Dennis O'Neill

O'Neill studied voice in Manchester, London, Mantova (with Ettore Campogalliani) and Rome. He made his debut in 1971 with Scottish Opera in their touring, piano-accompanied "Opera for All" format (as the Duke of Rothesay in La jolie fille de Perth). He built a long-term relationship with Scottish Opera (through 1997).

His career took steam in the late 1970s after winning a singing competition in Palermo. His principal theater was Covent Garden with more than 200 performances; he also sang a lot at the New York Metropolitan Opera (33 performances), the Vienna Staatsoper (35 performances) and the Welsh National Opera Cardiff. Other than that, he appeared in Perth, Leeds, with the English National Opera, in Glyndebourne, Athens, Dallas (US debut, 1981), Chicago, San Antonio, Cincinnati, Vancouver, San Francisco, Berlin (Deutsche Oper), Hamburg, Brussels, Zürich, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Paris (Opéra Bastille), Marseille, Cologne, Munich, Ravenna, Edinburgh, Santiago de Chile, Florence or Sydney; he also did a lot of concert work internationally. In the United Kingdom, he was often seen on TV, even hosting his own shows. His career lasted well into the 2000s.

I heard him several times in the theater: he was a shaky but committed performer. He could be outright terrible at times, but if and when all went well, his devoid-of-any-fuss brio could be quite satisfying.

Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 2, reference 3: O'Neill's website

I would like to thank André Wium for the recording (Turandot).

I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recordings (Me voglio fa 'na casa, Fedora, Elisir, Arlesiana).