Born in Papua New Guinea, Andrew Conley grew up in New Zealand and now resides in London. His love for the operatic stage began at a young age when as a boy he sang in La Boheme, and then went on to perform as a boy soloist in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.  After completing private studies with Dame Malvina Major, he made the leap into Europe and was subsequently invited to attend the Royal College of Music, London. A scholar, he was selected to join the Benjamin Britten International Opera School, and since completing his studies there with distinction, he has gone on to work with many of the UK’s leading Opera companies and orchestras.

            During his time at the RCM, Andrew was a finalist in the Royal Overseas League Singing Competition, and a Semi Finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Singing Competition in 2006. He has sung in public master classes with Sir Thomas Allen, David Syrus, Rudolf Piernay, Roger Vignoles, Gerald Finley, Stephen Varcoe, Sarah Walker, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Richard Van Allan, and Philip Langridge.

Roles have included Lorenzo, I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Fiorello, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and the role of Malchanceux, and the cover of Mr Astley, in The Gambler, for Grange Park Opera and the Pimlico Opera Tour. He has covered the roles of Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte and Selim, Il Turco in Italia for Garsington Opera and more recently performed the role of Morales, Carmen for Diva Opera’s European Tour, as well as Belcore, L’Elisir d’Amore, for Haddo House. Other roles within the UK have included Shears, Paul Bunyan, Junius, The Rape of Lucretia, Pluto, Orpheus and the Underworld, Mr Kofner, The Consul, and Falke, Die Fledermaus. Andrew regularly returns to New Zealand to perform, and roles for New Zealand Opera have included Rossini’s Figaro, Malatesta, Guglielmo, Innkeeper, Manon, and Mityukha, Boris Godunov. He has also been asked to perform in many outdoor galas throughout the country, and has been a regular soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia. His competition experience in Australasia includes selections as a finalist in the Mobil (now Lexus) Song Quest, a semi finalist in Sydney's McDonalds Aria, and winner of the Auckland Aria and Wellington Evening Post Aria competitions.

On the concert stage Andrew has performed as the baritone soloist in Requiems by Faure and Mozart, the Mozart Weisenhaus mass, Handel’s Messiah and Solomon, as well as concert performances of Don Giovanni with the London Mozart Players. Perhaps most memorably, Andrew was also asked to perform with Dame Kiri te Kanawa at Blenheim Palace for the Winston Churchill Memorial Concert.

 

Forthcoming engagements include Schaunard, and Cascada in The Merry Widow, both for Opera Project.