HK Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Hall, HK Cultural Centre May 15 and 17, 8pm
Tenor Simon O'Neill is no stranger to the role of Florestan in Fidelio, Beethoven's only opera, having sung the part at the BBC Proms and the Salzburg Festival in 2009. On Saturday, the New Zealand-born singer will be joining dramatic soprano Susan Bullock, tenor Jon-Michael Ball, soprano Lisa Larsson, bass Kristinn Sigmundsson and baritone Eike Wilm Schulte to perform the work, in an opera in concert, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Edo de Waart.
Nobleman Florestan is an unjustly detained prisoner, and his faithful wife Leonora disguises herself as Fidelio, a boy servant to the warder, to rescue him from the dungeon.
O'Neill says the introduction to his character's opening cry of anguish in his prison cell is one of Beethoven's vocal masterpieces. 'His first note, high on a ledge of pain, frustration and anguish, must contain not only a tone which encapsulates these emotions but also must ring out through the hall as a controlled cry,' says the tenor. 'It is such a joy to try and perform the role in the opera - such beautiful melodies followed by heldentenor [robust tenor] heroic moments.'
The biggest challenge, he adds, is to 'try and perform the part with a beauty of tone but still translating Florestan's terrible situation, being a false-imprisoned political prisoner'.
O'Neill (above) last performed with the Hong Kong Phil in 2008 in Wagner's The Valkyrie (or Die Walk?re) and is regarded as one of the most exciting tenor voices of his generation and a fine Wagnerian singer. He says his work schedule for the next five to six years contains many of the great Wagner tenors roles such as Parsifal, Siegmund, and Siegfried, which will take him to venues such as Bayreuth, Covent Garden, La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera. '[But] I am also performing much Italian repertoire as well. I am very much looking forward to Tosca later this year in Berlin and opening La Scala with Verdi's Otello as the title role with [conductor Daniel] Barenboim in 2012,' says O'Neill.