Jonathan Lemalu is a New Zealand-born Samoan who holds a Bachelor of Laws (Otago University) and an Artists Diploma from the Royal College of Music where he won the Tagore Gold Medal.
Jonathan has sung at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Oper Frankfurt, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric, San Francisco Opera, as well as the Salzburg, Baden-Baden, and Edinburgh Festivals with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Roger Norrington, Ivor Bolton, Charles Dutoit, Alexander Joel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Edward Gardner, and Patrick Summers. Roles include Osmin Il Seraglio, Rocco Fidelio, Leporello Don Giovanni, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Nick Shadow The Rake’s Progress, Hunding Die Walküre, Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Collatinus The Rape of Lucretia, Colline La Bohème, Dulcamara L’Elisir d’Amore, Queequeg Moby Dick, Weit Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Nourabad Les pêcheurs de perles.
Upcoming operatic highlights include Mr Grinder The Zoo with ENO and Sacristan Tosca with RBO. Recent highlights include Rocco Fidelio at Garsington, Mayor Jenufa at the RBO, Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro at Opera North, Doctor La Traviata, as well as Sarastro and Speaker Magic Flute for ENO; Seneca L'incoronazione di Poppea and Banco Macbeth for Grange Festival Opera; Don Fernando Fidelio for Glyndebourne; Tiresias Oedipus Rex for Opera Philadelphia and Sagristano Tosca for Liceu. Concert performances include Brander La Damnation de Faust with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome cond. Dutoit, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra cond. Kazuki Yamada and LPO cond. Edward Gardner; The Seasons with the Academy of Ancient Music and Handel’s Samson for the BBC Proms both cond. Laurence Cummings.
In 2022, Jonathan was made an RCM Honorary Fellow, a patron of New Zealand Opera and an ONZM in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours for services to opera. In 2026, he was appointed as Deputy Head of Vocal and Opera at Royal College of Music.