David Hobson is not only one of Australia's best-known and favourite opera singers, he is also a composer. Growing up in Ballarat, Victoria, David was exposed to, and interested in, all forms of music and didn't confine himself to any one genre. However, after flirting with the idea of becoming either an economist or lawyer, he left his studies at the University of Melbourne and began a performing career in pop and jazz music, which provided television exposure and recording experience. During this period, whilst demonstrating a music theatre work he had composed, the Victoria State Opera discovered his voice. Subsequently and unintentionally, he became an opera singer. (The music theatre work – Macbeth – was work-shopped by the Victorian Arts Centre in 1985, and only a lack of funding prevented it from going into full production.)

After first appearing in the VSO's highly successful Joseph Papp (Broadway) version of The Pirates of Penzance, David joined their Young Artists Programme and made his operatic debut in 1987 as Rodolfo in La Bohème, touring country Victoria. He also performed and understudied roles in La Traviata, Rigoletto, Turandot and La belle Hèléne in Melbourne. After word of his vocal ability attracted the attention of The Australian Opera, David was invited to become a Company member in 1988, performing the roles of Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof and Lawrence in the world premiere of Whitsunday, during his debut season. Prior to joining the Company he had sung Nadir in an Opera ACT production ofThe Pearlfishers, and travelled to Perth to sing Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, with West Australian Opera. In this same year he was also awarded the Dame Joan Sutherland Scholarship.

In 1989, David made role debuts as Marco in The Gondoliers, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and various characters in Death in Venice. The following year added the roles of Ernesto in Don Pasquale with the Victoria State Opera, and a well-received Ferrando in a new production of Così fan tutte for The Australian Opera. After successful seasons in Melbourne and Sydney, David was offered the lead role in the musical Chess, and was re-considering his operatic career when Moffatt Oxenbould (Artistic Director of The Australian Opera) told him of his plan to stage a new production of La Bohème using a young director from NIDA. After a meeting with the young man (Baz Luhrmann) David was convinced this Bohème could be special. This proved to be a good call, as Chess was cancelled whilst still in rehearsal and La Bohème received a standing ovation at its opening night on July 28, 1990, going on to become one of The Australian Opera's most successful productions!

In a busy 1991, David made two more role debuts, as Lindoro in L'Italiana in Algeri for the Victoria State Opera and Don Ottavio in a new production of Don Giovanni for The Australian Opera. He also returned to Ferrando in Così fan tutte and along with other artists, including Lisa Gasteen, Jeffrey Black, Amanda Thane and Fiona Janes, recorded scenes from Don Giovanni and Così for The Australian Opera CD marking the bicentennial of Mozart's death, as well as appearing in an ABC documentaryThe Oz in Mozart.  Following Tasmanian performances in Handel's Messiah for the ABC, 1991 was also the year when David began his long association with the nationally televised Sydney Carols in the Domain.

1992 brought Alfred in Die Fledermaus, the title role (Prince Karl Franz) in The Student Prince and Ferrando in Così fan tutte for the Victoria State Opera, as well as L'Italiana in Algeri for The Australian Opera. David also appeared in the ABC television special Class Acts – which focused on six rising stars – singing 'Tomorrow, Tomorrow' from Macbeth.

In 1993 he was named Australian Operatic Performer of the Year in the Entertainment Australia 'MO' Awards and also won the Sydney Critics Circle Award for his widely acclaimed portrayals of Orphée in Orphée et Eurydice, Piquillo in Pericole and Rodolfo in La Bohème for The Australian Opera. La Bohème had been revived earlier in the year, recorded by the ABC and screened nationwide in Australia, as well as internationally on American television, throughout Europe, and in Great Britain on Christmas Day directly after the Queen's Christmas message. It has now become one of the most successful recordings of opera, after being the first to be released in the new DVD format in 1998.

