James Egglestone

tenor

“Tenor James Egglestone is a revelation as Lysander…infectious energy and easy, vibrant tone.” 
Sarah Noble, The Opera Critic

Dual Helpmann Award-winning James Egglestone is one of Australia’s finest tenors. 2021/2022 engagements included Loge (Das Rheingold) and Jimmy (Mahagonny) for Melbourne Opera, Aegisth (Elektra) and Bob Cratchit (A Christmas Carol) for Victorian Opera and Tell-Tale Heart for State Opera of South Australia. He won the 2022 Green Room Award for Loge in Das Rheingold. In 2023, he sang Loge and Siegmund in Melbourne Opera’s Der Ring des Nibelungen; in 2024, he sings Luigi (Il tabarro) for Victorian Opera and appears in Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in Canberra.

Earlier, he built up an impressive list of credits with many national and international performing companies. For the Belcanto Festival in The Netherlands, he performed Elvino in La sonnambula and Don Carissimo in La Dirindina; for Melbourne Opera, the roles of Tamino in The Magic Flute, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers, Almaviva in The Barber of Seville and Rodolfo in La bohème. 

Roles for State Opera of South Australia have included Laurie in Little Women, Ishmael in Moby-Dick and Nadir in The Pearl Fishers; for West Australian Opera – Nadir, Almaviva, Ismaele in Nabucco and Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld; for Victorian Opera - Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte and Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw.  James’ major role debut for Opera Australia was as Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  He returned to Victorian Opera in 2020 as Narraboth in Salome.

In 2007, he sang leading roles in The Love of the Nightingale for West Australian Opera, Opera Queensland and Victorian Opera (for which he won the Helpmann Award as Best Male Singer in a Supporting Role); he won the same award in 2008 for his performance in Little Women.

On the concert platform, James Egglestone has sung the tenor solos in Haydn’s Creation, Bach's St. John Passion and the Bach Cantatas Nos. 21 and 137.  In 2012, he took the tenor solos in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for the Sydney Symphony under Vladimir Ashkenazy.  Other appearances have included those with the Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland, West Australian, Darwin and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Auckland Philharmonia, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the Twilite Orchestra, Jakarta.

Most recently, James has sung Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Cassio in Otello, Froh (Der Ring des Nibelungen) and Lysander for Opera Australia; Rodolfo (La bohème), Don José (Carmen) and the title role in Faust for State Opera of South Australia; Cavaradossi (Tosca) for New Zealand Opera and Cassio (Otello) for Auckland Philharmonia.  He sang Edrisi (Krol Roger) for OA and won the Green Room Award for Best Male Performance in a Supporting Role.

Representation: World