American Tenor Simeon Esper joined the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden in the 2010/11 season. As a soloist there he has been featured in a variety of roles including Arturo ('Lucia di Lammermoor'), Hylas ('Les Troyens'), ein Tanzmeister (‘Ariadne auf Naxos’), Flamand (‘Capriccio’), Dmitri (‘Boris Godunov’), ein Steuermann (‘Der Fliegende Holländer’), ein junge Seemann/Hirt (‘Tristan und Isolde’), Walther von der Vogelweide (‘Tannhäuser’), Oronte (‘Alcina’), Sam Kaplan (‘Street Scene’), Dawson (Henze’s ‘We Come to the River’), Jaquino (‘Fidelio’), Monostatos ('Die Zauberflöte'), Comus in Purcell’s (‘King Arthur’), Basilio (‘le nozze di Figaro’), Dancairo (‘Carmen’) and A Soldier in the Dresden premiere of Ullmann’s ‘Der Kaiser von Atlantis’.

After completing his Master’s studies at Florida State University, 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, Theater an der Wien, Bonn, Wexford (Ireland) and Cologne followed. In the United States, he has appeared with the Seattle Opera (including covering the role of Loge in last season’s ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’), The Atlanta Opera, and the San Diego Opera, where he made a successful American debut as Beppe (‘Pagliacci’).

Simeon Esper has recently appeared as ein Tanzmeister in ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, as well as in the role of Pedrillo (‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’) with the Bellingham Festival of Music in Washington. In Dresden, he 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 Strauss’ ‘Elektra’. He also recently performed Froh in ‘Der Ring der Nibelungen’ with Oper Halle and Bardolfo in Verdi’s ‘Falstaff’ with San Diego Opera.

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