Last updated: 04 January 2010
The Welsh have been called "Italians in the rain" - a term which could have been coined for Dennis O'Neill.
Dennis O'Neill's fine voice has taken him to the greatest opera houses of the world, singing the lead tenor roles in mostly Italian repertoire, in particular the operas of Verdi.
Throughout his career, he has returned to his home in Cardiff to perform regularly with Welsh National Opera, in operas such as Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Otello, La Fanciulla del West and Aida.
He also looks as if he could be Italian - stocky, dark (though now his hair is a distinguished shade of grey) and with soulful brown eyes - and his teacher, Frederick Cox, described him at their first meeting as "A typical little Welshman with a Neapolitan trying to get out". Dennis has taken part in a TV series about the great tenor, Caruso, with whom he shares a birthday, and he bears something of a physical resemblance to the famous Neapolitan singer.
But Dennis isn't Italian - he was born in Pontarddulais to an Irish father and Welsh mother, one of six siblings, many of whom are also singers. He received his first taste of opera on the eisteddfod circuit, and the moment he heard Cielo e Mar from Ponchielli's La Gioconda, one of the stalwarts of the Italianate tenor repertoire, he knew that this was what he wanted to do for a living.
After his studies with Cox, Dennis won a Royal Society of Arts award to study in Mantua and Rome.
Success did not come immediately, but Dennis received the career boost that he needed from Scottish Opera For All in 1972, touring remote parts of Scotland with small-scale versions of mainstream operas. From there, he joined the Glyndebourne Chorus, often a springboard to successful operatic careers, and was heard in a small solo part by the music director of the State Opera of South Australia, who signed him up.
Dennis's next step up on the operatic career ladder was again to come from Scotland, where he joined Scottish Opera and moved to Glasgow. He started to make a real name for himself during this period, and made his WNO debut in 1979. By the 1980s he was appearing regularly in increasingly large roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and started to be in demand across the world, at the New York Met, San Francisco, Chicago, Hamburg, Munich and Barcelona. He has made many recordings, mainly opera but also art songs.
He became a household name for a broader audience with his own very popular ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two series, which ran for several years from 1987. The CD based on the series topped the classical charts for a record number of weeks.
He also finds the time to serve on the Welsh National Opera board, and founded an international academy of voice in Cardiff, for aspiring young opera singers. In the three years of the academy's existence, from 2007, it helped 53 young singers by providing tuition from world-renowned singers and opera directors, and offered valuable stage experience. Many of the academy's alumni are now performing in opera houses across the world
Dennis O'Neill was awarded the CBE in the 2000 New Year's Honours list.
