Jonathan Lemalu

Arts Dip (RCM), PG Cert (GSMD), LLB (Otago), FRCM, ONZM

Vocal Studies professor

A New Zealand-born Samoan, Grammy award-winning bass Jonathan Lemalu is an RCM graduate with distinction, winning-the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Rosebowl and Tagore Gold Medal. He was a BBC Radio3 New Generation Artist, ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) Rising Stars recitalist and exclusive EMI Classics recording artist. Numerous awards include joint Kathleen Ferrier Award, ROSL Gold Medal, Llangollen Young Singer of the World, FRCM for contributions to music and ONZM in the 2022 Queens Birthday Honours for service to opera.

Since his debut in 1996 as Colline La Boheme, Jonathan’s vast operatic repertoire encompasses Handel, Mozart and Britten to Puccini, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner and contemporary composers Adams, Heggie and Tavener at Royal Opera House, ENO, WNO, Glyndebourne, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric, San Francisco, Theater an der Wien, Bayerisches Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro Real, Grand Teatre del Liceu, Sydney Opera House and the Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Styriarte, Edinburgh, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Winter/Summer Olympics Arts Festivals, BBC Proms with Alsop, Bicket, Bolton, Christie, Christophers, Cummings, Davis, Dutoit, Gardner, Gergiev, Haitink, Harding, Harnoncourt, Jacobs, Jurowski, MacKerras, Marriner, Mehta, Nezet-Seguin, Norrington, Pappano, Rattle, Slatkin, Summers, Young.

Jonathan’s solo EMI Classics recordings with Vignoles, Martineau, Belcea Quartet and NZSO won critical acclaim including Gramophone Debut Disc of the Year, RPS Young Artist of the Year, ECHO Klassik awards and TUI Classical Album of the Year. Other recordings include Peter Grimes (LSO), Billy Budd (LSO), Belshazzar (Les Arts Florissant), Porgy & Bess (Sony), Saul (ARCHIV), songs by Rodney Bennett (Chandos), Schumann lieder (Hyperion), Wolf lieder (Stone), Poulenc (Signum) and DVD’s of Don Giovanni (SONY) and Heggie’s Moby Dick. He has given solo recitals in London, New York, Washington DC, Vancouver, Montreal, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, Schwarzenberg, Paris, San Francisco, Brussels, Rome, Amsterdam, Sydney and New Zealand with pianists Burnside, Dennis, Drake, Johnson, Hampton, Hyland, Lepper, Martineau, Middleton, Vignoles.

Faculties / departments: Vocal Studies