In 1994 David – dressed as Orphée – was the subject of a portrait entered in the prestigious Archibald Prize competition, before appearing in The Australian Opera's Melbourne Autumn season. His role debut as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola followed closely on his already acclaimed Orphée, which gained still further distinction when he won the Melbourne Age Performing Arts Award for Best Performer in Opera (1994). He also made his debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, singing Obadiah in Mendelssohn's Elijah, with Christopher Hogwood conducting. In September David made his U.S. debut with the San Francisco Opera as the Chevalier de Danceny in the world premier of The Dangerous Liaisons, conducted by Donald Runnicles and co-starring Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade and Thomas Hampson. The opening night was filmed and later screened throughout the United States, and was eventually seen in Australia as well, on the ABC.

Tamino in The Magic Flute and The Architect in The Eighth Wonder (an opera about the real-life drama behind the building of the Sydney Opera House) were role debuts for David with The Australian Opera in 1995, plus another series of Messiahs with the SSO, this time conducted by Graham Abbott.

The next few years saw David in revivals of La Bohème and Orphée and in an extended period of composition which culminated in collaboration with Academy Award nominated composer and friend David Hirshfelder. The result was to be the critically acclaimed song-cycle Inside This Room, which was later performed in concert, filmed, and screened nationally on the ABC. In 1998 David also assisted David Hirschfelder with the soundtrack of the Academy Award nominated film Elizabeth – which was recorded in Melbourne – among other things recruiting the 'David Hobson Chorale' and singing the William Byrd motet 'Domine, secundum actum meum', heard during a particularly memorable sequence in the film. The two David's also performed at the APRA and AFI awards with their original brand of world music fused with an operatic sensibility underpinned by hypnotic rhythms.

In 1997 David collaborated with Baz Luhrmann and Christine Anu on the eclectic CD Something for Everybody, which won international popularity and an ARIA award for the video Now Until the Break of Day (an upbeat version of the Finale to Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream).

David returned to the role of Ferrando in the 1998 Sydney and Melbourne seasons of Così for Opera Australia (formerly The Australian Opera) performed in a series of Glorious Vienna concerts with Joan Carden and Suzanne Johnston, as well as operatic concerts with the State Orchestra of Victoria, and spent a period of time at Sony in New York, recording and mixing the Inside This Room CD.

1999 saw a revival of Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Australia, and more concerts with various orchestras, including his ongoing association with the Australian Pops Orchestra and Carols by Candlelight for Channel 9. InsideThis Room was finally released by Mushroom Records in July, and received critical acclaim.

In 2000, David had a full year of performance including Sydney and Melbourne seasons as Eisenstein in an updated version of Die Fledermaus, Nadir in The Pearlfishers (a new production for Opera Australia) and the beginning of his recording association with ABC classics - French and Italian Arias with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marco Guidarini – which proved to be a critical success, and continues to be popular. The year concluded with David's return to Sydney for Carols in the Domain.

The following year (2001) David did many more concerts including his first foray into French Art Song with a recital at The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, a Handel/Mozart concert with the Academy of Melbourne, Opera in the Market, An Australian Night at the Proms at the Sydney Superdome and The Pearlfishers for West Australian Opera. His performance of 'The Word', a song co-composed with David Hirschfelder and first heard on Inside This Room was used in the film BetterThan Sex. In the same year David was commissioned to compose Remembering Rosie, a chamber opera for Opera Australia's OzOpera touring company. This piece, based on a refugee character who lived in Melbourne post World War II, was very well received. By the year's end, he had also composed the orchestral suite Loch Ard for the light/sound installation Shipwrecked!  at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum, Warrnambool, Victoria, and accepted the honour of being Patron of the Ballarat Arts Foundation, an organization designed to support emerging artists from his hometown.

