Port Fairy Spring Festival 2022
‘….. a program of Mozart art song and Schumann’s Liederkreis Op 24, with Cassomenos accompanying the young and highly accomplished tenor Louis Hurley with great sensitivity. Hurley’s effortless technique, excellent phrasing and warm and lyrical tone set him firmly in the tradition of the great exponents of lieder – he especially recalled to mind Peter Schreier.’
Kristina Macrae, Classic Melbourne, October 2022
Albert Herring, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
‘Any production of Albert Herring first and foremost stands or falls on the vocal and dramatic ability of the tenor cast as Herring himself and this production was blessed with a fine young singer, Louis Hurley, who was able to traverse the musical and emotional terrain with considerable skill and emotional conviction.’
Peter Tregear, Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne, March 2019
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adelaide Festival
‘Louis Hurley’s Thisby, a send up of Lucia Di Lammermoor, complete with deranged flute obbligato, steals the show.’
Ewart Shaw, The Advertiser, March 2021
Monteverdi Vespers, Pinchgut Opera
‘Louis Hurley’s honeyed tenor caressed every word of Nigra Sum.’
Deborah Jones, Limelight Magazine, March 2021
Orontea - Cesti Pinchgut Opera
‘As the sabre-rattling young Tibrino, spoiling for war, Louis Hurley has a voice of light finesse and tapered refinement.’
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, May 2022
After completing a Bachelor of Music and Graduate Diploma of Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), tenor Louis Hurley furthered his studies, as a Hazell Scholar, with a Master of Music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London under the tutelage of Adrian Thompson. Whilst in London, Louis performed at both the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Hall.
As a guest artist, Louis will tour with the Song Company in their Under the Southern Cross tour, before returning to Pinchgut Opera for a program of Buxtehude in both Sydney and Melbourne, and appearing in the roles of Amanzio (Giustino) and the Herald (Rinaldo). Louis also continues in his role with Pinhcgut as the inaugural The Humanity Foundation Taryn Fiebig Scholar
In 2022, Louis made a number of important debuts including Messiah with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, 1st Prisoner (Fidelio) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Simone Young, Haydn’s ‘Nelson Mass’ with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Vitellozzo (Lucrezia Borgia) with Melbourne Opera. He also returned to Pinchgut Opera to perform the roles of Acis (Acis and Galatea), Arcas (Medée), and Tibrino (Orontea) and appeared with them at Ukaria and the Four Winds Festival.
Most recently Louis has been heard at the Adelaide Festival in the role of Flute in Neil Armfield’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in the Montverdi Vespers with Pinchgut Opera. Further roles include the title role in Albert Herring and Pluto/Mercure (Orpheus in the Underworld) for Melbourne Conservatorium; Jaquino (Fidelio) and Don Basilio (The Marriage of Figaro) for Melbourne Opera; Giuseppe (La Traviata) for West Australian Opera, and Older Son (Dead Man Walking, Heggie) at the Barbican, London.
On the concert platform he has been heard in Dvorak’s Requiem and Mass in D, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and in song cycles of Schubert (Die Winterreise), Schuman (Dichterliebe), Beethoven (An die ferne Geliebte), Brahms (Liebeslieder Waltzer) and Britten Canticles.
The recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, Louis was the winner of the 2019 Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria Competition and the Hans & Petra Henkell Award at the 2019 National Liederfest. A Melba Opera Trust Scholar in 2020 & 2021, as the recipient of the Joseph Sambrook Opera Scholarship, he is also an alumnus of Melbourne Opera’s Richard Divall Emerging Artist Programme, where he was recently made an Associate Artist.
Louis Hurley is managed by Graham Pushee: graham@artsmanagement.com.au
February 2023
This biography is for general information purposes only and not for publication.
Please contact Graham for an up-to-date biography to suit your needs.