As a performer and educator Perth-born Andrew O’Connor is versed in a wide variety of styles and genres – and since graduating from the University of Western Australia in 2012 has developed a busy freelance career encompassing opera, the concert platform, vocal chamber music, and the classroom.
Praised for his 'remarkable musicianship' (Limelight Magazine) and 'textured, fine-wine bass baritone' (Arts Hub) he appears regularly in both a solo and ensemble context with many of Australia's finest music organisations. Andrew is a Lay Clerk with St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Sydney, an Associate Artist with Pacific Opera in 2019, and was the winner of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria Competition 2020. From 2015 – 2019 he was a core member of The Song Company, and in 2021 became a founding member of AVÉ – the Australian Vocal Ensemble.
Notable 2023 engagements include the roles of Polimante and Erasto in Legrenzi's Giustino and Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri for Pinchgut Opera, a range of festival, concert, education, and recording projects for AVÉ – Australian Vocal Ensemble, the role of Harapha in Handel's Samson for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs at the Sydney Opera House, a mid-year project with The Song Company, and other projects with Bach Akademie Australia, Moorambilla Voices and more.
In 2022 he made his international debut with The VOCES8 Foundation and Orchestra, performing in six projects for Pinchgut Opera including important solo debuts at the Adelaide Festival and Four Winds Festival, and led an educational residency at the Orange Regional Conservatorium in association with the Godfrey Turner Memorial Music Trust and Musica Viva Australia.
Andrew is a regular fixture on the concert platform with a fine reputation in works spanning those of 12th Century Europe to 21st Century Australia – with noted interpretations of Schütz, Handel and the Passions of J.S. Bach and Arvo Pärt. Highlights include Faure's Requiem with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Berio's Cries of London for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Messiah with various orchestras, Orff's Carmina Burana in Canberra, appearances with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Katy Abbott's Hidden Thoughts at the Canberra International Music Festival and much more.
His operatic experience includes more than twenty complete roles – most recently those of Gelone in Oronotea (Cesti), Polyphemus in Acis & Galatea (Handel), Panto, Giove, and Peneo in Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne (Cavalli) for Pinchgut Opera; four roles in Graeme Koehne's Love Burns for The Other Theatre; and originating the role of Bill in Dreamers of the Day for The Song Company.
Other engagements include Attila (Verdi) and Eighth Wonder (John) for Opera Australia; Hamlet (Dean) for State Opera South Australia as part of the Adelaide Festival; Médée (Charpentier), Platée (Rameau) and Theodora (Handel) for Pinchgut Opera; and five years of main stage and regional touring with West Australian Opera (2010 – 2014) and a wide span of roles with other independent companies including those of Monteverdi, Purcell, Mozart, Offenbach, Sullivan and more.
Andrew’s discography includes Stars with Australian Vocal Ensemble, A Delicate Fire with Pinchgut Opera, In Illo Tempore, Known Unknown and From The Paddocks to the Trenches with The Song Company, Memoriamwith Sydney Antiphony, Handel’s Theodora with Pinchgut Opera, A Voice from Heaven: Music of Pierre Manchicourt with Queen’s Phoenix, Brooke Shelley’s De Profundis: Out of Our Depth with The Choir Lab, Songs of Hope with The Choir of St James’ King Street, and In Paradisum with St George’s Cathedral Consort. He also appears on the soundtracks of many films including Mortal Kombat, LEGO Movie, LEGO Movie: Batman, Safe Neighbourhood, Punch & Judy, and Peter Rabbit.
Outside of music, Andrew is always on the hunt for an excellent coffee, a great bowl of pasta, a new favourite red wine, tickets to the latest theatrical hit in Sydney, or a long coastal walking track.
