Simon Wilding

English bass Simon Wilding was born in Leigh, Lancashire and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He maintains an active performing career throughout the United Kingdom and internationally.

In the current season he performs Hagen Der Ring des Nibelungen (Regents Opera); Policeman The Boatswain’s Mate (Tête à Tête); and covers Luther/Crespel in Damiano Michieletto’s production of Les contes d’Hoffmann (Royal Ballet & Opera).

Highlights in recent seasons include Second Soldier Salome (Royal Ballet & Opera); Sparafucile Rigoletto (Opera Holland Park); Hunding Die Walküre (Pacific Opera Victoria); Fafner Das Rheingold, Siegfried (Longborough Festival Opera); The Doctor/Clerk The Nose (Royal Danish Opera); numerous roles in Barrie Kosky’s production of The Nose (Royal Ballet & Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Teatro Real); Russell The Exterminating Angel (Royal Danish Opera); Sacristan Tosca (Grange Park Opera); and Pistol Falstaff, Judge Turpin Sweeney Todd (West Green House Opera).

He made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1997 as a Brabantian Noble Lohengrin (under Gergiev), followed by appearances as A Cappadocian Salome (under Christoph von Dohnányi) and Hans Foltz Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (under Bernard Haitink). During his ongoing relationship with Royal Ballet & Opera other roles include Lane/Merriman in Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Sciarrone Tosca, Ein Lackai Ariadne auf Naxos, Pinellino Gianni Schicchi, Gessler Guillaume Tell, and Oroe Semiramide (under Pappano). With English National Opera he appeared most recently in recently in Birtwistle’s The Mask Of Orpheus, and with Opera Holland Park, and Mid Wales Opera he has performed operas by composers including Purcell, Rossini, Wagner, and Britten. With The Opera Group he made his mark in contemporary operas, most notably as the Athlete in Olga Neuwirth’s American Lulu (Young Vic, Edinburgh International Festival, Bregenzer Festspiele).

On the international stage he made his professional debut in 1989 at the Bayreuther Festspiele where he was the youngest adult performer in the Festival’s history. Other international engagements include Jove La Calisto, Pluto, Caronte, Colonel Il pomo d’oro (Batignano Festival); Billy Jackrabbit La fanciulla del West, Provazolezec in Hass’ Šarlatan, Wemburgo in Zandonai’s I cavalieri di Ekebù (Wexford Opera Festival); Zaccaria Nabucco (Macedonian National Opera); Hobson Peter Grimes (Beijing Music Festival); Sciarrone Tosca (Nederlandse Reisopera); and Jonathan Dove’s The Enchanted Pig (New Victory Theatre, New York). In 2016 he returned to New York for the US stage premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest.

On the concert platform he has performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, and at the Royal Albert Hall. His recorded works include live recordings of Salome and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Royal Ballet & Opera); Lieutenant Ratcliffe Billy Budd (Hallé Orchestra); Dick Deadeye HMS Pinafore (D’Oyly Carte); and Policeman in Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate (Lontano Ensemble/Odaline de la Martinez).