In 2002, Melbourne director Paul Currie approached David to compose a score for his film One Perfect Day. David was hesitant because of his heavy performance schedule but Paul's energy, commitment and ideals convinced him to take on the challenge of the music-driven film. He returned to the stage as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (this time in Melbourne), created the role of Michael Chamberlain in the world premiere of Lindy and sang in a Bellini Gala Concert, both in Sydney and all for Opera Australia. Later that year he recorded Handel Arias for ABC Classics (with Sinfonia Australis conducted by Antony Walker) which earned an ARIA Nomination and reached number 26 in the pop charts, a rare feat for a totally classical recording! It was also nominated by the G.F.Hændel Society for the Handel International Recording Prize. On a sombre note, David sang the National Anthem for the televised Australians Together – Bali Tribute Ceremony in the Sydney Domain, on October 20.

In the following year (2003) David was Aristæus/Pluto in Opera Australia's new, madcap production of Orpheus in the Underworld during the Sydney Summer and Melbourne Autumn seasons. He then returned to Sydney for the OA Winter season to debut as Florville and Dorvil in the Australian premieres of Rossini's Il Signor Bruschino and La scala di seta, conducted by Richard Bonynge. A performance of this double-bill was recorded and later broadcast on ABC FM. David's fourth role debut for the year was as Belmonte in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio, for West Australian Opera in October/November, and the busy year continued with another ABC recording Cinema Paradiso, a collection of classic film songs with Sinfonia Australis conducted by Guy Noble. An eventful 2003 concluded with a recital in Ballarat, another appearance at Carols in the Domain, and a New Year's Eve Opera Gala in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, conducted by Simone Young.

The film One Perfect Day opened across Australia in February 2004 and after screening at several international film festivals was released worldwide, before becoming available on DVD, along with the Original Sound Track CD. David's orchestral score had earned critical praise from the start, so it was no surprise when it received nominations from AFI and APRA, and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Original Film Score.

David's 2004 engagements began in Sydney when he joined other members of Opera Australia in a Gala Concert on January 22, to mark the Golden Wedding of Dame Joan Sutherland and Maestro Richard Bonynge. Then, on January 31, he sang Nadir in Sydney for the first time when he performed in a concert version of The Pearlfishers at the annual Opera in the Domain. A perfect summer night drew a crowd of more than 80,000 people, who heard David in excellent voice, and the event has since been judged the most successful of all the many Opera in the Domain performances. David's Nadir received more good notices when The Pearlfishers opened Opera Australia's Autumn season in Melbourne. He appeared in the season's last production as well, in a role he had not sung since 1991, when he played Nanki-Poo in a highly successful revival of The Mikado, alongside Anthony Warlow and Judi Connelli.

After the end of the Mikado run (twenty performances in two weeks!) David launched into a series of solo concerts around regional Victoria, introducing his audiences to a repertoire ranging far beyond opera. A typical programme at An Evening with David Hobson might begin with some Handel, then move through other opera arias and Art Songs, before turning to lighter pieces from operetta, musicals, pop and rock (when he usually accompanies himself on guitar) and generally includes at least one of his own compositions. These concerts have proved very popular and continue whenever David can fit them into his heavy schedule.

The busy year continued, and in just a few weeks David recorded a lengthy radio interview – which was also broadcast internationally via the internet – sang Obadiah in Elijah, with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, and appeared in several Viennese-themed concerts with the Australian Pops Orchestra in both Melbourne and Sydney, all interwoven with the regional concert tour.

September brought a special gig for the self-confessed football obsessive, singing The Impossible Dream during the AFL Grand Final pre-match entertainment at the Melbourne Cricket Ground which, together with the game, was televised worldwide. A week later, in complete contrast, he sang at the Opera Foundation of Victoria's Twentieth Anniversary Gala Dinner.

Before winding up the year with another appearance at Carols in the Domain, David performed at Opera in the Vineyards events in the Yarra and Hunter Valleys, and took part in the black tie Gala Opening of the Benalla Performing Arts Centre in northern Victoria, which was followed on the next two evenings by presentations of his solo concert.

