Andrew O'Connor

Andrew O'Connor - BASS BARITONE

As a performer and educator Perth-born Andrew O’Connor is versed in a wide variety of styles and genres. Andrew is a Lay Clerk with St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Sydney, was an Associate Artist with Pacific Opera in 2019, was the winner of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria Competition 2020, and from mid-2021 joined the newly formed Australian Vocal Ensemble (AVÉ) who have just released their debut recording and will be touring nationally in 2022. From 2015 – 2019 he was a core member of The Song Company, and has since 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 with virtually all of Sydney's leading music organisations – including Pinchgut Opera, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Choir, Opera Australia Chorus, Bach Akademie Australia, Cantillation, the Choir of St James, Hourglass Ensemble, and Sydney Antiphony, and Vocal Detour.

Chief among his 2022 engagements are major projects for Pinchgut Opera - singing the role of Gelone in Cesti’s Orontea, Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis & Galatea touring for both the Adelaide Festival and Four Winds Festival, performances of Monteverdi’s Selva Morale e Spirituale in Sydney and Melbourne, a Regional NSW Tour of Monteverdi’s Vespers, and joining Cantillation for Charpentier’s Médée. Other engagements include Handel’s Messiah for both Newcastle University Choir and Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, a Musica Viva Morning Masters program with Vocal Detour in Sydney, an educational residency for Music Viva at the Orange Regional Conservatorium, projects at the Festival of Voices (Tasmania), Faure’s Requiem and Schubert’s Stabat Mater with Sydney University Graduate Choir, and both performance and education projects for Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Bach Akademie Australia, Moorambilla Voices and more.

In October he made his international debut with the Voces8 Foundation and Orchestra – and  throughout November and December has various concert and recording projects with Bach Akademie Australia, Pinchgut Opera, Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Australian Vocal Ensemble, St Mary's Cathedral Choir, Sydney Youth Orchestra, Vocal Detour and more.

His 2023 engagements include Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri and the roles of Polimante and Erasto in Legrenzi’s Giustino for Pinchgut Opera and a number of significant national touring and major recording projects with the Australian Vocal Ensemble (AVE) and more.

His 2021 engagements include three roles in Cavalli's Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne, a Purcell and Charpentier Concert Program, Monteverdi's Vespers and Rameau's Plateé for Pinchgut Opera, Handel’s Dixit Dominus with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Bach’s St John Passion with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, a number of projects with Bach Akademie Australia, a Musica Viva Sessions concert at the Royal Botanic Gardens with Vocal Detour, the premiere of Katy Abbott's Hidden Thoughts: Do I Matter? at the Canberra International Music Festival, a recording project featuring the music of Pierre de Manchicourt and more.

His pre-pandemic 2020 engagements were to include Splendour of Venice, Medee and Purcell & Charpentier with Pinchgut Opera, Bach’s St John Passion with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Handel’s Samson for St George’s Cathedral, Perth, various projects with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Bach Akademie Australia, Collegium Musicum, Sydney University Graduate Choir, and a residency at the American Bach Soloists Academy in San Francisco. Completed or future performances and projects in 2020 include Attila with Opera Australia, Handel’s Messiah with Sydney Chamber Choir, A Delicate Fire for Pinchgut Opera, Actus Tragicus BWV 106 with Bach Akademie Australia for Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, a number of recording projects, Exile Lamentations with Luminescence Chamber Singers, Handel's Messiah with The Song Company, Noël Noël with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Graeme Koehne’s Love Burns for The Other Theatre.

His 2019 solo engagements included the Australian Premiere of Telemann’s Thunder Ode with Pinchgut Opera, Christus in Arvo Pärt’s Passio, two solo recitals for Hourglass Ensemble and The Song Company, Orff’s Carmina Burana with Canberra Youth Orchestra & Canberra Choral Society, Faure’s Requiem with Coro Innominata, Handel’s L’allegro with Choir of St James, the World Premiere of Josephine Gibson’s Panta Kremamena with Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, Mozart’s Veni Sancte Spiritus & Coronation Mass for Collegium Musicum, Acis & Galatea with Ensemble Polypheme, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, BWV151 & BWV191 with Bach Akademie Australia, and Handel’s Messiah with the Canberra Choral Society and Newcastle Cathedral Choir.

