michael smallwood
Michael Smallwood commenced vocal training while completing a law degree at the University of Melbourne.
After studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, the Australian National Academy of Music and New York's Juilliard School, he entered the prestigious Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera in 2001, later becoming a member of the ensemble.
Freelance since 2004, he has worked in many major houses in Europe and the US, including The Santa Fe Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne, The Deutsche Staatsoper (Berlin), The Flemish Opera (Vlaamse Opera), Opéra de Lyon, Chicago Opera Theater, Badisches Staatstheater and Opera Australia.
In opera and concert he has worked with many important conductors including Yves Abel, Richard Farnes, Vladimir Jurowski, Friedemann Layer, Ingo Metzmacher, Julius Rudel, Ulf Schirmer, Steven Sloane, Stefan Soltesz and Simone Young.
A sought-after performer of baroque music, his collaborators include William Christie, Alessandro de Marchi, Michael Hofstetter, Jane Glover and Konrad Junghänel.
His operatic roles span the length and breadth of the repertoire: from Monteverdi's Orfeo, Acis, Grimoaldo (Rodelinda) and Oronte (Alcina), Ferrando (Cosí fan tutte), through Kudrjas (Katya Kabanova), Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream), the title role in Albert Herring, Andres (Wozzeck) and Truffaldino (L'Amour des Trois Oranges).
No stranger to modern music, aside from his most important dalliances with Friends of Barbra, Michael has performed works by Luigi Nono, Hans Werner Henze, Bernd Alois Zimmerman, Peter E ö tvös, Jonathan Dove, Olga Neuwirth and Ned Rorem. Michael has also been seen in a range of musical theatre productions including Crusade (the Arts Centre, Melbourne) and Only Heaven Knows (with Nigel Ubrihien and Luke Gallagher).
Recent opera engagements include debuts at Berlin's Komische Oper (Handel's Orest conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock), Turandot and Pique Dame in Antwerp, Frank Martin's Le Vin Herbé at the Ruhrtriennale, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Nederlanse Opera, and Jancek's Diary of One Who Disappeared at Barcelona's Liceufor, Ferrando in a new production of Cosí fan tutte directed by Adrian Noble and conducted by William Christie at Opéra de Lyon, and Glyndebourne in Sir Peter Hall's classic production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Festival appearances have included: Ravinia, Aspen, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, the Ruhr Triennale, and the Händel Festspiele (Halle and Karlsruhe).
luke gallagher | nigel ubrihien