Meet the Cast of Fidelio
01 November, 2022
Meet the extraordinary international cast for our production of Beethoven’s Fidelio.
On November 24 & 26, Chief Conductor Simone Young brings her three decades of experience leading performances of Beethoven’s powerful and inspiring opera in an awe-inspiring concert orchestral experience, live at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
Cast Change: 23 November 2022
Elza van den Heever, who was to perform the role of Leonore, has had to withdraw due to illness. However, we are grateful to Eleanor Lyons and Madeleine Pierard who have agreed to replace Elza van den Heever at short notice.
Simon O’Neill
Florestan
Simon O’Neill is one of the world’s great heldentenors, especially famous for his performances of the great Wagner operas at Bayreuth, the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and elsewhere. In 1998, he was chosen to feature on New Zealand’s $1 performing arts postage stamp.
James Roser
Don Pizarro
Baritone James Roser has performed all over the world for companies including the Wiener Staatsoper, Staatstheater Cottbus, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Victorian Opera and Opera Australia. But before he was an opera singer, he initially began a career as an environmental scientist, completing a Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) at the University of NSW.
Jonathan Lemalu
Rocco
Grammy Award-winning bass baritone Jonathan Lemalu was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, where his parents emigrated from Western Samoa. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago before beginning postgraduate vocal studies at London’s Royal College of Music. His first solo orchestral recording, Jonathan Lemalu: Opera Arias won a coveted ECHO Classics Award, New Zealand’s Best Classical Album 2005, and international praise.
Samantha Clarke
Marzelline
A recent graduate of the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke has had a very busy 2021/22. She starred in productions for Adelaide Festival, Opera North and West Green House Opera, and you might recognise her from our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream earlier this year.
Pelham Andrews
Don Fernando
Pelham Andrews is a singer of great range and versatility, ranging from the core Italian, French, German and English operatic, sacred and symphonic repertoire through to lesser-known classical works, contemporary compositions, and traditional folk music. He has starred in two major productions at recent Adelaide Festivals: Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (2021) and Joseph Twist’s Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan (2022), and in acclaimed Australian operas including Cloudstreet and Voss.
Nicholas Jones
Jaquino
Nicholas Jones is a brilliant young tenor equally comfortable in traditional repertoire as well as cutting-edge new productions. Alongisde a host of appearances for Opera Australia in, he has also appeared in Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, Deborah Cheetham’s Pecan Summer, Elena Kats-Chernin’s Whiteley and the revival of Richard Meale’s Voss.
Louis Hurley
First Prisoner
Louis Hurley is a young star on the rise, passionate about a range of repertoire spanning the Baroque through to the 21st Century. After attaining a Bachelor of Music and Graduate Diploma of Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Hurley completed a Master of Music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, and while in England performed at both Wigmore Hall and the Barbican. In 2022, Hurley was announced as the inaugural The Humanity Foundation Taryn Fiebig Scholar through Pinchgut Opera.
Christopher Hillier
Second Prisoner
Christopher has a long history with Opera Australia, having joined the principal ensemble in 2012 and featuring in productions including The Pearl Fishers, Orpheus in the Underworld, Un ballo in Maschera, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, The Merry Widow, La bohème, Metamorphosis, Turandot, Salome, Rigoletto, Il viaggio a Reims, Madama Butterfly and Andrea Chénier. In concert, he sang The Celebrant (Bernstein’s Mass) at the Sydney Opera House, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony for Sydney Philharmonia, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War.
