David Hansen

“you will probably never see or hear a better countertenor” - Herald Sun

David Hansen  was born in Sydney, Australia. He studied singing with Andrew Dalton at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and furthered his studies with James Bowman, Graham Pushee and David Harper.

In 2004, David made his European début for the Aix-en-Provence Festival in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Shortly thereafter, he made his UK début in concerts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Emmanuelle Haïm, as well as performing the title role in Handel’s Fernando with Il Complesso Barocco under Alan Curtis for the Spoleto Festival, Italy.

Other operatic engagements include Bertarido in Handel’s Rodelinda under Alan Curtis for Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao, Trinculo in the American premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest for Santa Fe Opera under Alan Gilbert, Handel’s Giulio Cesare for Theater an der Wien under René Jacobs, Den Norske Opera under Rinaldo Alessandrini, Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla under Andreas Spering and Victorian Opera under Richard Gill, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo for the Deutsche Staatsoper-Berlin under Jacobs, Athamas in Handel’s Semele for the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie under Christophe Rousset, and Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea for Victorian Opera. He has worked with directors including Stefan Herheim, Jonathan Kent, Barrie Kosky and Christof Loy.

Concert highlights include Carmina Burana with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle, the title-role in Handel’s Solomon with René Jacobs and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Messiah at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Adès’ The Tempest at the Concertgebouw under Markus Stenz, Messiah under Fabio Biondi, Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with both the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Vassily Sinaisky and Copenhagen Philharmonic under Martyn Brabbins, Handel arias with Bernard Labadie and the Melbourne and New World Symphony Orchestras and Britten’s Canticles at the Wiener Konzerthausm.

David’s début recording, Purcell: Music For Queen Mary, with the Academy of Ancient Music and the choir of King’s College Cambridge, is available on EMI Classics.

Forthcoming engagements include the title-role in Bontempi’s Il Paride for both Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music under Christina Pluhar, the title-role in Handel’s Rinaldo under Ruben Jais, Ottone in Vivaldi’s Griselda for Pinchgut Opera, Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea for both Teatro
Villamarta and Teatro Calderón under Antonio Florio, Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria for Den Norske Opera under Alessandro de Marchi, as well as concerts for the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival and concerts with Malena Ernman, Accademia Bizantina, Concerto Copenhagen under Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Le Concert d’Astrée under Emmanuelle Haïm.

…a pure-voiced young Australian who is typical of a new breed of matinee-idol countertenors – Alex Ross, The New Yorker