2005 began with David making his Adelaide debut in The Mikado in January, and a flying visit to Opera in the Alps in Beechworth, Victoria, during that season. The following month he performed outside Australia for the first time since 1994 when he made his New Zealand debut at a concert in Nelson, with the Christchurch Symphony. On February 25 he brought his solo concert 'home' when he performed to a delighted audience at Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat. Following the concert the Ballarat Arts Foundation honoured their Patron with a Reception in the Long Room at the theatre.

In this year of debuts David then made his first – but not last – appearance on the ABC musical quiz show Spicks & Specks, before role debuts as Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore and The Defendant in Trial by Jury, during Opera Australia's Melbourne Autumn season, later appearing in several performances when the productions premiered in Sydney. Again co-starring Anthony Warlow, they were filmed during the Melbourne season, screened by ABC TV and released on DVD at Christmastime.

August saw the release of the album Tenor & Baritone, in which David joined Anthony Warlow in a selection of drawing room ballads, accompanied by David McSkimming. As well, a pictorial biography was published to compliment a CD released later in the year, a restrospective of David's early performances called David Hobson – The Live Album. And, for yet another CD, David sang his own arrangement of The Holy City on the annual Spirit of Christmas album in aid of the Salvation Army.

In another first, David – attired in the traditional grey morning suit – sang the National Anthem at Flemington Racecourse on Derby Day (October 29) the opening meeting of the world-famous Melbourne Cup Carnival. The remainder of the year was devoted to more concerts, including the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Australian Pops Orchestra, and the Sydney Opera House series Christmas at the House, before David made a rare appearance at Melbourne's Christmas Eve Carols by Candlelight.

Beechworth's Opera in the Alps began David's performing year in 2006, before a highly successful appearance at the Perth International Arts Festival, where he sang the title role in a concert performance of Bernstein's Candide. Others in the cast were Rachelle Durkin, Suzanne Johnston, Judi Connelli, Dennis Olsen and Richard Greager, but only those lucky enough to be in the 'Sold Out' Perth Concert Hall on February 12 were able to enjoy the outstanding evening, which was not broadcast or recorded. March 14 found him in Canberra, with accompanist David McSkimming, where he had the honour of singing before HM The Queen and many other distinguished guests at a State Dinner. (However, on such an important occasion, two microphone failures did nothing to improve David's understandable nervousness!) A series of statewide morning matinées and evening concerts, including an appearance at Mildura's Opera by the Lock kept him busy for several weeks before he returned to New Zealand in May, to sing with Dame Malvina Major and the Christchurch Symphony.

When he decided to appear as a Mentor in the new Channel 7 series It Takes Two (between May and August) many people were  surprised and even concerned that this indicated David was moving further away from opera. However, not only did it introduce him to a whole new audience outside the opera and concert world, but he and his celebrity protegé Erika Heynatz won the series!  David was also in Sydney rehearsing for Opera Australia's new production of The Pirates of Penzance for much of the time – with the opening night just four days before the It Takes Two Grand Final – so had to do a lot of flying between Sydney and Melbourne! Immediately following the end of the series, Presenting David Hobson (a compilation CD) was released, to introduce a range of his work to the many new fans he had gained during It Takes Two, and the following month his long-awaited album of French Art Songs – L'Heure Exquise (The Exquisite Hour), with David McSkimming, arrived to please the older ones, as well. The Pirates of Penzance had been filmed very early in the season, was telecast by the ABC at Christmastime, and finally released on DVD in 2007.

During the Pirates' Sydney run David still managed some concert engagements, such as the Celebration Inaugural Concert at the new Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts in Ballarat (August 29); an afternoon Recital in Hunters Hill, Sydney (September 10)  which brought people from interstate and even overseas; and a September 29 return to the Benalla  Performing Arts Centre. Following the Sydney season, the Pirates began a national tour – unusual for Opera Australia, but part of their Golden Jubilee celebrations, along with a DVD to which David had contributed a short interview – and for all but a few weeks they were on the road between November and May, playing in Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and finally Melbourne. In all a total of over one hundred performances, from the first night in Sydney to the last in Melbourne! During the end-of-year break in the tour, David returned to Sydney to sing at Carols in the Domain, and join opera colleagues Yvonne Kenny, Catherine Carby and Kanen Breen in six performances of Christmas at the House. What a year!

