest artist to the Bundaleer Festival in Adelaide. Simon will record his debut CD of Wagner arias for EMI with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Future appearances include the title role of Lohengrin and Florestan in Fidelio in Houston, Max in Die Freischütz in Vienna, Parsifal in Barcelona,  Fidelio, Parsifal and Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Cavaradossi at Hamburg State Opera, Lohengrin and Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival, Beethoven Ninth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Hamburg State Opera, Berlin Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera and La Scala. Simon will also sing Walther von Stolzing in Die Mesitersinger and Parsifal at Covent Garden and Wiener Staatsoper.

Simon made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Gran Sacerdote in Mozart's Idomeneo with James Levine and his Royal Opera House debut as Jenik in Smetana's The Bartered Bride under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras. He appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Die Zauberflöte with Riccardo Muti and returned to Covent Garden as Florestan in Fidelio with Antonio Pappano. A consummate musician, both a pianist and tuba player Simon has performed many demanding works; Chairman Mao in John Adams Nixon in China with Minnesota Opera,  Mitch in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Theater an der Wien, Dimitri in Boris Godunov with New Zealand Opera, Skuratov in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead, The Diary of One Who Vanished with pianist Ken Noda at the Bard Festival, Goldschmitt's Songs of the Mediterranean at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and recorded the role of Lancelot with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Grammy nominated Le Roi Arthus by Chausson. His repertoire also extends to the title role in Verdi’s Otello, Alfredo in La Traviata, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo La Bohème, Lenski in Eugene Onegin, Canio in Pagliacci and Don Jose in Carmen. He gave his first performances of the title role of Parsifal with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the 2005 New Zealand International Festival and toured Japan with the Metropolitan Opera covering Plácido Domingo in the role of Siegmund. 

Simon O’Neill is a graduate of the University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington, the Manhattan School of Music and studied at the Juilliard Opera Center. A Fulbright Scholar he was awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand and grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions returning as guest artist in 2007. With San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program and Western Opera Theatre he sang Rodolfo in La Bohème and performed the title role in La Clemenza di Tito with Wolf Trap Opera. Whilst studying at the Juilliard Opera Center he performed the title role in Idomeneo, Sam in Susannah, and Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites under the baton of Julius Rudel. He records for Deutsche Grammophon Decca, EMI and Telarc records and appeared on the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.