Simeon Esper

American tenor Simeon Esper joined the ensemble at Semperoper Dresden in 2010. His large repertoire ranges from baroque to modern music and musical theatre, including Comus King Arthur, Oronte Alcina, Apollo Orfeo, Monostatos Die Zauberflöte, Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro, Pedrillo Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Jaquino Fidelio, Arturo Bucklaw Lucia di Lammermoor, Sir Bruno Roberton I Puritani, Pang Turandot, Bardolfo Falstaff, Abdallo Nabucco, Rodrigo Otello, Gastone La Traviata, Borsa Rigoletto, Il Tinca Il Tabarro, Beppe I Pagliacci, Dancairo, Remendado Carmen, Nathanael Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Hylas/ Hélénus Les Troyens, Cossé Les Huguenots, Grigori Boris Godunov, Steuermann Der Fliegende Holländer, Froh, Loge Das Rheingold, Junger Seemann/ Hirt Tristan und Isolde, Walther von der Vogelweide, Heinrich der Schreiber Tannhäuser, Valzacchi, Haushofmeister Der Rosenkavalier, Flamand Capriccio, Tanzmeister Ariadne auf Naxos, 3.Jude Salome, Der Bucklige Die Frau ohne Schatten, Junger Mann/ Nackter Jüngling Moses und Aron, Sellem The Rake's Progress, Hirt Oedipe, Wencel Die verkaufte Braut, Lovec Rusalka, Schapkin Aus einem Totenhaus, Mr Upfold Albert Herring, Ein Soldat Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Sam Kaplan Weill Street Scene, Billy Mahagonny Singspiel, Dawson in Henze's We Come to the River, Clifford Bradshaw Cabaret and the title role of Schwemmer’s Robin Hood. He will make his role debut this season as Tichon Kabanov Katya Kabanova.


Simeon Esper has appeared as a guest at Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Saarländisches Staatstheater, Landestheater Coburg, Oper Halle, Oper Köln, Oper Bonn, Theater an der Wien, Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra-Comique, Opéra de Rouen, Bregenzer Festspiele, the Wexford Festival, the Seattle Opera, the Atlanta Opera, the San Diego Opera and the Bellingham Festival of Music. His most recent guest appearances include Horace Adams Peter Grimes for Bayerische Staatsoper, Loge Das Rheingold and Mime Sigried at Landestheater Coburg and Boni Die Csardasfürstin in Saarbrücken. He returned to Bregenzer Festspiele in 2020 to participate in the world premiere of Lubica Cekovska’s Impresario Dotcom in the role of Tamino with a revival in Bratislava.

In concert Simeon Esper has performed Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Orff’s Catulli Carmina, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. In 2016, he sang the tenor solo in the German premiere of Magreb’s Requiem for Auschwitz in Dresden’s Frauenkirche. He appears on Deutsche Gramophone’s Grammy-nominated recording of Elektra in the role of Junger Diener, conducted by Christian Thielemann, as well as on the CD-recording of Il Tabarro in the role of Il Tinca with Dresdner Philharmonie, under the baton of Marek Janowski. After obtaining his Master’s degree at the Florida State University, he started his career as an ensemble member with Theater Bielefeld in 2004-2007, followed by two seasons with Deutsche Oper am Rhein.