Simon O’Neill tenor Martin Snell bass
Recognised as amongst the foremost of
tenors of his generation, Simon O’Neill has
performed many of the greatest tenor roles
at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera
House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Berlin,
Munich, Hamburg and Vienna Staatsoper, the
BBC Proms and the Edinburgh, Salzburg and
Bayreuth Festivals. Martin Snell was born and educated in Dunedin.
After law studies and professional qualification
he commenced postgraduate vocal studies with
Patrick McGuigan at the Royal Northern College of
Music, Manchester, in September 1991, graduating
with distinction in 1994. He has received many
awards and scholarships, including the 1993 Mobil
Song Quest and a scholarship from the Peter
Moores Foundation, London.
Notable debuts have included; the Royal Opera
House in The Bartered Bride with Mackerras, the
Salzburg Festival in Die Zauberflöte with Muti,
the Metropolitan Opera in Idomeneo with Levine,
Opera Australia in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth
of Mtsensk with Armstrong, Teatro alla Scala as
Siegmund in Die Walküre with Barenboim, the
title role of Otello with the London Symphony
Orchestra with Davis, the Bayreuth Festival in
the title roles of Lohengrin with Nelsons and
Parsifal with Gatti, Nixon in China with the San
Francisco Opera and the Vienna Staatsoper in
the title role of Parsifal with Thielemann.
Other important engagements have included;
Parsifal, Die Walküre, Lohengrin, Fidelio and
Meistersinger at the Royal Opera House Covent
Garden, Die Walküre at the Metropolitan
Opera, Berlin, Vienna, Munich and Hamburg
Staatsoper, Siegfried in Götterdämmerung
in Houston, Tosca in New Zealand, Berlin,
Hamburg and Tokyo, the Missa Solemnis and Das
Lied von der Erde at Carnegie Hall, Gurrelieder
at the BBC Proms and Fidelio in concert at the
Salzburg Festival.
Simon grew up in Ashburton, he became an
Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in the
2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list and is an
alumnus and holds a Doctor of Music (Honoris
Causa) from Victoria University of Wellington.
He is an alumnus of the University of Otago,
the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard
Opera Center, a Fulbright Scholar and was
awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand.
Simon lives in London and Auckland with his
wife, Carmel, and their three children.
Sponsored by Sylvia Rosevear
Notable opera engagements include his début as
Ein Notar in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier
at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Festspielhaus Baden-
Baden and Opéra de Paris Bastille; Lorenz von
Pommersfelden (Mathis der Maler), Don Pedro
(Béatrice et Bénédict), and Foka (Charodeyka)
and Montolino in Bellini’s La Straniera at Theater
an der Wien; diverse roles for the Bayreuth
Festival 2005-2013; The King of Heaven in Somtow
Sucharitkul’s The Silent Prince and Daland (Der
fliegende Holländer) with Bangkok Opera; Lo zio
Bonzo in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for NZ Opera
in Christchurch and Carlo in Bellini’s Bianca e
Fernando for Opera St Moritz.
Notable concert performances include Verdi
Requiem in Bremen, Chemnitz and Munich,
Janàcek’s Glagolitic Mass as well as Kuno (Der
Freischütz) with Sir Colin Davis and the London
Symphony Orchestra, Schubert Mass Nr.6 and
Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten in Madrid, Tannhäuser
with Marek Janowski and the Rundfunkorchester
Berlin, his début as Fasolt in Wagner’s Das
Rheingold in Biel/Bienne, the title-role in
Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Wellington and Zürich,
Mozart Requiem in Basel and Milan, Haydn’s Die
Schöpfung in Switzerland, Händel’s Messiah and
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in New Zealand.
Future engagements include concert and
opera appearances in Switzerland, Germany,
New Zealand and Romania.
Sponsored by Ross Blair