Writer and critic Neil Fisher has contributed to The Times since 2004 on opera and classical music, and is Deputy Arts Editor for the newspaper. He is lead critic for Gramophone magazine, and a regular contributor to Opera magazine. He also broadcasts on television and radio, including BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and Times Radio, and has featured on BBC 4 coverage of the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Neil grew up in north London, reared on Wiener schnitzels and stories of his great uncle, a celebrated tenor who sang in Vienna and Munich state opera houses between the wars, and once sang opposite the Isolde of Kirsten Flagstad. Expeditions to Covent Garden and the Verona Arena switched him onto the family obsession of opera. He began writing opera reviews while studying Modern History at Oxford University, and staged two music-theatre productions during his time there.
A regular visitor to opera houses across the UK and in Berlin, Milan, Munich and Paris, Neil has reported on operatic life from as far afield as Hong Kong, Venezuela and Cape Town, and has interviewed some of the world's greatest opera singers, including Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko and Joyce DiDonato. He has been a judge for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's Gold Medal for opera singing and sat on the jury for the International Opera Awards.
Agent: Patrick Walsh