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The American tenor, Simeon Esper, completid his Master’s studies at Florida State University.
After his studies, Simeon Esper was engaged with the Theater Bielefeld from 2004 to 2007. Engagements with European houses such as the Operá National de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, The Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Paris Operá Comique, Operá Rouen, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Bonn, Wexford (Ireland), Halle and Cologne followed. In the USA, he has appeared with the Seattle Opera (including covering the role of Loge in Der Ring des Nibelungen), The Atlanta Opera, the Bellingham Festival of Music and the San Diego Opera, where he made a successful American debut as Beppe in Pagliacci and was most recently heard as Bardolfo in Verdi’s Falstaff.
Simeon Esper's concert repertoire includes Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces, L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Orff’s Catulli Carmina, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) and Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah. In January of 2016, he was featured as Tenor Soloist in the German Premiere of Magreb’s Requiem for Auschwitz in Dresden’s Frauenkirche. He can also be heard in the role of ein Junge Diener on Deutsche Grammophone’s Grammy-nominated recording of Elektra under Christian Thielemann.
Simeon Esper joined the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden in the 2010-2011 season. As a soloist there he has been featured in a variety of roles including ein Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos, Flamand in Capriccio, Dmitri in Boris Godunov, ein Steuermann in Der Fliegende Holländer, ein junge Seemann/Hirt in Tristan und Isolde, Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser, Oronte in G.F. Handel's Alcina, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene, Dawson in Henze’s We Come to the River, Jaquino in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio and Comus in Purcell’s King Arthur.
In the 2014-2015 season, Simeon Esper appeared as ein Tanzmeister in a new production of Ariadne with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, as well as in the role of Pedrillo in W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Bellingham Festival of Music in Washington. This season at the the Semperoper, he will be seen as Basilio in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Monostatos in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflote Dancairo in Georges Bizet's Carmen and as A Soldier in the Dresden premiere of Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis. In Dresden, he also performed as tenor soloist in the German premiere of Rathgeb’s Requiem for Auschwitz and in a highly anticipated Lohengrin under Christian Thielemann with whom he is heard as junge Diener on the Grammy-Nominated Deutsche Grammophon recording of R. Strauss' Elektra.
Highlights of the 2017-2018 season at the Semperoper Dresden will include the role of Hylas in a new production of Berlioz’ Les Troyens, as well as the premiere of Lucia di Lammermoor in the role of Arturo Bucklaw. Additionally Simeon Esper will sing the role of ein Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and debut at the Bregenzer Festspiele as Remendado in Carmen. |
