Christopher Hillier
baritone
"Hillier excelled in the role of Zurga...he sang the part with authority and conviction"
Oliver Brett, Bachtrack
Christopher Hillier is an Australian baritone acclaimed for his powerful stage presence and compelling interpretations across a diverse operatic and concert repertoire. In 2025, he sings Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Melbourne Opera, Sir Thomas Bertram in Mansfield Park for Victorian Opera, and appears in concert for Opera Australia and the Melbourne Bach Choir.
Christopher’s long-standing relationship with Opera Australia has seen him in leading and featured roles such as Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de perles, Schaunard in La bohème, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Ping in Turandot, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Moralès in Carmen, Pietro Fléville in Andrea Chénier, Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld, and Cristiano in Un ballo in maschera. For the company’s national tours, he sang the title role in Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte.
He has a strong commitment to Australian contemporary opera, having created the role of The Convict in The Rabbits by Kate Miller-Heidke and Lally Katz (world premiere at Melbourne Festival, later with Opera Australia) and sung in the world premiere of Richard Mills’ Galileo (Victorian Opera). Other contemporary roles include Pyotr Tchaikovsky in Tchaikovsky, Angel of Music (concert performance with Royal Melbourne Philharmonic), the Father in Brian Howard’s Metamorphosis (Opera Australia), and the Narrator in David Lang’s The Loser (Australian Contemporary Opera Co).
Christopher sang Gunther in Melbourne Opera’s landmark Der Ring des Nibelungen and has been a frequent collaborator with the company, performing roles such as Alfonso d’Este (Lucrezia Borgia), Giorgio Talbot (Maria Stuarda), and appearing in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Other stage credits include his role debut as Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) for Opera Queensland; and Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Kaiser Overall (Der Kaiser von Atlantis), and the title role in Der Diktator (iOpera).
Christopher’s concert repertoire is broad and varied. He has performed Jesus in Bach’s St John Passion (Melbourne Bach Choir); Messiah with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic; and the baritone solos in oratorios including Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony and Dona Nobis Pacem, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s Easter Oratorio, and the Requiems of Fauré and Duruflé. He has also appeared in a Verdi Gala with Singapore Lyric Opera and regularly performs with Sydney Philharmonia, Art Song NSW, and the Joan Sutherland Society of Sydney, as well as with ensembles in the UK, Italy, Germany, and Australia.
Christopher graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with First Class Honours and the National Opera Studio in London. He has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Opera Foundation Covent Garden Scholarship in 2006.
Representation: World