Christopher Hillier

Baritone

Christopher Hillier’s most recent appearances for Opera Australia have included Zurga in a new production of The Pearl Fishers, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, The Convict in The Rabbits, Dancairo in Carmen and The Count in their national tour of The Marriage of Figaro. In concert, he sang The Celebrant (Bernstein’s Mass) at the Sydney Opera House, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony for Sydney Philharmonia and undertook a tour to China as Papageno (The Magic Flute).

Christopher graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium with a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours in 2006 and the National Opera Studio (London) in 2007. He is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, most notably the Opera Foundation Covent Garden Scholarship in 2006.

He joined the principal ensemble of Opera Australia in 2012 – singing Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld, Christian in Un ballo in maschera and the title role in Don Giovanni for OA’s touring production; he also made his international stage début as Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale in Tokyo, Japan.

In recent seasons, Christopher sang Belcore for Melbourne Opera and took major roles in Maria Stuarda, Lucrezia Borgia and Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. He sang Gunther in Melbourne Opera’s landmark Der Ring des Nibelungen and made his début for State Opera South Australia as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. Appearances on the concert platform included Handel’s Messiah in Canberra and Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Orff’s Carmina Burana in Melbourne.

He has a wide and varied concert repertoire including Verdi’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War. He has performed regularly for Sydney Philharmonia, Art Song NSW, the Joan Sutherland Society of Sydney and many other societies in the UK, Italy, Germany and Australia; he sang the baritone solos in the Requiems of Fauré and Duruflé for the New Zealand Chamber Choir in Wellington. He has appeared with the Sydney Symphony, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Australian Contemporary Opera and the Heidelberg Choral Society.

The 2025 season sees Christopher returning to Melbourne Opera to sing Beckmesser in Der Meistersinger von Nürnberg.