2024
Simon O'Neill
Tenor
“Simon O'Neill made a tremendous debut in the title-role, giving notice that he is the best heroic tenor to emerge over the last decade.”
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, UK.
A native of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill is one of the finest helden-tenors on the international stage. He has frequently performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin, Hamburg and Bayerische Staatsopern, Teatro alla Scala and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh and BBC Proms Festivals, appearing with a number of illustrious conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis, Simone Young, Edo de Waart, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Simone Young, Andris Nelsons, Pietari Inkinen and Gustavo Dudamel.
Simon’s performances as Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Pappano, Teatro alla Scala and Berlin Staatsoper with Barenboim, at the Metropolitan Opera with Runnicles in the celebrated Otto Schenk production returning with Luisi in the Lepage Ring Cycle and in the Götz Friedrich production at Deutsche Oper Berlin with Rattle were performed to wide critical acclaim. He was described in the international press as "an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice", "THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation" and "a turbo-charged tenor".
This season Simon makes his debut at: Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony and Andris Nelsons as Siegmund in a concert performance of Die Walküre. He also performs the role in concert with Toronto Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis and in Los Angeles with Esa Pekka Salonen.
Simon returns to the Berlin Staatsoper as Florestan in Fidelio, Boris in Katya Kabanova, Froh in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre. He makes his return to San Francisco Opera and the Hallé Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic as Florestan in Fidelio. He appears at the Wiener Staatsoper as the title role Parsifal with Valery Gergiev and at the Bayerisher Staatsoper as with Adam Fisch and returns as Siegmund to Oper Leipzig in Die Walküre under Ulf Schirmer and the Bayerischer Staatsoper under Kirill Petrenko. He is delighted to be making his role debut, as title role in Tristan und Isolde with Santa Fe Opera with Gaffigan and in concert with the Atlanta Symphony and Spano and with Opera Queensland under Inkinen. Simon makes his stage debut as Siegfried in the 2021 new Stefan Herheim/Donald Runnicles production for Deutsche Oper Berlin.
On the concert stage, Simon performs Mahler’s Symphony No.8 at the Edinburgh Festival with Daniel Harding; the BBC Proms with Thomas Søndergård, in Paris with Valery Gergiev and with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dudamel. He performs Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass under Pietari Inkinen in Prague and also with the Berliner Staatskapelle under Sir Simon Rattle, Beethoven Symphony No.9 in Tokyo, Prague and throughout New Zealand. He performs Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Munich Philharmonic in Paris with Gergiev, the Czech Philharmonic in Prague with with Rattle, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and with the New York Philharmonic and Dudamel. Simon performs Gurrelieder with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, tours Wagner with National d’île de France with Case Scaglione and is delighted to return to Mumbai for concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of India.
Notable debuts have included; the Royal Opera House (2005) Jenik in The Bartered Bride with Mackerras, the Salzburg Festival (2005) in Die Zauberflöte with Muti, the Metropolitan Opera (2006) as the Gran Sacerdote in Idomeneo with Levine, Opera Australia (2009) as Sergei in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Armstrong, Siegmund in Die Walküre at Teatro alla Scala (2010) with Barenboim and the Bayerische Staatsoper with Nagano (2013), Chairman Mao in Nixon in China with Renes with the San Francisco Opera (2012), and the Wiener Staatsoper (2012) in the title role of Parsifal with Thielemann.
Simon made his Bayreuth Festival debut in the title of Lohengrin in the new Hans Neuenfels production with Andris Nelsons and returned as Parsifal in the celebrated Stefan Herheim production with Daniele Gatti.
Recent and notable engagements have included opening La Scala's season as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Barenboim, the Wiener Staatsoper with Welser-Möst, his return as Siegmund in the celebrated Keith Warner Ring Cycle, Lohengrin, Fidelio, Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role of Parsifal in the Stephen Langridge production at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He made his debut with the Hallé Orchestra in the title role of Wagner’s Siegfried with Sir Mark Elder in performances at the Edinburgh Festival and with Jaap van Zweden with the Hong Kong Philharmonic - both these performances have been released on CD. He made his debut as Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin Staatsoper and as the Tambourmajor in Wozzeck with Levine at the Metropolitan Opera.
At extremely short notice Simon made his debut in the title role of Verdi’s Otello in concert at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis (2009). His performance was widely acclaimed by critics, who described his musical and dramatic portrayal of the infamous protagonist as “thrilling”, “a triumph”, “an immense performance” “a tremendous debut in the title-role, giving notice that he is the best heroic tenor to emerge over the last decade.” He has gone on to perform the role on stage in Houston, Boston, Auckland and Sydney.
