Biography

A native of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill is an alumnus of the University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard Opera Center. He is a Fulbright Scholar, was awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand, and was a grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. His forthcoming engagements include Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with Donald Runnicles, the role of Cavaradossi in Tosca and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis in New Zealand, Act I of Die Walküre in concert in Adelaide, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Tokyo, and his debut in concert in the title role of Tristan und Isolde with conductor Pietari Inkinen. Mr. O’Neill returns to Accademia di Santa Cecilia as Florestan in Fidelio, the Auckland Philharmonia in the title role of Otello, and Berlin State Opera for Die Walküre. With the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian State Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, he appears in Götterdämmerung, Turandot, and Tannhäuser with Patrick Summers.

Mr. O’Neill’s discography includes Father and Son, Wagner Scenes and Arias, with Pietari Inkinen and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for EMI; DVDs of Parsifal, Die Walküre, and Die Zauberflöte; the title role of Otello and Max in Der Freischütz with the London Symphony Orchestra and Colin Davis for LSO Live; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Sydney Symphony; recordings of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the Montreal Symphony; Frank Martin’s Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Symphony; and Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus with the BBC Symphony. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut with these performances.

(March 2016)