"A magnificent new tenor” The Telegraph, London.

One of the most gifted and distinguished singers of his generation, Simon O’Neill has rapidly established himself as a tenor in great demand on the international stage. A native of New Zealand, he is a principal artist with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Salzburg Festival appearing with such illustrious conductors as James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano, Sir Charles Mackerras, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Donald Runnicles and Christoph Eschenbach amongst many others.

In 2007 Simon O'Neill's role debut as Siegmund (in the new Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Antonio Pappano, at the Metropolitan Opera with Donald Runnicles and in the new David McVicar production at Opera du Rhin) were all received to wide critical acclaim. He was described as "the star"..."an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice"..."THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation"..."a towering presence" and "a turbo-charged tenor". On the concert stage he performed the title role of Parsifal in Rome at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia with Daniele Gatti, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Donald Runnicles in Glasgow, Rachmaninoff's The Bells with Edo de Waart and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and returned to New Zealand for concerts with Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

This season, a year of debuts include the title role of Lohengrin at Covent Garden and Sergei in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for Opera Australia. Simon will also tour Europe with Daniel Barenboim and the East West Divan Orchestra for performances of the first act of Die Walküre with further performances later in the year with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Edo de Waart.

On the concert stage Simon performs Caesar in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with New York City Opera at Carnegie Hall, Ferdinand in Martin's Der Sturm at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Mahler's Eighth Symphony in Montreal with Kent Nagano, returns to the Bundaleer Festival in Adelaide and makes his BBC Proms debut performing the Glagolitic Mass with Pierre Boulez. Simon will also record his debut CD of operatic arias for EMI with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Looking further to the future Simon has performances of the title role of Lohengrin at Houston Grand Opera, Max in Die Freischütz at Theater an der Wien, Parsifal at Barcelona's Teatro Liceu, Florestan in Fidelio in Houston, Boris in Katya Kabanova at Opera de Oviedo, the Bayreuth Festival, Die Meistersinger and Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Hamburg State Opera.

During the 2006-07 season, Simon O'Neill made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Gran Sacerdote in Mozart's Idomeneo with James Levine, Florestan in Fidelio at the Royal Opera House, performed the role of Mitch in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Theater an der Wien and several performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, Daniel Harding and Christoph von Dohnanyi. He also returned to the role of Rodolfo in the New Orleans Opera production of La Bohème and concert performances of Don Jose in Carmen at Wolftrap and Florestan in Fidelio with the Auckland Philharmonia.

In 2006, Simon O'Neill made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden singing Jenik in Smetana's The Bartered Bride under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras. He also gave his first performances of the title role of Parsifal with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the New Zealand International Festival and Sam in Susannah at the Wexford Festival. He appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Die Zauberflöte with Riccardo Muti which was released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in presentations of Lohengrin and Die Walküre. He performed as guest artist at the Metropolitan National Council Audition Grand Final and toured Japan with the Metropolitan Opera covering Plácido Domingo in the role of Siegmund.

Mr. O’Neill’s other performance highlights include Chairman Mao in Nixon in China with Minnesota Opera, Dimitri in Boris Godunov with New Zealand Opera, Canio in Pagliacci in concert with the Auckland Philharmonia, and recorded the role of Lancelot with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Grammy nominated Le Roi Arthus by Chausson. Mr. O'Neill also made his Carnegie Hall debut under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation in Zankel Hall and performed Goldschmitt's Songs of the Mediterranean at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He has also returned to the Bard Music Festival to perform Skuratov in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead and The Diary of One Who Vanished with pianist Ken Noda. With San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program and Western Opera Theatre, he sang Rodolfo in La Bohème. The tenor has performed the title role in La Clemenza di Tito with Wolf Trap Opera as well as the title role in Idomeneo, Sam in Susannah, and Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites under the baton of Julius Rudel while studying at the Juilliard Opera Center.

Awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill was a grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions and has been awarded the 2003 Sullivan Foundation Award of New York, 2003 United Kingdom Wagner Society Prize, 1999 Metropolitan Opera Audition Competition Encouragement Award, 1998 Fulbright Scholarship and was the inaugural Young Artist in Residence with Opera New Zealand. He records for Decca, EMI and Telarc records and appeared on the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp. Simon O’Neill holds degrees from the University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard Opera Center.