HELDENTENOR
Simon O’Neill has recorded a solo album for EMI Classics featuring scenes and arias from Wagner’s Lohengrin, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung and Parsifal. O’Neill, “one of the most exciting tenor voices of his generation,” is partnered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under conductor Pietari Inkinen.
Also featured are Susan Bullock as Sieglinde and Kundry and Sir John Tomlinson as Hagen. Recorded in collaboration with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Radio New Zealand, the CD will be released in New Zealand in February 2010 to coincide with a Simon O’Neill Wagner Gala in Wellington and other events. The international release will follow in April 2010.
“To make this CD,” O’Neill said recently, “has been a dream of mine since my first Wagner role, Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera, in which I was the cover for the great Plácido Domingo. This album surveys Wagner’s mature career from Lohengrin in 1850 through to Parsifal in 1882.”
“Lohengrin the son of Parsifal and Siegfried the son of Siegmund, along with their magnificent fathers, represent a huge vocal development for the tenor voice,” O’Neill continued. “These roles are essential to the path of a young heldentenor: from lyric moments to dramatic outbursts, Wagner offers the singer massive dramatic and vocal scope in developing the character and burnishing the instrument. The heart of this CD is devoted to the two great tenors of the Ring, Siegmund and Siegfried. Being given the chance to sing this music has been the highlight of my career. …. It is a tremendous honour to sing these wonderful characters both on the opera and concert stage and now on this recording.”
Simon O’Neill has been hailed as one of today’s finest heldentenors. In a matter of only a few years, he has become a principal artist with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Salzburg Festival, appearing internationally with conductors including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez.
Born in New Zealand in 1971, O’Neill graduated from the University of Otago and the Victoria University of Wellington before continuing his studies in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar. He received his Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and completed his graduate studies at the Juilliard Opera Center.
O’Neill turned to the Wagnerian repertoire with the guidance of Sir Donald McIntyre in 2001 and won the United Kingdom Wagner Society competition that same year. After being named a grand finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, he was engaged by the MET to cover Plácido Domingo as Siegmund in Die Walküre, launching his career in the Wagner repertoire. He has subsequently sung the roles of Siegmund at the Metropolitan Opera, Lohengrin and Siegmund at the Royal Opera Hosue and Parsifal in concert with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Outside of the Wagner repertoire, O’Neill has appeared to great acclaim as Florestan (Fidelio), Sergei (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Title role (Idomeneo) and (La Clemenza di Tito), Chairman Mao (Nixon in China), Mitch (A Streetcar Named Desire) and in concert Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde and Janacek's Glagolithic Mass.
Simon O’Neill’s busy upcoming performance diary includes Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die Walküre, Götterdämmerung and Parsifal at the Royal Opera House, Die Walküre and Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera, Parsifal in Bayreuth and The Ring Cycle at La Scala, Houston Grand Opera and the Vienna, Bayerische, Hamburg and Berlin State Operas. He also performs the title role of Otello at La Scala and the Houston Grand Opera, Dimitri in Boris Godunov at La Scala, Der Freischütz at the Theater an der Wien, Fidelio in Houston and Hong Kong and Tosca (Cavaradossi) and Mahler’s Das lied von der Erde in Berlin and Carnegie Hall with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
THE NEW ZEALAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1946, is the country’s full-size full- time professional orchestra and performs over 100 concerts annually. All its main symphonic programmes are presented in Auckland and Wellington and the Orchestra regularly visits some 25 New Zealand towns and cities for concerts and educational events. The NZSO has also performed at the BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Snape Maltings and the World Expo at Aichi in Japan in 2005 and in China as part of the Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival in 2008.
PIETARI INKINEN
The Finnish born Pietari Inkinen was appointed the NZSO’s Music Director from January 2008. He combines this position with invitations to conduct the Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre National de France, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk, WDR Cologne, Israel Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale, Orchestre National de Belgique, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony and the Japan Philharmonic, of which he became Principal Guest Conductor in the 2009/2010 season.
“A Siegmund of such steady, lyrical strength is rare indeed."
(The Financial Times)
“The timbre is of a splendid colour throughout the register, the voice flies to treble with a disconcerting ease, the forces are inexhaustible, the style is of the first order, with a perfect articulation, classy phrase and nuances.” (Opéra)
“Not only does Simon O’Neill possess one of the most exciting tenor voices of his generation but he also knows how to manage it: with his vocal energy and the charismatic luminous power of his sound, this youthful heldentenor unrelentingly impels not only his stage partner [but also the conductor and orchestra.] … O’Neill shows that he is able to do what only the greatest can.” (Suddeutsche Zeitung)
“O'Neill's youthful voice sounds ardent when required, but he is also able to caress the lyrical passages … with a honeyed tone that adds poignancy and passion to his portrayal. At the other end of the scale his voice rings out heroically and he brings Act 1 of Walküre to a close with as much heldentenor ardour as you could wish for.” (The Opera Critic)
