Gerard Schneider
Hailed by the Irish Examiner as possessing “an imposing stage presence and a vivid range of colour and warmth of tone that compels attention,” Austrian-Australian tenor Gerard Schneider is acknowledged as a preeminent singer of opera, operetta and song. Having developed a strong international presence, Mr. Schneider has appeared throughout the world, including major debuts at the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, Wexford Festival Opera, and the Salzburger Festspiele in repertoire spanning the Bel Canto, Romantic and Verismo styles. In the 2023/24 season, he will return to Komische Oper Berlin as Lensky in Eugene Onegin conducted by James Gaffigan, the Duke of Mantua in a new production of Rigoletto at Theater Bonn, as well as new productions of Offenbach’s Die Banditen as Falsacappa, Léopold in La Juive, and a revival production of Daphne as Leukippos, all at Oper Frankfurt.
In the 2022/23 season, Gerard Schneider continued as an Ensemble member at Oper Frankfurt, a position he has held since 2018. There, he performed the title role in Werther among other projects. He also sang two new productions in his signature role, the Prince in Rusalka,at Hessiches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and Staatstheater Hannover.Finally, Mr. Schneider returned to the Wexford Festival as Rinald in Dvorak’s Armida and reprised the role of Königssohn in Der Königskinder at the Tirol Festival.
Highlights of past operatic work at Oper Frankfurt included Count Vaudémont in Iolanta, the Prince in Rusalka, Der Hirt in Krol Roger and Königssohn in Der Königskinder, a role he performed with the Tirol Festival in Erl, Austria. Also with Tirol Festival, he sang the title role in L’amico Fritz and elsewhere, the Prince in Rusalka with Garsington Opera and Edinburgh Festival, Narraboth in Salome with Dutch National Opera, and the cover of Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera. He also made his debut with the Komische Oper Berlin in Barrie Kosky’s new production of La bohème and returned to Bard SummerScape for three projects celebrating the works of Alexander Pushkin: the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart & Salieri, Count Lykov in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Tsar’s Bride, the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito in Salzburg and again at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, Satyavan in Holst’ Savitri with the Melos Sinfonia for his debut in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Glazunov Hall and Sheremetev Palace, the role of Osaka in a new production of Pietro Mascagni’s Iris at the Bard SummerScape, directed by James Darrah, Prince Dimitri in Alfano’s Risurrezione with the Wexford Festival Opera, Danilo in Die Lustige Witwe at the Kyoto Summer Music Festival in Japan, Nicias in Massenet’s Thaïs with Minnesota Opera, Arturo in Bellini’s La Straniera with Washington Concert Opera and the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in the historic St. Canice’s Cathedral, conducted by Christian Curnyn.
Additional repertoire and appearances have included the State Opera of South Australia, the West Australian Opera, and Clonter Opera in operatic roles including Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, the title role of Debussy’s L’enfant Prodigue, Jacopo in Verdi’s I due Foscari, as both General Sir Philip Wingrave and the Narrator in Britten’s Owen Wingrave, Luigi in Puccini’s Il Tabarro, Bardolfo in Verdi’s Falstaff, Alfred in Die Fledermaus,
A consummate concert artist, Gerard Schneider has appeared in concerts of operatic and song repertoire with the London Symphony Orchestra, Die Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Macao Symphony Orchestra in China, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, The German Forum at Lincoln Center, the New York Festival of Song with Steven Blier, the Bavarian Radio Studio, Steingraeber Hall in Bayreuth, and with the Salzburg Camerata. Mr. Schneider has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera as part of their New York City Parks concerts, Verdi’s Requiem at the Canterbury Cathedral and Mineola Choral Society, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.
Past awards include the Phoebe Patrick Award, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Prize, the David Harper Prize, the Australian Opera Auditions Committee Prize at the Australian Singing Competition and the Tait memorial prize at the Royal Over-seas League Singing Competition. Mr. Schneider was also a finalist in the Emmerich Smola Förderpreis which culminated in a public broadcast with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under the baton of Justin Brown at the Landau Jugend-Stil Festhalle, and appeared as part of the accompanying SWR (Südwestrundfunk) documentary, Landau sucht den Opernstar.
Stand 2023