Simon has appeared in many of the world’s leading concert halls including Carnegie Hall for Das Lied von der Erde with Levine and The Met Orchestra and Missa Solemnis with the Boston Symphony, Florestan in Fidelio at both the Salzburg Festival and BBC Proms with Barenboim and with the National Symphony Orchestra and Eschenbach at the Kennedy Center, Gurrelieder in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and Edinburgh Festival, Das Lied von der Erde, Fidelio and Parsifal in concert at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Pappano and Gatti, Parsifal Act 3 with Nelsons and the Bayerischer Rundfunks Orchestra at the Munich Herkulesaal, Der Freischütz with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass with Dutoit at Tokyo’s NHK Hall and with Boulez in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Mahler’s Symphony No.8 at the Sydney Opera House with Ashkenazy and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 for the reopening of London’s Royal Festival Hall. He also had the honour of touring Europe with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performing Act I Die Walküre in concert, performing complete the Ring Cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin with Barenboim at the BBC Proms and Act 1 in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle at the Philharmonie. Simon made his debut with the New York Philharmonic has Siegmund in Die Walküre Act one in concert with Jaap van Zweden.
Grammy nominated, his discography includes his most recent lieder title ‘Distant Beloved’ with pianist Terence Dennis with the Decca label; his debut solo award winning album; Father and Son, Wagner Scenes and Arias (Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund and Siegfried) with Pietari Inkinen and the NZSO for EMI and the title role of Siegfried in the Jaap van Zweden Ring Cycle recording for Naxos and with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder. Mr O’Neill appears as the title role of Parsifal on Blu-ray and DVD with Sir Antonio Pappano from Covent Garden, the title role of Otello and Max in Der Freischütz with Sir Colin Davis for LSO Live, Die Walküre on Blu-ray and DVD with Daniel Barenboim from La Scala, Die Zauberflöte for the Salzburg Festival Mozart 25 DVD with Riccardo Muti, Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with Vladimir Ashkenanzy and the Sydney Symphony, Beethoven Symphony No.9 with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Paavo Järvi and the Montreal Symphony
Orchestra with Kent Nagano, Frank Martin’s Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Symphony and Thierry Fischer, Chauson’s Le Roi Arthus with Leon Botstein and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and most recently Voices of German Opera from EMI.
Simon became an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, he is an alumnus and holds a Doctor of Music (Honoris Causa) from Victoria University of Wellington and is an alumnus of the University of Otago, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard Opera Center. He is a Fulbright Scholar, was awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand and was a grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions returning as guest artist in 2007. He also appears on the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, UK.
A native of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill is one of the finest helden-tenors on the international stage. He has frequently performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin, Hamburg and Bayerische Staatsopern, Teatro alla Scala and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh and BBC Proms Festivals, appearing with a number of illustrious conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis, Simone Young, Edo de Waart, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Simone Young, Andris Nelsons, Pietari Inkinen and Gustavo Dudamel.
Simon’s performances as Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Pappano, Teatro alla Scala and Berlin Staatsoper with Barenboim, at the Metropolitan Opera with Runnicles in the celebrated Otto Schenk production returning with Luisi in the Lepage Ring Cycle and in the Götz Friedrich production at Deutsche Oper Berlin with Rattle were performed to wide critical acclaim. He was described in the international press as "an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice", "THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation" and "a turbo-charged tenor".
This season Simon makes his debut at: Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony and Andris Nelsons as Siegmund in a concert performance of Die Walküre. He also performs the role in concert with Toronto Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis and in Los Angeles with Esa Pekka Salonen.
Simon returns to the Berlin Staatsoper as Florestan in Fidelio, Boris in Katya Kabanova, Froh in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre. He makes his return to San Francisco Opera and the Hallé Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic as Florestan in Fidelio. He appears at the Wiener Staatsoper as the title role Parsifal with Valery Gergiev and at the Bayerisher Staatsoper as with Adam Fisch and returns as Siegmund to Oper Leipzig in Die Walküre under Ulf Schirmer and the Bayerischer Staatsoper under Kirill Petrenko. He is delighted to be making his role debut, as title role in Tristan und Isolde with Santa Fe Opera with Gaffigan and in concert with the Atlanta Symphony and Spano and with Opera Queensland under Inkinen. Simon makes his stage debut as Siegfried in the 2021 new Stefan Herheim/Donald Runnicles production for Deutsche Oper Berlin.
On the concert stage, Simon performs Mahler’s Symphony No.8 at the Edinburgh Festival with Daniel Harding; the BBC Proms with Thomas Søndergård, in Paris with Valery Gergiev and with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dudamel. He performs Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass under Pietari Inkinen in Prague and also with the Berliner Staatskapelle under Sir Simon Rattle, Beethoven Symphony No.9 in Tokyo, Prague and throughout New Zealand. He performs Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Munich Philharmonic in Paris with Gergiev, the Czech Philharmonic in Prague with with Rattle, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and with the New York Philharmonic and Dudamel. Simon performs Gurrelieder with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, tours Wagner with National d’île de France with Case Scaglione and is delighted to return to Mumbai for concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of India.
