Bass
Jonathan Lemalu
The Abduction from the SeraglioBiography
Jonathan Lemalu, a New Zealand born Samoan, is at the very forefront of today’s generation of singers.
His roles include Papageno in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Colline in Puccini’s La bohème, Porgy in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Basilio in Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia, Voice of Neptune in Mozart’s Idomeneo, the title role in Handel’s Saul, Rodomonte in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino, Nourabad in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, Queequeg in Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick and Bluebeard in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle.
He has worked at houses including the Royal Opera, London, Opéra de Lyon, Opera Australia, Cincinnati Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Seattle Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Glyndebourne, Salzburg, Edinburgh and Gergiev Festivals.
His concert and recital performances span both classical and contemporary repertoire and include the Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Strasbourg and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, and the New Zealand, London, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras with conductors that include Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Robert Norrington, Antonio Pappano, Simon Rattle and Patrick Summers.
Engagements this season and beyond include Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro Massimo Palermo, Israeli Opera and English National Opera, the title role in Handel’s Hercules with the Handel & Haydn Society, his debut at the Grange Festival and a return to the Royal Opera, London. He makes his Irish National Opera debut in the title role of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in April.