Samuel Dale Johnson
With a voice described by Bachtrack as “gloriously lyrical,” Australian baritone Samuel Dale Johnson has established a reputation as one of the leading young baritones of today. This season, Samuel will return to his native country to make debuts with Opera Australia and State Opera of South Australia. In addition, he will return to the Melbourne Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with conductor Xian Zhang and will make his debut with the Kymi Sinfonietta in Finland. In the 2023 – 2024 season, Samuel made his debut with the Royal Danish Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly under the baton of Paolo Carignani, returned to Scottish Opera to perform Figaro in a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, and to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for numerous roles including the Father in Hänsel und Gretel, Ping in Turandot and Angelotti in Tosca. In concert, Samuel appeared with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for Messiah, and appeared again with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
From 2017 – 2023, Samuel was a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin where his recent roles included Escamillo in Carmen, Figaro in Il barbiere, the title role in Don Giovanni, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marcello in La bohème Heerufer in Lohengrin and Angelotti in Tosca, with conductors including Donald Runnicles, Matteo Beltrami, Ivan Repušić and Paolo Arrivabeni. Other recent highlights include house debuts with Opéra de Rouen Normandie and the Glyndebourne Festival, both as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a concert debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland for Carmina Burana with Music Director Jaime Martín.
Previous highlights of recent seasons include Samuel’s US debut as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera with Music Director Harry Bicket, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with both the Bordeaux Opera and Zurich Opera, the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for Opera Holland Park and Scottish Opera, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte for Northern Ireland Opera and Samuel’s Japanese debut as the Count Le nozze di Figaro at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.
Samuel is an alumnus of the renowned Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, where his numerous roles included Moralès in Carmen, Silvio in Pagliacci, Albert in Werther, Leuthold in Guillaume Tell with Antonio Pappano, and Baron Duphol in La traviata. While at Covent Garden, Samuel made his London Symphony Orchestra debut in Tom Ades’ orchestral work Brahms, conducted by the composer.
Samuel graduated with a Master of Music from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, where he was a recipient of the RJ Hamer Opera Scholarship with the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust. In 2013 he was awarded 1st Place in the prestigious German Opera Award from the Australian Opera Foundation. Other awards include the Dr Francesco Castellano Operatic Italian Award and the Mostyn Hanger Award for an Outstanding Performance in an Operatic Production.