Henry Choo

Not to be confused with Henry Cho or Henry Chu.

Henry Choo
Henry Choo, 2017
Born
Henry Sze Miin Choo

Malaysia
Alma materAustralian National Academy of Music
Occupation
  • Opera singer
Websitewww.henrychoo.com

Henry Choo is an Australian operatic lyric tenor who has performed in all three of Donizetti's "Tudor Operas" (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux).

Early life

Choo was born in Malaysia as Henry Sze Miin Choo, and migrated to Australia at an early age.

Musical career

Choo trained from an early age in piano, violin and singing. He attended Melbourne High School. Choo achieved an associate diploma in singing under the tutelage of Noel Ancell of the Australian Boys Choir, and furthered his operatic studies at the Melba Conservatorium and the Australian National Academy of Music, as well as with late French repertoire specialist Susan Falk.[1]

Choo is a graduate of the Young Artist Program of Opera Queensland and the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Development Program of Opera Australia.[2] In 2004 he made his professional debut as Ernesto in Opera Queensland's production of Don Pasquale,[3] which also toured regional Queensland. He featured in the world premiere of Brett Dean's 2010 opera Bliss at the Sydney Opera House which was broadcast live on ABC Television and released on DVD. His debut in a major role for Opera Australia was in 2010 as the Italian Singer in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.[4] This production was broadcast to Australian cinemas[5] and released on DVD.[6] On the concert stage, he sang the tenor role in the world premiere of Christopher Bowen's An Australian War Requiem in 2014 at the Sydney Town Hall which was released on CD and DVD.[7] Choo sang Don Ottavio in Elke Neidhardt's 2008 production for Opera Australia.[8] He sang the same role in Opera Australia's 2011 production which was broadcast on ABC Television and released on DVD.[9]

Choo sang, together with Antoinette Halloran, "So Long, Farewell" in P. J. Hogan's 2012 film Mental.[10]

In 2015, he received a Green Room Award nomination for his portrayal of Roberto in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda for Melbourne Opera,[11] where he also sang the title role in an English-language production of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.[12] He completed in the same year Donizetti's "Tudor Operas" as Lord Percy in Anna Bolena in Perth.[13] For CitiOpera Melbourne he sang Bacchus in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos in 2016.[12]

Discography

In 2018, Choo released his debut solo album, a collection of lyric arias and songs entitled Bright Poet, recorded with Orchestra Wellington conducted by Marc Taddei.[14] It was chosen by Melbourne classical radio station 3MBS as their CD of the week in August that year.[15]

References

  1. ^ Henry Choo home page
  2. ^ Biography
  3. ^ "Don Pasquale review" by John Henningham, Stagediary (Brisbane), July 2004
  4. ^ "Review: Der Rosenkavalier, Opera Theatre, Sydney", Crikey, 5 October 2010
  5. ^ "Opera Australia's Der Rosenkavalier in cinemas across Australia thanks to Cinemalive" by Ian Nisbet, theatrepeople.com.au, 5 September 2011
  6. ^ Der Rosenkavalier, DVD, Opera Australia
  7. ^ An Australian War Requiem, work details, Australian Music Centre
  8. ^ Don Giovanni review by Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 July 2008
  9. ^ "Opera Australia: Don Giovanni", ABC Television, 5 August 2012
  10. ^ Mental song credits
  11. ^ "Green Room Award nominations revealed", Daily Review (Melbourne), 16 February 2016
  12. ^ a b Henry Choo schedule, Operabase
  13. ^ "Henry Choo: Game of Thrones, Donizetti, and Fringe World" by Gabrielle Ruttico, CutCommon, 27 January 2015
  14. ^ "Home". brightpoet.com.
  15. ^ CD of the week, 20 August 2018, 3MBS