Brian Castles-Onion AM

Conductor

Born in Cessnock, Brian Castles-Onion is Australia’s most exciting and best-known opera conductor. His career continues to expand internationally and has worked at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the Julliard School of Music, the Rossini Festival in Italy. He held the position of Artistic Director of Canterbury Opera in New Zealand and currently continues his long run association with Opera Australia. He recently debuted with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in Yerevan in concert with the brilliant soprano Hibla Gerzmava.

His conducting experience – well over six hundred opera performances alone – throughout Australia, Asia and New Zealand includes: La bohème, Tosca, Turandot, Gianni Schicchi, La traviata, Rigoletto, Aïda, La forza del destino, Carmen, Les pêcheurs de perles, Faust, Samson et Dalila, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Count Ory, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Lucio Silla, Rinaldo, Prima la musica, Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’amore, Norma, La sonnambula, Manon, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Lakmé, La vida breve, The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, A Little Night Music, To Hell & Back, The Telephone, Seven Deadly Sins, Mahagonny Songspiel, The Mikado, Iolanthe, The Pirates of Penzance, The Gondoliers, H.M.S. Pinafore, Trial by Jury and My Fair Lady. He has conducted nine seasons of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (La traviata– twice, Carmen– twice, Madama Butterfly – twice, Aïda, Turandot and La bohème). He was on the podium for Opera Australia’s 40th Anniversary Gala and 60th Anniversary Gala, The Robert Allman Farewell Gala and conducted the Dame Joan Sutherland State Memorial Service – which was broadcast internationally on television and radio.

His recital, concert and cabaret appearances have seen him as conductor and pianist for many international celebrity artists and his recordings are numerous – on various labels as conductor, pianist, musical arranger and recording producer. He produced ten volumes in the CD series on Désirée Records – “Great Australian Voices”.

Brian Castles-Onion became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2017 Australia Day Honours List.

Roles

Conductor — The Opera Gala Concert(2024)

Conductor — BMW Opera for All(2024)

Conductor/Host — HSBC A World of Opera(2023)

Conductor — Madama Butterfly on Sydney Harbour(2023)

Conductor — BMW Opera for All(2023)

Host and Pianist — Great Opera Hits(2022)

Host and Pianist — Great Opera Hits(2021)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — La Traviata(2021)

Conductor — The Merry Widow(2021)

Conductor — Mazda Opera in the Domain(2019)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour—La Bohème(2018)

Conductor — Madama Butterfly(2017)

Conductor — Carmen(2017)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Carmen(2017)

Conductor — Carmen(2016)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Turandot(2016)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Aida(2015)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Madama Butterfly(2014)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Carmen(2013)

Conductor — Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — La Traviata(2012)