Simon Bailey
Bass baritone
© Edmond Choo
Simon Bailey, a former member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt and winner of the 2018 Wales Theatre Award, is stepping in at short notice to sing Klingsor in this performance of Parsifal, as he did when our new production of Elektra opened, singing Oreste, and you can hear him again, next season, in recital! His most recent roles for the company included Fra Melitone (La Forza del destino) Budivoj (Dalibor), Peter (Hänsel und Gretel), Mr. Redburn (Billy Budd), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde) and Balstrode (Peter Grimes). This British artist enjoyed great success in Frankfurt in earlier seasons singing roles including Mozart’s Leporello, Don Giovanni and Figaro, Gunther (Götterdämmerung), Klingsor, Achilla (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Gelone (Cesti's L’Orontea), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola) and the title role in Bluebeard's Castle. He gave unforgettable performances of Wotan and the Wanderer in a wonderful new Ring at the Tirol Festival in Erl, directed by Brigitte Fassbaender. Recent engagements have included Fasolt in Rheingold at English National Opera, the title role in Don Pasquale at the Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, David Strom in the world premiere of Kris Defoort‘s The Time of Our Singing at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Judge of the Dead in Dessau’s Verurteilung des Lukullus / Lucullus' Condemnation at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart, Achilla at the Theater an der Wien, Klingsor at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Wotan (Die Walküre) in Shanghai, Kutusow (War and Peace) at Welsh National Opera and Covent Garden in London, Leporello at Hessen's State Opera in Wiesbaden and Welsh National Opera and roles in the late Harrison Birtwistle’s Mask of Orpheus at English National Opera. Simon Bailey, who also enjoys a busy concert career, has also sung Méphistophélès (La damnation de Faust), Siroco (L’étoile), Nicanor / Satan (Félicien David’s Herculanum), Figaro, Leporello and the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann at theatres including the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala Milan, the Theater an der Wien, Oper Vlaanderen, Theater Basel and the Glyndebourne and Wexford festivals.