Steve Davislim

Steve Davislim - Tenor

Twice awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee award, Australia’s leading young tenor began his musical training as a horn player and studied voice at the Victorian College of the Arts with Dame Joan Hammond. He has also studied with Gösta Winbergh, Neil Shicoff, Luigi Alva and attended Irwin Gage’s Lieder class.

After attending the Opernstudio in Zurich, Steve Davislim was an ensemble member of the Zurich Opera, where his roles included Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Steersman (Der fliegende Holländer), Camille (Die lustige Witwe), Tamino (Die Zaubeflöte) and The Painter (Lulu) under Franz Welser-Möst, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Ferrando (Così fan tutte) with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Prinz in Heinz Holliger’s Schneewittchen.

Important appearances include Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) in the Staatsoper Berlin, Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress) in Hamburg, Fenton (Falstaff) at the Royal Opera, London, Orfeo by Haydn at the Schwetzinger Festspiele, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) at the Ludwigsburg Festival, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) in Sydney and Naples, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress) for the Volksoper in Vienna. He has appeared in Così fan tutte in Helsinki, Weber’s Oberon in Paris (Châtelet), Caen and London, and as Pong (Turandot) at the Salzburg Festival 2002. In 2003 he sang Lensky (Eugene Onegin) and David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the Sydney Opera House.

In 2005 Steve Davislim made his debut at Chicago Lyric Opera as Jacquino (Fidelio) with Christoph von Dohnányi, sang Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress) in Dresden, Lurcanio (Ariodante) in Barcelona and Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival 2006. 2007 started with Lensky (Eugene Onegin) in Hamburg and a much acclaimed Görge in Zemlinsky's Traumgörge in Berlin. He also returned to Australia in October to work with the Sydney Symphony. A turning point in his career was the interpretation of Idomeneo at the opening of La Scala di Milano in December 2005 under Daniel Harding.

Steve Davislim has performed with the most prestigious orchestras in Australia, USA and Europe, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; the Cleveland, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras; the Royal Danish Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Zurich, Vienna, Turin, Madrid, Dresden, Brussels, Lyon, at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and also at the BBC Proms, New York Lincoln Center Festival, Salzburg and Lucerne festivals.

He has worked with such esteemed conductors as Yuri Ahronovitch, Gary Bertini, Sir Colin Davis, Adam Fischer, Rafaele Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink, Thomas Hengelbrock, René Jacobs, Armin Jordan, Lorin Maazel, Marc Minkowski, Sir Roger Norrington, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Riccardo Chailly, Marcello Viotti, Franz Welser-Möst, Philippe Herreweghe and David Zinman.

Recent performances have included the world premiere of Teneke by Fabio Vacchi, under Roberto Abbado at La Scala, Haydn’s Creation with William Christie on tour, A Child of Our Time with Sir Colin Davis in London, St Matthew Passion in Munich and Boston, Candide in Vienna, and Messiah in Washington.