Neal Davies

Neal Davies studied at King’s College London,the Royal Academy of Music and the  Zürich Opera Studio. He won the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Lieder Prize and returned to the competition in 2021 as a member of the jury. Notable collaborations include concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, The Cleveland and Philharmonia Orchestras under Christoph von Dohnányi, Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Frans Brüggen, English Concert with Harry Bicket, Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh, Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder, Concerto Koeln under Ivor Bolton, Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Adam Fischer, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Edward Gardner, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, and the London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras under Daniel Harding. He is a regular guest of the Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms. For over 30 years he has sung all the major Mozart roles with WNO, Royal Opera and ENO as well as Janacek with Mackerras and Handel and Purcell with René Jacobs at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin.

This season Neal sings concerts of Saul with Jonathan Cohen and the Handel & Haydn Society and will return to the English National Opera as Sir Joseph in HMS Pinafore. Notable concerts last season included Berlioz’s L'Enfance du Christ at the Festival Berlioz La Côte Saint André with Paul McCreesh and the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Mozart’s Requiem with Bernard Labadie and the Kansas City Symphony, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and joined Jonathan Cohen and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for Bach’s St Matthew Passion. Neal also sang Dr Bartolo in the English National Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro.  

Neal’s  discography of over 70 recording includes the highly acclaimed Handel’s Serse with The English Concert and Harry Bicket, Acis and Galatea under Christian Curnyn (BBC Music Magazine Award, 2019) Messiah, Theodora, Saul and Creation (Gramophone Award, 2008) under McCreesh, and Billy Budd with Daniel Harding (Grammy Award, 2010). He also appears on the Hyperion complete Schubert Song edition with Graham Johnson.

Faculties / departments: Vocal Studies

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