Simon O’Neill ONZM
tenor
New Zealand-born heldentenor Simon O’Neill ONZM is renowned for his masterful interpretations of Wagner and other dramatic tenor roles and is a regular guest at the world’s leading opera houses and festivals. His portrayal of Siegmund in Die Walküre is widely celebrated, with seasons at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Sir Antonio Pappano; the Metropolitan Opera in both the Schenk and Lepage Ring Cycles under Donald Runnicles and Fabio Luisi; Teatro alla Scala and Staatsoper Berlin with Daniel Barenboim; Deutsche Oper Berlin with Sir Simon Rattle; and the Bayreuth Festival. He also sang Siegmund in concert with the New York Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden.
Other major operatic appearances encompass the title roles in Lohengrin (Bayreuth Festival, Covent Garden, and San Francisco Opera) Parsifal (Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Covent Garden, and Santa Fe Opera), and Siegfried in staged and concert performances with Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. He has sung Tristan in Tristan und Isolde for Santa Fe Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and San Francisco Opera, and in concert with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. Additional appearances include Florestan in Fidelio with the Sydney Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Festival, and BBC Proms; the title role in Otello with the London Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, and Opera Australia; Boris in Katya Kabanova with the London Symphony; Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at Staatsoper Berlin; and Chairman Mao in Nixon in China with San Francisco Opera.
A distinguished concert artist, Simon has performed Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Schoenberg’s Gurre-lieder, and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 and Missa Solemnis with leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
His discography features a Grammy Award-winning recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon), as well as Parsifal (Covent Garden, Pappano), Otello (LSO Live, Sir Colin Davis), and the solo albums Distant Beloved (Decca) and Father and Son (EMI), both of which received widespread critical acclaim.
In 2025, Simon returns to Opera National de Paris as Loge in a new production of Das Rheingold, sings Siegfried in Götterdämmerung with the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, and makes his role debut as Tannhäuser in Tokyo. His concert engagements include Das Lied von der Erde in Lyon, Strasbourg and Düsseldorf, and performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Siegfried under Simone Young. He also appears as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde with San Francisco Opera and the Hamburg State Opera.
Representation: Australia / New Zealand
Askonas Holt: Europe / Americas / Asia
Simon’s Personal Site