In early February 2007 David found time to both enjoy himself and help others, when he and other theatrical and sporting personalities took part in a charity cricket match in Melbourne. Less formally attired than on an earlier, similar occasion, and backed by the then almost unknown Choir of Hard Knocks, David sang the National Anthem before taking to the cricket field for the first time since university days, where he proved to be a still useful batsman/bowler. Two weeks later he was in Sydney, singing at the Forever Green Gala Dinner in aid of cricketing great Steve Waugh's charity for children. Several more concerts, and a return to Spicks & Specks, took him up to May and an encore appearance as a Mentor in the second season of It Takes Two, with new partner Mimi Macpherson. So, in a situation reminiscent of the previous year, for a few weeks David found himself dividing his time between coaching a celebrity protegé and being Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, but at least it was in the same city – and they finished the series in third place.

August took him to Brisbane again, heading a cast which included Rachael Beck and Rob Guest, in a tribute to great musicals in A Night on Broadway, which thrilled a capacity audience at the Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Soon after, David's Welsh ancestry was proudly proclaimed when he appeared with the Victoria Welsh Male Choir on August 19, singing not only selections from his regular French, Italian and English repertoire, but also demonstrating his newly acquired Welsh in three songs!

The disquiet David's supporters may have felt when he first appeared in It Takes Two was nothing compared to their reaction when it was announced he would be competing in the highly popular Channel 7 series Dancing with the Stars! However, once they got used to the idea they were unstinting in their support and voting for his nominated charity, while David showed that he has definite dancing ability, as he and his Mentor, Karina Schembri, continued into the ninth week of the series and finished 3rd.

A new and exciting CD had been announced earlier in the year and on October 14, during a delightful recital in the Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House, David was able to tell his audience that the release date would be November 17. Including two of his own compositions, The Promise is an eclectic collection of mostly show and pop songs arranged by him, with the backing orchestra conducted by long-time colleague Chong Lim. Bound to appeal to most of David's newer fans and hopefully even the older, classically-inclined ones as well, its progress on the pop charts is being watched with considerable interest. In less than 3 weeks 'The Promise' reached Gold Status with more than 35,000 units sold.

2007 has concluded with performances of Messiah in Bendigo and Melbourne, when David sangs with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic alongside fellow artists Natalie Jones, Sally Anne Russell and Joshua Bloom. He also hosted two Christmas Melodies concerts at Hamer Hall, Melbourne, on December 10, with the now much better known Choir of Hard Knocks among others appearing on the programme.

On Saturday the 22nd of December he will appear in the 25th Anniversary of Carols in the Domain.

David's 2008 schedule is steadily taking shape and will include February concerts in Sydney (with two being part of the Twilight series at Taronga Zoo); Margaret River, Western Australia, in the prestigious Leeuwin Concert Series (with Yvonne Kenny); Opera by the Lock in Mildura; and a Musica Viva Coffee Concert in Melbourne, as well as many other engagements yet to be announced, and maybe even a CD or two.

Easily the most exciting events of the year will be when David returns to pure opera and makes his debut with the young Victorian Opera in Melbourne, firstly in a new Alan John chamber opera Through the Looking Glass in May, and then in his long overdue role debut as Nemorino in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, in August.

Ramino in La Cenerentola Photo: Jeff Busby	Tamino in Die Zauberflöte Photo: Lynn McColl	Lindoro in L’ Italiana in Algeri Photo: Jeff Busby	Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni Photo: Branco Gaica
Orphée Photo: Lynn McColl	Piquillo in La Périchole with Suzanne Johnston Photo: Peter Holderneff	Rodolfo in La Bohème Photo: Lynn McColl	Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte Photo: Phillip Le Mesurier

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