ABOUT
"Samuel Sakker easily overcomes the obstacles of one of the most exhausting tenor roles in the repertoire, but he lets his Tristan fly before giving it substance in the third act..."
- Philippe Venturini, Les Echos
"Sakker sang the gruelling tenor part in Das Lied von der Erde wonderfully. His is a natural Wagnerian Heldentenor of amazingly dark, rounded power and heft"
- Stephen Jay-Taylor, Opera Brittania
United Kingdom based Australian tenor Samuel Sakker is garnering attention as an emerging Heldentenor of distinction, and is in increasing demand with leading opera companies and orchestras internationally.
Winner of the Wagner Society Singing Competition, Sakker’s operatic highlights include: Tristan Tristan und Isolde (Opéra National deLorraine; Opera Ballet Vlaanderen; Opera Théâtre de Caen); Erik Der Fliegende Holländer (Opéra Angers Nantes; Opéra de Rennes; Nederlandse Reisopera; Cape Town Opera); Siegmund Die Walküre and Pollione Norma (Melbourne Opera); Florestan Fidelio (Lyric Opera Ireland); Don Josè Carmen (Danish National Opera); Macduff Macbeth (Grange FestivalOpera; Melbourne Opera);and subsequent roles with Royal Opera House, Opera Australia, New Zealand Opera, Opera Queensland, Opera Holland Park, State Opera of South Australia, West Australian Opera, Victorian Opera, and the Adelaide Festival.
On the concert platform he has performed Tristan Tristan und Isolde Act 2 (Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra); Mahler’s Das lied von der Erde (Stadttheater Klagenfurt; Bolzano, Italy; Royal Ballet; English National Ballet); Beethoven 9th Symphony (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra); the title role in Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène (Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra & BBC Symphony Orchestra); Verdi’s Messa de Requiem (Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand); Mozart’s Requiem (Japan; Cadogan Hall); Handel’s Messiah (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra); A Child of our Time (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra); James Nolan in the Grammy nominated recording of Doctor Atomic, which was also performed in concert at the Barbican under the baton of John Adams (BBC Symphony Orchestra); and Ulrik in William Alwyn’s Miss Julie (BBC Symphony Orchestra; recorded on the Chandos label) - with conductors including Sir Antonio Pappano, Alan Gilbert, Hartmut Haenchen, Daniel Oren, Dan Ettinger, Marc Minkovski, Nicola Luisotti, Sakari Oramo, James Gaffigan, Leo Hussain, and Alejo Pérez.
Current projects include Florestan Fidelio under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel (Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra); Tristan Tristan und Isolde (Teatro Massimo di Palermo & Opernhaus Wuppertal); and title role Lohengrin (Ópera de Oviedo). The coming seasons see him return to Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Opéra national de Lorraine, and make debuts with the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatsoper Hamburg, Oper Graz, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.