In an educational capacity he continues to teach at the Perth Choral Institute Summer School, teaches singing and assists with a number of choirs at St Aloysius College, Kirribilli, has been a guest conductor with the Gondwana Sydney Children’s Choir Young Men’s Choir, and tours and performs regularly throughout Regional NSW as part of the award-winning Moorambilla Voices program.

His 2017-18 solo engagements included Bach’s Actus Tragicus and Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Bach Akademie Australia at the Canberra International Music Festival, Haydn’s Paukenmesse & Mozart’s Requiem for Collegium Musicum, excerpts from Massenet’s Thaïs in Brisbane & Sydney with Hourglass Ensemble, Arvo Pärt’s Passio & Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, Pilatus in Bach’s St John Passion, Bach’s Magnificat, Faure’s Requiem with both the Queensland Symphony Orchestra & The Song Company, and twice performing the role of Levite in Handel's Solomon in Sydney with the Leichhardt Espresso Chorus & St George's Cathedral Consort for broadcast on ABC Classic FM.

2018 ensemble engagements include The Song Company's Imagin'd Corners Season, a European Tour (Italy & Netherlands) with St Mary's Cathedral Choir, recording Katy Abbott's Hidden Thoughts with Syzygy Ensemble and The Song Company, performing in Brett Dean's Helpmann Award Winning Hamlet at the Adelaide Festival, performances of Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir alongside four new Australian commissions in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra with Luminescence Chambers Singers and The Consort of Melbourne, his ongoing work with St Mary's Cathedral Choir, and Sydney-based concerts with Sydney Antiphony and The Choir of St James.

Other recent highlights include the world premiere performances of Margery Smith's White Shadows and Andrew Kennedy's Hourglass Beach at the Sydney Opera House with Hourglass Ensemble, performing Stravinsky’s Pribaoutki at the Canberra International Music Festival, and tours through Far-North Queensland and USA (New York & Washington DC) with The Australian Voices Six.

His operatic experience includes five years of main stage and regional touring with West Australian Opera (2010 – 2014) and a wide span of roles with independent companies. In 2020 Andrew joins Opera Australia for Verdi’s Attila and also sang in OA’s landmark ‘silent production’ of Alan John’s Eighth Wonder in 2016. For Pinchgut Opera Andrew will sing in Charpentier’s Médée in 2020. In 2019 he sang the role of Polyphemus (Handel Acis & Galatea) in Ensemble Polypheme’s inaugural season. His complete roles include Caronte (L'Orfeo), Aeneas (Dido & Aeneas), Polyphemus (Acis & Galatea), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Zeus (Orphée aux Enfers), Die Totengraber (Der Rose Pilgerfahrt), Pooh Bah (The Mikado) and he originated the roles of Bill (Dreamers of the Day) and Daniel (Plains of Promise). Performed scenes include Seneca (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Zurga (The Pearl Fishers), Zuniga (Carmen), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Don Alfonso (Cosi Fan Tutte), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Rigoletto (Rigoletto) and Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring).

On the concert platform he has been soloist in concert works by J.S Bach (Johannes-Passion, Matthaus-Passion, Magnificat, BWV4, BWV82, BWV106, BWV175, BWV182), Handel (Messiah, Saul, Solomon, Acis & Galatea), Charpentier, Schütz, Purcell, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, Durufle, Faure, Stravinsky, Bernstein and more.

Andrew’s discography includes Stars with Australian Vocal Ensemble, A Delicate Fire with Pinchgut Opera, In Illo Tempore and From The Paddocks to the Trenches with The Song Company, Memoriam with 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.

Andrew maintains active links to his work in music education and mentoring - including current work with Moorambilla Voices and private teaching at St Aloysius College, Kirribilli. He previously held teaching positions at Christ Church Grammar School and John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School.

He previously held singing positions in Perth with St George's Cathedral Choir, Collegium Musicum, The Australian Voices, and was a core singer and General Manager of The Giovanni Consort.

His non-classical singing experience includes performing the roles of Javert (Les Miserables), Miles Gloriosus (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Rapunzel's Prince (Into the Woods), Tinman (The Wiz), Teen Angel (Grease) and singing in the Australian Premiere of Disney in Concert. Andrew was also a successful trumpet player in his formative years, and was Principal Trumpet of the West Australian Youth Symphonic Band.

Biography Current as of November 2022