David Hobson impressed the audience at our annual Sydney Town Hall concert in September 2017

Australian tenor and composer David Hobson is one of Australia’s best-known operatic, concert and stage performers, with a repertoire that spans the gamut of musical styles from Baroque through to Pop.

David made his name with Opera Australia in his award-winning performance of Rodolfo in La Boheme directed by Baz Luhrmann (filmed in the early 1990s to world wide acclaim). He has gone on to become a well regarded classical performer, major recording artist, most recently a music theatre leading man and a frequent television performer on shows like Carols by Candlelight, Carols in The Domain, Spicks and Specks, Dancing with the Stars, It Takes Two and a presenter on Foxtel’s Studio. He has performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in the Great Hall in Canberra and sung at the AFL Grand Final.

His many roles include Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Count Almaviva (The Barber of Saville), Nadir (Pearl Fishers), Lindoro (L'Italiana in Algeri), Eisentein (Die Fledermaus), Danilo (The Merry Widow), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance),Marco (The Gondoliers), Ralph Rackstraw (H.M.S. Pinafore), the title roles in Orphee and Candide, The Architect in the world premiere of The Eighth Wonder and Aristaeus/ Pluto (Orpheus in the Underworld). His international roles include Chevalier Danceny in Dangerous Liaisons with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson for San Francisco Opera. On the musical theatre stage, he starred as Caractacus Potts Potts in the Australian premiere of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and, more recently, played the role of Buddy in the concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies and Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl opposite Caroline O’Connor.

Much in demand as a concert performer and recitalist, he frequently appears in oratorios such as Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and orchestral works like Britten’s Serenade for Tenor and Horn and Zender’s powerful interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise. Solo concert highlights include A Little Closer at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall in 2008 and Am I Really Here? at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2010. He has also toured nationally with Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Yvonne Kenny, Marina Prior, Rachael Beck and performed in the 2016 Broadway to La Scala concert tour of Australia and New Zealand. David is a regular performer on, and Ambassador for, Bravo Cruise.

He has recorded numerous albums with many reaching No 1 chart status and has won awards including Operatic Performer of the Year, the Sydney Critics Circle Award, The Age Performing Arts Award for Best Performer in Opera and an Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Award.

Most recently, David and his friend of 25 years, comedian Colin Lane, created a cabaret show where a comedian and an opera singer’s worlds collide. It has been performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the Festival of Voices in Hobart and The Spiegeltent Hobart, receiving rave reviews.

His interaction with the audience and the choir was well received and despite having just recovered from a throat infection his performance was brilliant.