Simon O’Neill is one of the most sought-after Heldentenors at the world's leading opera houses and festivals, and is particularly successful in Wagnerian roles such as Siegfried, Siegmund, Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan as well as Florestan, Idomeneo and Otello.
His engagements in the 2023/24 season include Lohengrin under Eun Sun Kim in San Francisco, Das Rheingold in concert performances in Sydney under Simone Young as well as in Los Angeles under Gustavo Dudamel, Tannhäuser at the Nikikai Tokyo, Tristan at the Royal Opera Copenhagen and in concert with the Auckland Philharmonia under Giordano Bellincampi, Handel’s Messiah and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius.
Highlights of recent seasons include his debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Parsifal, which he also interpreted at the Bavarian State Opera, Tristan at Santa Fe Opera and Glyndebourne, Florestan in Fidelio with Daniel Barenboim and Sir Antonio Pappano, Boris in Katya Kabanova with the London Symphony Orchestra and Siegfried in concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle and with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under Mark Elder.
Outstanding milestones in his career include opening the season at La Scala in Milan under Daniel Barenboim as Siegmund, a role he has also sung with Franz Welser-Möst at the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Berlin, Hamburg and Bayersicher Staatsopern, as well as his further appearances in London as Lohengrin, Fidelio, Stolzing and Parsifal; other important career milestones include his debut as the Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin State Opera with Simone Young and as the Tambourmajor in Wozzeck with Levine at the Metropolitan Opera. In 2009 Simon O'Neill made his role debut in concert as Otello with the London Symphony Orchestra under Colin Davis. He has since appeared in this role on stages in Houston, Boston, Auckland and Sydney. At the Bayreuth Festival he made his debut as Lohengrin in Hans Neuenfels' production with Andris Nelsons and returned as Parsifal in Stefan Herheim's acclaimed production under Daniele Gatti. His guest appearances at the Salzburg Festival included Florestan with Daniel Barenboim and Die Zauberflöte with Riccardo Muti.
Simon O'Neill has worked with outstanding conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Esa Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel, in addition to those already mentioned.
His broad concert repertoire, which includes Mahler's Lied von der Erde and Eighth Symphony, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, and Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, has taken him to the world's most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall New York, the Royal Albert and Royal Festival Hall London, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome and the NHK Hall in Tokyo. Simon also performed Die Walküre in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic (Barenboim), the New York Philharmonic (Van Zweden) and the Berlin Staatskapelle (Rattle).
His discography includes the Lied album Distant Beloved (Decca), his award-winning solo album Father and Son: Wagner Scenes and Arias (EMI), Siegfried in the Ring under Jaap van Zweden (Naxos), with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, Otello and Der Freischütz under Colin Davis (LSO Live), Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. Valkyrie under Barenboim from La Scala and Parsifal with Pappano from Covent Garden have been released on Blu-ray. His Deutsche Grammophon recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with Gustavo Dudamel won a Grammy Award.
Simon O'Neill was appointed an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II. He is a graduate and Doctor (h.c.) of Music from Victoria University of Wellington and a graduate of the University of Otago, Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard Opera Center. His portrait graced the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar stamp.