Biography

Christopher Hillier is one of Australia’s finest singers, equally at home in opera and concert. His performances are acclaimed for both dramatic and vocal power. Following his debut as Zurga in Bizet’s Pearl Fishers for Opera Australia, he made his international debut in Tokyo in 2013 as Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Other roles performed at Opera Australia included Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata, Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and many more. 

Since then he has built a prolific concert and operatic career working with Opera Australia, Melbourne Opera, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Melbourne Bach Choir and many others. His career has also taken him to China, Singapore, New Zealand, Germany and the UK. 

Christopher graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium with a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours in 2006, the National Opera Studio (London) in 2007 and with a Masters of Music from the University of Sydney in 2024.

He is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, most notably the Opera Foundation Covent Garden Scholarship in 2006.

Most recently in 2022, Christopher took major roles in Melbourne Opera’s Siegfried, Lucrezia Borgia and Mahagonny; he also appeared with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Australian Contemporary Opera, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and IOpera.  In 2023, he sang Gunther in Melbourne Opera’s landmark Der Ring des Nibelungen, Talbot in Maria Stuarda, and in Victorian Opera’s Gallileo. In 2024, engagements include Messiah with the Canberra Symphony, the Verdi Requiem in Melbourne and his debut with State Opera of South Australia as Alfonso in Così fan tutte. In 2025, Christopher continues his relationship with Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Melbourne Opera with role debuts including Sir Thomas Bertram in Mansfield Park and Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. On the concert platform Christopher will perform in Bach’s St John Passion at the Melbourne Recital Centre.