Simon Neal

Simon Neal is an English operatic baritone. A member of the Oper Dortmund from 2006 to 2011, he has appeared in major roles at leading opera houses, including Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio with Opera Australia, the title role of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer at the Opéra National de Lyon, and Telramund in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Royal Opera House. Besides the standard repertoire, he portrayed characters in 20th-century operas, such as the title role of Hindemith's Cardillac, the double role of Dr. Schön and Jack the Ripper in Alban Berg's Lulu, and Nekrotzar in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. He appeared as the Holländer in the world premiere of SehnSuchtMEER by Helmut Oehring in 2013.

Life and career Neal wanted to become a singer when he was a teenager. He graduated in composition at Leicester University. He then pursued a financial services career, working in automobile marketing. His Wagner roles there have included Wotan in Das Rheingold from 2017 and in Die Walküre from 2018 and Wanderer in Siegfried, in a Ring production directed by . He participated in the world premiere of SehnSuchtMEER by Helmut Oehring, an adaptation of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, as the Holländer in 2013. the four villains in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, He appeared as the Forester in Janáček's Das schlaue Füchslein in a production that was recorded. He portrayed Nekrotzar, the title role in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, conducted by Thomas Guggeis the same year. Neal entered the scene on horseback.

Neil appeared at the Oper Leipzig as Jack Rance in Puccini's La fanciulla del West in a production conducted by Ulf Schirmer in 2018. He performed there also as Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper. In 2021 he portrayed the archdiacon Claude Frollo in Franz Schmidt's rarely played Notre Dame at the .