AUSTRALIA
“One of the greatest Giovanni’s of all time… a dashing handsome baritone with an outstanding voice and enough charisma for half a dozen professional seducers.”
— The Australian
Brisbane-born Jeffrey Black began his career at the age of twenty, when he was offered a contract to join The Australian Opera as a principal artist singing roles which included Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette, Schaunard in La Bohème, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Dr Falke in Die Fledermaus, Dandini in La Cenerentola and Ottone in Goran Jarvefelt’s new production of L’lncor- onazione di Poppea.
In 1985 he was named The Australian Opera’s Esso Young Artist of the Year as well Young Queenslander of the Year. Subsequent roles as a guest artist with Opera Australia including premier productions of Figaro in II Barbiere di Siviglia, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, the title role in Don Giovanni, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and the title role in Eugene Onegin. Wolfram in Tannhäu- ser, Posa (Don Carlo), Zurga Les Pecheurs de Perles, Graf in a new produc- tion of Capriccio for the Olympic Festival in Sydney, Belcore - L’Elisir d’amore, Conte – Le Nozze di Figaro and Danilo – The Merry Widow.
Queensland, Victoria
He performed Escamillo in Carmen and Dr Malatesta in Don Pasquale for the Lyric Opera of Queensland, and Zurga in Les Pecheurs de Perles, Roderigo in Don Carlo and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance for the Victoria State Opera. In 2007 he made his role debut as Scarpia (Tosca) in the Queensland 4MBS Festival.
In 2021 as part of the Cooktown 2020 Sesquicentennial Festival Jeffrey sang the role of Joseph Banks in the presence of the Governor General, in the premier performance of ‘The Cooktown Cantata’.
