BARITONE

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 for Dorset Opera, Zurga Les pêcheurs des perles, Lescaut Manon Lescaut and Sharpless Madama Butterfly for Opera Holland Park, Escamillo Carmen and Germont Père La traviata for English Touring Opera, Donald Billy Budd, The Foreman Jenufa, Marcello La bohème and Ford Falstaff for Welsh National Opera, The Duke Roméo et Juliette, Kuligin Katya Kabanova, Sharpless Madama Butterfly and Marullo Rigoletto for Opera North and Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana and Guglielmo Le Villi for Chelsea Opera Group.

He sang 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, whilst his engagements in The Antipodes have included 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 Emma Kirkby and the Armonico Consort, Elijah at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and Mozart Requiem with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Stanislaw Skrowacewski, as well as regular concerts for Raymond Gubbay.

He has recently sung Belcore L’elisir d’amore for Welsh National Opera, Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana for Dorset Opera, Falke Die Fledermaus for London Lyric Opera, Anckarström Un ballo in maschera for Cork Opera 2005 and Eternal Light: A Requiem for Rambert Dance Company.

He has recently sung Belcore L’elisir d’amore for Welsh National Opera, Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana for Dorset Opera, Falke Die Fledermaus for London Lyric Opera, Anckarström Un ballo in maschera for Cork Opera 2005 and Eternal Light: A Requiem for Rambert Dance Company. His current engagements include Escamillo Carmen for the State Opera of South Australia, Pasha Selim Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Scarpia Tosca and Kothner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Welsh National Opera, Michele Il tabarro for English Touring Opera, John the Butcher Hugh the Drover for New Sussex Opera and Germont Père La traviata for Opera Project.

www.simonthorpe.net

Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.