artistic principals
Simon O'Neill patron
"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 (2007 Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera and Opera National du Rhin) were all received to wide critical acclaim. On the concert stage he recently performed the title role of Parsifal in Rome, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in Glasgow, Mahler's Eighth Symphony in Montreal, Ferdinand in Der Sturm at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Rachmaninoff's The Bells and Die Walküre, a Beijing Olympics concert with the NZ Symphony Orchestra. He made his BBC Proms debut performing the Glagolitic Mass with Pierre Boulez. He also had the honour of touring Europe with Daniel Barenboim performing Act One Die Walküre.
Recent appearances include the title role of Lohengrin at Covent Garden, Sergei in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for Opera Australia and Florestan in Fidelio at Teatro Sao Carlos, Lisbon and the Salzburg Festival. On the concert stage Simon performs Caesar in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with New York City Opera at Carnegie Hall; the Glagolitic Mass in Paris and Ravenna, and returns as guest artist to the Bundaleer Festival in Adelaide. Simon will also record his debut CD of Wagner arias with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Future appearances include the title role of Otello at La Scala; Lohengrin and Florestan in Houston; Max in Die Freischütz in Vienna; Parsifal in Valencia, Vienna and Barcelona, the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals; Beethoven Ninth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Walter von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger at Covent Garden, then Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Vienna, Hamburg and Berlin State Operas and for the Wagner bicentenary.
He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Gran Sacerdote in Mozart's Idomeneo and his Royal Opera House debut as Jenik in The Bartered Bride. He appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Die Zauberflöte and returned to Covent Garden as Florestan in Fidelio. A consummate musician, both a pianist and tuba player, Simon has performed many demanding works including Chairman Mao in Nixon in China, Mitch in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, Dimitri in Boris Godunov with New Zealand Opera and Skuratov in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead. 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.
We are very grateful to Simon for his time spent teaching and coaching our students.
