The NZSM Classical Voice department is pleased to present three Voice Masterclasses over April and May.

A native of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill is one of the finest helden-tenors on the international stage. He has frequently performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin, Vienna and Bayerische Staatsopern, Teatro alla Scala and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh and BBC Proms Festivals, appearing with a number of illustrious conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis, Edo de Waart, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Simone Young, Andris Nelsons, Pietari Inkinen, Esa Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. Simon’s performances as Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Pappano, Teatro alla Scala and Berlin Staatsoper with Barenboim, at the Metropolitan Opera with Runnicles in the celebrated Otto Schenk production returning with Luisi in the Lepage Ring Cycle and in the Götz Friedrich production at Deutsche Oper Berlin with Rattle were performed to wide critical acclaim. He was described in the international press as "an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice", "THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation" and "a turbo-charged tenor".

On the concert stage, Simon performs Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the New York Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Thomas Søndergård. He also performs Mahler’s Symphony No.8 at the Concertgebouw with Daniel Harding and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with the Tokyo Symphony and later with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. On the operatic concert stage Simon performs Tristan und Isolde in concert with the; Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, Opera Queensland with Pietari Inkinen, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester with Robin Ticciati and Florestan in Fidelio with the Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder and the Hong Kong Symphony with Jaap van Zweden. Simon made his Bayreuth Festival debut in the title of Lohengrin in the new Hans Neuenfels production with Andris Nelsons and returned as Parsifal in the celebrated Stefan Herheim production with Daniele Gatti.