Born in the UK, Gary Rowley is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and began his professional career as a member of both the Victoria State Opera and Opera Australia Young Artist Programs. His engagements for the Victoria State Opera included Don Basilio in The Barber Of Seville, the title role in Don Pasquale, Ramphis in Aida, Nourabad in The Pearlfishers, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Roo in Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll. He has worked for Opera Australia, performing such roles as Hobson in Peter Grimes, the Duke of Verona in Romeo & Juliet, Colline in La Bohème, Don Magnifico in Cenerentola, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including appearing in the company’s season of this opera at the Edinburgh Festival.
For OzOpera he has appeared as Don Basilio in The Barber Of Seville, Monterone in Rigoletto and most recently, as The Trooper in Midnite for OzOpera’s season in the 2004 Melbourne International Festival, and will reprise this role in the 2005 Adelaide season. For the other state opera companies, he has sung Tiger Brown in The Threepenny Opera, Major Murgatroyd in Patience and Nourabad in The Pearlfishers for West Australian Opera, and Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola for Opera Queensland.
He has sung the role of Eddy in Greek, Kang in Fresh Ghosts and Jinshan in The Possessed for Chambermade Opera, and the title role in Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen, and the title role in Falstaff for Melbourne City Opera. He is a regular soloist in orchestral concerts, having appeared in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder for the Perth International Festival, and as Westinghouse in Tesla for IHOS Opera during the Ten Days On The Island Festival in Tasmania. He was soloist in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s performances of Messiah in December 2004. For Stopera, Gary appeared in the 2005 Italian opera concert Tutto Italiano in the National Multicultural Festival, and was soloist in Bach’s Coffee Cantata in the 2005 Canberra International Chamber Music Festival.