As a performer and educator Perth-born Andrew O’Connor is versed in a wide variety of styles and genres – and since graduating from the University of Western Australia in 2012 has developed a busy freelance career encompassing opera, the concert platform, vocal chamber music, and the classroom.
Praised for his 'remarkable musicianship' (Limelight Magazine) and 'textured, fine-wine bass baritone' (Arts Hub) he appears regularly in both a solo and ensemble context with many of Australia's finest music organisations. Andrew is a Lay Clerk with St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Sydney, was an Associate Artist with Pacific Opera in 2019, and was the winner of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria Competition 2020. From 2015 – 2019 he was a core member of The Song Company, and in 2021 became a founding member of AVÉ – the Australian Vocal Ensemble. In 2022 he made his international debut with The VOCES8 Foundation and Orchestra and in late 2023 joins the American Bach Soloists Academy in San Francisco.
In 2024 Andrew will make his solo debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Other projects yet to be announced include joining Pinchgut Opera for four opera and concert programs, further recording and performance activity with AVÉ – Australian Vocal Ensemble, returning to The Song Company for part of their 40th Anniversary Season, concerts with Bach Akademie Australia and more.
Notable 2023 engagements include the roles of Polimante, Erasto and Ombra in Legrenzi's Giustino and Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri for Pinchgut Opera, a range of festival, concert, education, and recording projects for AVÉ – Australian Vocal Ensemble, the role of Harapha in Handel's Samson for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs at the Sydney Opera House, singing the part of Jesus in Bach’s St John Passion for Canberra Symphony Orchestra, a mid-year project with The Song Company, Haydn’s Creation, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and other projects including the Canowindra Baroque Music Festival with Bach Akademie Australia, Moorambilla Voices and more.
In 2022 he performed in six projects for Pinchgut Opera including important solo debuts at the Adelaide Festival and Four Winds Festival, and led an educational residency at the Orange Regional Conservatorium in association with the Godfrey Turner Memorial Music Trust and Musica Viva Australia and more.
Andrew is an established figure on the concert platform across repertoire that spans 12th Century Europe to 21st Century Australia – with noted interpretations of Schütz, Handel and the Passions of J.S. Bach and Arvo Pärt. Professional highlights include Faure's Requiem with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Berio's Cries of London for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Messiah with various orchestras, Orff's Carmina Burana in Canberra, appearances with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Katy Abbott's Hidden Thoughts at the Canberra International Music Festival and much more.
His operatic experience includes more than twenty complete roles – most recently those of Gelone in Oronotea (Cesti), Polyphemus in Acis & Galatea (Handel), Panto, Giove, and Peneo in Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne (Cavalli) for Pinchgut Opera; four roles in Graeme Koehne's Love Burns for The Other Theatre; and originating the role of Bill in Dreamers of the Day for The Song Company.
Other engagements include Attila (Verdi) and Eighth Wonder (John) for Opera Australia; Hamlet (Dean) for State Opera South Australia as part of the Adelaide Festival; Médée (Charpentier), Platée (Rameau) and Theodora (Handel) for Pinchgut Opera; and five years of main stage and regional touring with West Australian Opera (2010 – 2014) and a wide span of roles with other independent companies including those of Monteverdi, Purcell, Mozart, Offenbach, Sullivan, Britten and more.
Andrew’s discography includes Stars with Australian Vocal Ensemble, A Delicate Fire with Pinchgut Opera, In Illo Tempore, Known Unknown, Burden of Truth and From The Paddocks to the Trenches with The Song Company, Memoriam with Sydney Antiphony, Handel’s Theodora with Pinchgut Opera, A Voice from Heaven: Music of Pierre Manchicourt with Queen’s Phoenix, Brooke Shelley’s De Profundis: Out of Our Depth with The Choir Lab, Songs of Hope with The Choir of St James’ King Street, and In Paradisum with St George’s Cathedral Consort. He also appears on the soundtracks of many films including Mortal Kombat, LEGO Movie, LEGO Movie: Batman, Safe Neighbourhood, Punch & Judy, and Peter Rabbit.
In an educational capacity he currently teaches at Sydney Grammar School and regularly working with organisations including Gondwana National Choirs, Moorambilla Voices, Sydney Children’s Choir, St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Perth Choral Institute and more. He previously held teaching positions at St Aloysius College, Christ Church Grammar School and John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School.
Outside of music, Andrew is always on the hunt for an excellent coffee, a great bowl of pasta, a new favourite red wine, tickets to the latest theatrical hit in Sydney, or a long coastal walking track.
