Simon Bode

A singer with the gift of a beautiful voice and confident stage presence.
Serenade Magazine, April 2019

Simon Bode is one of the most sought-after lyric tenors of his generation, commanding opera and recital stages the world over. Equally beloved for his warm, bright timbre as for his forthright stage presence, the singer is a frequent guest at prestigious international festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling, Kissinger Sommer, Beethovenfest Bonn, the Rheingau and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festivals, the International Handel Festival Göttingen, and at the Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals. He recently made his acclaimed debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and has performed multiple times in London’s Wigmore Hall to much fanfare.

Simon Bode has already been nominated on several occasions for Young Singer of the Year in Opernwelt magazine’s annual survey. Guest performances have led him to the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and Theater Basel, among others. At the Hessiches Staatstheater Wiesbaden he made a guest appearance in 2017 with Zender’s Winterreise, returning in 2018 as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and in 2019 as Narraboth for a new production of Richard Strauss’s Salome. As an ensemble member of the Niedersächsische Staatsoper Hannover and the Frankfurt Opera, Simon Bode has performed in numerous premieres and in many major roles of his voice part, as in the world premiere of Peter Eötvös' Der goldene Drache, and as Tamino (Mozart’s Magic Flute), Belmonte (Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Don Ottavio (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Fenton (Verdi’s Falstaff), Orsino (Trojahn’s Was ihr wollt), and Steuermann (Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer), among others.

In addition to opera, Simon Bode’s great passions are song and chamber music. His longstanding musical partners include pianists Igor Levit, Graham Johnson, and Simon Lepper, with whom he regularly gives world premieres and song programmes that go beyond the typical concert repertoire. Simon Bode has also performed with ensembles such as the Vienna Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Ensemble Modern, Bochumer Symphoniker, and Les Talens Lyriques, and worked with conductors including Kent Nagano, Alan Gilbert, Andrew Manze, Andrea Marcon, Constantinos Carydis, HK Gruber, Peter Eötvös, and Sebastian Weigle. He thrilled audiences as Freddy in the semi-staged New Year's Eve production of My Fair Lady in the Great Hall of the Elbphilharmonie with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester under Alan Gilbert, and shortly after made his US debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen in February 2020, performing Hindemith's Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen and Weill's Seven Deadly Sins.

He released his debut CD together with pianist Graham Johnson featuring songs by Johannes Brahms for Hyperion in 2011. Several recordings have been published in cooperation with Oper Frankfurt for OehmsClassics, including Wagner's Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot. EuroArts also released a DVD of Sciarrino's Luci mie traditrici in 2012 — a coproduction of Oper Frankfurt and Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano. In 2018 and 2021, Naxos released two Schumann-CDs recorded with Ulrich Eisenlohr and Stefan Irmer; further Brahms and Schumann songs are soon to follow.

Simon Bode kicks off the 2021/22 season as Artist in Residence at the Festival for Early Music in Knechtsteden, Germany, followed by recitals at Oxford Lieder with Simon Lepper and in London’s Wigmore Hall with Huw Watkins. Together with Igor Levit he will appear at Alte Oper Frankfurt and again at Wigmore Hall. In addition, he will make his debut in the great hall of the Vienna Musikverein performing Schubert’s Winterreise. He will be part of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in St Jacobi Hamburg in December and interpret the arias in Bach’s St. John’s passion in concerts with RIAS Kammerchor under Christoph Prégardien in Luzern and Basel. In the summer of 2022, he will perform as Fernando in a semi-staged production of Reichardt’s Geisterinsel at Musikfestspiele Potsdam.

Simon Bode has won numerous national and international competitions and studied with professor Charlotte Lehmann in Hanover and Neil Semer in New York.

​2021/22 season

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