Born in Tasmania, Simon Thorpe studied at the Guildhall School of Music, where he was awarded the Harold Rosenthal Prize. He spent a year at the National Opera Studio. A finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition, he now studies with Robert Dean.
In the UK, his engagements have included Escamillo Carmen, Pacheco Inés de Castro for Scottish Opera, Zurga Les pêcheurs des perles and Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana for Dorset Opera, Zurga Les pêcheurs des perles, Lescaut Manon Lescaut and Sharpless Madama Butterfly for Opera Holland Park, Escamillo Carmen, Michele Il tabarro and Germont La traviata for English Touring Opera, Donald Billy Budd, Belcore L’elisir d’amore, The Foreman Jenufa, Pasha Selim Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Marcello La bohème, Scarpia Tosca, Ford Falstaff for Welsh National Opera, The Duke Roméo et Juliette, Kuligin Katya Kabanova, Sharpless Madama Butterfly and Marullo Rigoletto for Opera North, Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana and Guglielmo Le Villi for Chelsea Opera Group, John the Butcher Hugh the Drover for New Sussex Opera, Anckarström Un ballo in maschera for Cork Opera 2005 and the title role in Falstaff for Longborough Festival Opera.
International engagements have included Don Pizarro Fidelio for Opéra de Baugé, Pacheco Inés de Castro with Scottish Opera in Lisbon, Sharpless Madama Butterfly and Scarpia Tosca for Lyric Opera, Dublin, and Sharpless Madama Butterfly for Singapore Lyric Opera, The Steward Flight and Roucher Andrea Chénier with the State Opera of South Australia and The Forester The Cunning Little Vixen, Private Willis Iolanthe and Montano Otello for Opera Australia.
His recordings include Second Mate / Arthur Jones Billy Budd with Kent Nagano and the Hallé Orchestra for Erato, and he sings regularly throughout the country in concert, at major venues including the Barbican Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, St John’s, Smith Square, the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, and the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Particular highlights have included the Fauré Requiem with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, conducted by Nicholas Cleobury, Messiah with the Armonico Consort, Elijah at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and Mozart Requiem with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Stanislaw Skrowacewski and Eternal Light: A Requiem for Rambert Dance Company.
Currentengagements include Escamillo Carmen for the State Opera of South Australia, Tonio Pagliacci for Stanley Hall Opera, the title role in Gianni Schicchi for Opera Project, Scarpia Tosca for Opéra de Baugé, Amonasro Aida for Lyric Opera, Dublin, Herald Lohengrin for the Opéra de Toulon and Welsh National Opera, Melot Tristan und Isolde for Welsh National Opera, Classical Spectacular 2012 and Last Night of the Christmas Proms for Raymond Gubbay Ltd and Saturday Night is Music Night with the Ulster Orchestra.
Simon Thorpe is supported with a Musicians Benevolent Fund Professional Development Award.
Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.