Daniel Sumegi
Australian bass-baritone Daniel Sumegi made his debut in 1988 and has an impressive career behind him. With over 100 roles in his repertoire, he has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden and the Paris Opera, as well as major opera companies across the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia.
Last season Daniel Sumegi took part in Opera Australia’s first ever complete Ring Cycle, as Fasolt and Hagen, for which he has been nominated for a 2014 Helpmann Award, and also performed for them as Sparafucile in Rigoletto and Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin. He returned to Los Angeles Opera for Billy Budd, as Mr Flint, and just completed engagements for West Australian Opera, as Sarastro in The Magic Flute and West Australian Symphony Orchestra as soloist in programs of Brahms’ Four Serious Songs and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. He also portrayed the role of Death in Emperor of Atlantis for Lost and Found Opera. In August he will make his role and company debut in concert with Victorian Opera, as Oroveso in Norma, before making his Hong Kong Opera debut as Jokanaan in Salome. In 2015 Daniel Sumegi will take part in the world premiere of The Manchurian Candidate for Minnesota Opera from the same team that created the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night. He will also return to Opera Australia for Sarastro in Julie Taymor’s award winning The Magic Flute as well as the Grand Inquisitor in Elijah Moshinsky’s sumptuous production of Don Carlo.
2012–2013 was given over mainly to the Bicentennial of Richard Wagner. Sumegi appeared as Fasolt, Hunding and Hagen in an epic hour compact Ring Cycle undertaken at the famed Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He also retumed to Seattle Opera to take part in the last outing of their acclaimed ‘Green Ring’, repeating his assignments as Fafner and Hagen. Amongst these projects he toured to Japan for Escamillo in Carmen for Al Productions. as well as Duke Bluebeard in Bluebeards Castle, in concert for both the Perth and Brisbane International Arts Festivals. Other recent engagements include Macbeth and Don Giovanni (Opera Australia), Madama Butterfly and Billy Budd (Metropolitan Opera), Elektra (Perth International Arts Festival) and The Lighthouse (Dallas Opera). He also performed in concert vvith the Western Australian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.
Other past performances include the Ring Cycle (Seattle Opera) and Der fliegende Holländer (State Opera of South Australia). Götterdämmerung (New National Theater, Tokyo), a return to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Daland in Der fliegende Holländer and his first time as Wotan and the Wanderer, serving as cover for Los Angeles Opera’s Ring Cycle. Mr Sumegi appeared in Salome (Washington National Opera), Rigoletto (Los Angeles Opera), Götterdämmerung (Opera du Rhin. Strasbourg) and San Francisco Opera’s Ring Cycle.
2008–2009 assignments featured Act 1 of Die Walküre (Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra). The Mikado (Arizona Opera). The Messiah (Sydney Philharmonic and Royal Melbourne Philharmonic), Opera Australia’s New Year’s Eve Gala at the Sydney Opera House and Die Zauberföte and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Opera Australia).
2007–2008 engagements included Tannhäuser (Opera Australia). Tosca (Knoxville Opera) and Elektra (Washington Opera) as well as concerts with Portugal’s Gulbenkian Orchestra and an opera highlights concert with Opera Hamilton. Daniel Sumegi also gave his Australian Recital debut at the Art Gallery of New South Wales with a program including Mussorgsky, Songs and Dances of Death.
2006–2007 appearances included Il barbiere di Siviglia(Glimmerglass Opera) and Der Rosenkavalier (Scottish Opera) a revival of Macbeth (Frankfurt), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Parsifal and Die Frau ohne Schatten (Hamburg), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Madrid and Der fliegende Holländer (Seattle Opera).
2005–2006 performances included Nabucco (Opera Australia), Don Carlo and The Barber of Seville (Welsh National Opera), Salome (Opera North), Salome, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hamburg State Opera) and Aida (Montreal).
The 2004–2005 season saw debuts in Frankfurt (Title role in Ernst Bloch, Macbeth), Los Angeles (La bohème). Barcelona (Parsifal) and the Cincinnati May Festival (Shostakovitch Symphony No. 13 under James Conlon). He returned to the Metropolitan Opera (Der Rosenkavalier), Cologne Opera (Götterdämmerung) and Washington Concert Opera (Luisa Miller)
In the 2003–2004 season Daniel Sumegi’s performances included: Cologne Opera (Götterdämmerung). Opera Australia (Salome, The Flying Dutchman), Minnesota Orchestra (Messiah), Austin Lyric Opera (Flying Dutchman). the Metropolitan Opera (Götterdämmerung). Welsh National Opera (Carmen). and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Sir Simon Rattle in Birmingham.
