Simon Bailey - Bass Baritone

Described as an ´elegant, sensitive and powerful Wotan´ (Der Opernfreund), ´a singer for Wotan who lives up to the ideal of a German bel canto´ (FAZ) and ´...one of the best Wotans I have ever heard on stage, with his powerful, well-controlled, agile baritone, precise intonation and excellent clarity of pronunciation´ (Klassik Begeistert), Simon Bailey has been delighting audiences across Europe in a career spanning 25 years.

A resident of Frankfurt, Germany, Simon has a repertoire of more than 100 major principal operatic roles from Berg to Britten, Mozart to Mayuzumi, Humperdinck to Händel and everything in between. His unusually large vocal range means he has appeared as a low bass (Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Gonzalo in The Tempest), a Mozartian bass (with more than 50 performances of Leporello and 60 of Figaro including ROH Covent Garden and La Scala, Milan), as a typical Italian Buffo (most recently as Don Magnifico in Cenerentola), and as a Heldenbariton (Jochanaan Salome) in Stuttgart and Wiesbaden.

Recent success as Wotan (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre) and Wanderer (Siegfried) in Erl, Köln, Wiesbaden, Luzerne and Dresden has heralded a shift in focus to the great Wagnerian bass-baritone roles over the coming seasons.

Future plans include reprising Wotan (Das Rheingold) in Dortmund, Wanderer (Siegfried) in Saarbrücken, Balstrode (Peter Grimes) for Opera North in Leeds, a return to English National Opera as Don Magnifico (Cenerentola) and his debut as Hans Sachs Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Germany.