GREGORY MASSINGHAM 

A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium, tenor Gregory Massingham is one of Australia’s most experienced singers. Following postgraduate study at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with the distinguished tenor Sir Peter Pears, Mr Massingham returned to Australia to take up a position at the Conservatorium, where he is now Head of Opera.

In addition to his academic commitments, Mr Massingham maintains a busy performance schedule chiefly as a concert artist. In particular, his performances as the Evangelist in the Bach Passions and his interpretation of the works of Benjamin Britten have been highly acclaimed. He appears regularly as tenor soloist with all the major orchestras and Choral Societies in this country and New Zealand and has performed under such distinguished conductors as Sir David Willcocks, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Schuller, Bruno Weil and Jane Glover.

Mr Massingham holds a particular interest in contemporary music and has given the first performance of many works by Australian composers as well as the Australian premiere of works by composers such as Witold Lutoslawski, John Corigliano and Howard Blake. He is featured on a CD with the Seymour Group, in a recording of Stephen Cronin’s prize-winning composition, House Songs and gave the first Australian performance of Brett Dean’s Winter Songs with the Melbourne Symphony Chamber Players.

Mr Massingham has been a regular guest artist with the Sydney Philharmonia, appearing in their presentations of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Handel’s Samson, Bach’s Weihnacht’s Oratorium, Handel’s Solomon, Bach’s Johannes Passion,  Mass in Bminor and Handel’s Israel in Egypt among others.

For Canberra Opera he has performed the role of Tamino in Die Zauberflote, for Victoria State Opera, the role of Alessandro in Mozart’s Il re pastore and with Opera Queensland, the role of Jack in Graeme Koehne’s Love Burns, M. Triquet in Eugene Onegin and the role of the Emperor in Turandot, in Opera Queensland’s collaboration with Opera Australia and most recently sang the Prologue in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. 

Recent performances have included the premiere of Vincent Plush’s Gauguin in Paradise at the  Brisbane Writers’ Festival, the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo for the Queensland Music Festival, Bach’s Johannes Passion with the Queensland Orchestra and Matthäus Passion in Hobart. At the 2005 Sydney Festival he again performed Brett Dean’s Winter Songs, this time with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. 2009 engagements include the Bach Passions in Wellington and Auckland, concerts with harpist Marshall Maguire and is a guest soloist in the Southern Cross Soloists subscription series.