In the 2002–2003 season Daniel Sumegi’s performances included: Washington Opera (Japan Tour of Tosca, Otello and Sly), Welsh National Opera (Tosca), Opera Montpellier (Médée), Dallas Opera (Turandot), Minnesota Opera (Der fliegende Holländer). Opera Australia (Carmen), Sydney Philharmonic (Elijah) and Washington Concert Opera (Stiffelio).
He has previously appeared in the United States with the Metropolitan Opera (Boris Godunov, Peter Grimes, Don Carlo), San Francisco Opera (Andrea Chénier, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio, La bohème, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Pique Dame, II trovatore, Tannhauser, The Fiery Angel, Salome, Aida), Washington Opera (Il Guarany, Boris Godunov, The Crucible, I puritani, Otello, Tosca, Don Carlo). Houston Grand Opera (Macbeth, Aida, Don Giovanni), San Diego Opera (Die Zauberflöte, Der fliegende Holländer), Minnesota Opera (Faust), Utah Opera (Fidelio), Palm Beach Opera (Samson et Dalila). Washington Concert Opera (Il pirata) and Glimmerglass Opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (L’incoronazione di Poppea). An Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera Center from 1992 until 1994 he also toured the United States. in Western Opera Theater’s mounting of La bohème and traveled with that production to Japan.
The Australian bom bass-baritone has performed with all of Australia’s major opera companies in productions of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Zauberflöte, Aida, Faust, La bohème, Samson et Dalila, Eugene Onegin, Simon Boccanegra, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Tristan and Isolde, Tosca, Carmen and Salome. In 1988 he sang the role of Ramfis in the Sydney season of the International Opera Festival production of Aida, subsequently singing the role of the King for their season in Tokyo, marking his international debut. He was a San Francisco Opera Center/Merola Opera Program participant in 1991, making his U.S. debut as Dr. Grenvil in La traviata. Mr. Sumegi made his first European appearance in 1992 at Vienna’s Konzerthaus in concert performances of Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda and made his British debut in recital for the London Opera Festival at the Southbank Centre. He also took part in the Barcelona Olympic Games Arts Festival in the world premiere of the opera Asdrubila. In 1994 Daniel Sumegi made his Italian debut in Der Freischütz, and in recital for the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi of Trieste, and, also in 1994. he sang the title role in he North American premiere of Sir Michael Tippett’s King Priam for the San Francisco Opera Center. In January 1995 Daniel Sumegi sang once again in Italy, at the Teatro Regio di Torino in A Midsummer Night’s Dream followed by seasons of Faust and Macbeth for Holland’s National Reisopera, and in June 1996 he returned to the San Francisco Opera for a centennial production of La bohème.
Successful in voice competitions the young artist is the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards including the 1994 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions – Bruno Walter Prize and the 1995 William Matthews Sullivan Foundation Award. He was a winner of the Plácido Domingo World Opera Contest/Operalia 2, which was held in Madrid in October 1995 and a finalist in the 1992 Pavarotti/Philadelphia Opera contest. He has won most of the singing prizes that exist in Australia.
He has worked under noted conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Sir Simon Rattle, Jeffrey Tate, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Carlo Rizzi, Simone Young, Nello Santi, Donnald Runnicles Sebastian Weigle and Edo de Waart.
Other international engagements include: Paris Opera (Billy Budd), Cologne Opera (Götterdämmerung), Bonn Opera (Die Zauberflöte), Opera Nantes (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Welsh National Opera (Der Rosenkavalier, Tosca), Vlaamse Opera (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). Teatro Municipal Santiago (I lombardi), Nationale Reisopera (Faust, Macbeth), Oviedo Spain (Don Giovanni), State Opera of South Australia (Aida, Der Ring des Nibelungen. Parsifal, Verdi’s Requiem, Tosca), Opera Australia (Aida, Barbiere, Faust, La Boheme, Samson et Dalila, Simon Boccanegra, Les contes d’HofFmann, Tristan and lsolde, Carmen, Salome), Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Siegfried). Orquestra Sinfonica de Tenerife (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Dvořák’s Stabat mater), and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Richard Tucker Gala).
Daniel Sumegi can be heard on CD in Beatrice di Tenda from Vienna’s Konzerhaus, and on Seattle Opera’s newly released 2013 Ring Cycle. He also appears on video in the San Francisco Opera production of Capriccio, and on DVD/Blueray in Don Giovanni from Opera Australia and Teatro Colón’s Ring Cycle.
