British baritone Simon Neal joins Hazard Chase
Simon Neal was born in England and studied music at Leicester University and had a successful business career before resuming his vocal studies which now continue with Jeffrey Neilson Taylor.
He has sung a wide range of roles including Pizarro Fidelio, Escamillo and Scarpia for Opera Australia, his German debut as Ezio Attila at the Antikenfestspiel in Trier as well as Rigoletto for Opera Holland Park; Germont Pere La Traviata for English Touring Opera, Escamillo for ENO and in an arena production in Zurich. Other roles include Gellner La Wally, and Gerard, Andrea Chenier for Chelsea Opera Group; Conte di Luna for RTE Symphony Orchestra in Dublin; Amonasro, Aida; Doge I Due Foscari, and Emile de Beque in South Pacific for Lyric Opera Dublin.
Since 2006 he has been principal Baritone at Theater Dortmund where he has premiered new productions of La Traviata (Germont Pere) and Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Villains) Siegfried (Alberich), Götterdämmerung (Gunther), Carmen (Escamillo), the title role in Rigoletto and Salome (Jochannan), The Rake’s Progress (Nick Shadow), Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, (Alfio & Tonio) and Madama Butterfly (Sharpless).
2009 engagements include Scarpia in a new production of Tosca in Dortmund and for Opera North in Leeds; the Secretary in Henze’s Der Junge Lord and the Don in Don Giovanni and Creon Oedipus Rex. Future plans include Ford, Falstaff, Herrufer, Lohengrin and his debut at Oper Frankfurt as Mandryka, Arabella.
An experienced concert artist, Simon has performed with many of the UK’s leading choirs and orchestras.