Notable debuts have included; the Royal Opera House (2005) Jenik in The Bartered Bride with Mackerras, the Salzburg Festival (2005) in Die Zauberflöte with Muti, the Metropolitan Opera (2006) as the Gran Sacerdote in Idomeneo with Levine, Opera Australia (2009) as Sergei in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Armstrong, Siegmund in Die Walküre at Teatro alla Scala (2010) with Barenboim and the Bayerische Staatsoper with Nagano (2013), Chairman Mao in Nixon in China with Renes with the San Francisco Opera (2012), and the Wiener Staatsoper (2012) in the title role of Parsifal with Thielemann.
Simon made his Bayreuth Festival debut in the title of Lohengrin in the new Hans Neuenfels production with Andris Nelsons and returned as Parsifal in the celebrated Stefan Herheim production with Daniele Gatti.
Recent and notable engagements have included opening La Scala's season as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Barenboim, the Wiener Staatsoper with Welser-Möst, his return as Siegmund in the celebrated Keith Warner Ring Cycle, Lohengrin, Fidelio, Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role of Parsifal in the Stephen Langridge production at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He made his debut with the Hallé Orchestra in the title role of Wagner’s Siegfried with Sir Mark Elder in performances at the Edinburgh Festival and with Jaap van Zweden with the Hong Kong Philharmonic - both these performances have been released on CD. He made his debut as Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin Staatsoper and as the Tambourmajor in Wozzeck with Levine at the Metropolitan Opera.
At extremely short notice Simon made his debut in the title role of Verdi’s Otello in concert at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis (2009). His performance was widely acclaimed by critics, who described his musical and dramatic portrayal of the infamous protagonist as “thrilling”, “a triumph”, “an immense performance” “a tremendous debut in the title-role, giving notice that he is the best heroic tenor to emerge over the last decade.” He has gone on to perform the role on stage in Houston, Boston, Auckland and Sydney.
Simon has appeared in many of the world’s leading concert halls including Carnegie Hall for Das Lied von der Erde with Levine and The Met Orchestra and Missa Solemnis with the Boston Symphony, Florestan in Fidelio at both the Salzburg Festival and BBC Proms with Barenboim and with the National Symphony Orchestra and Eschenbach at the Kennedy Center, Gurrelieder in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and Edinburgh Festival, Das Lied von der Erde, Fidelio and Parsifal in concert at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Pappano and Gatti, Parsifal Act 3 with Nelsons and the Bayerischer Rundfunks Orchestra at the Munich Herkulesaal, Der Freischütz with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass with Dutoit at Tokyo’s NHK Hall and with Boulez in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Mahler’s Symphony No.8 at the Sydney Opera House with Ashkenazy and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 for the reopening of London’s Royal Festival Hall. He also had the honour of touring Europe with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performing Act I Die Walküre in concert, performing complete the Ring Cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin with Barenboim at the BBC Proms and Act 1 in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle at the Philharmonie. Simon made his debut with the New York Philharmonic has Siegmund in Die Walküre Act one in concert with Jaap van Zweden.
Grammy nominated, his discography includes his most recent lieder title ‘Distant Beloved’ with pianist Terence Dennis with the Decca label; his debut solo award winning album; Father and Son, Wagner Scenes and Arias (Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund and Siegfried) with Pietari Inkinen and the NZSO for EMI and the title role of Siegfried in the Jaap van Zweden Ring Cycle recording for Naxos and with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder. Mr O’Neill appears as the title role of Parsifal on Blu-ray and DVD with Sir Antonio Pappano from Covent Garden, the title role of Otello and Max in Der Freischütz with Sir Colin Davis for LSO Live, Die Walküre on Blu-ray and DVD with Daniel Barenboim from La Scala, Die Zauberflöte for the Salzburg Festival Mozart 25 DVD with Riccardo Muti, Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with Vladimir Ashkenanzy and the Sydney Symphony, Beethoven Symphony No.9 with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Paavo Järvi and the Montreal Symphony
Orchestra with Kent Nagano, Frank Martin’s Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Symphony and Thierry Fischer, Chauson’s Le Roi Arthus with Leon Botstein and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and most recently Voices of German Opera from EMI.
Simon became an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, he is an alumnus and holds a Doctor of Music (Honoris Causa) from Victoria University of Wellington and is an alumnus of the University of Otago, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard Opera Center. He is a Fulbright Scholar, was awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand and was a grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions returning as guest artist in 2007. He also appears on the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
