BIOGRAPHY
"....he is one of the few people in the world who can sing it."
- Lyndon Terracini AM, Artistic Director, Opera Australia on Shanul's role as Il Conte di Libenskof in Rossini's 'Il viaggio a Reims'
"Not only was he placed first in the vocal section but then, in the round for all instrumentalists, he was again placed first. Effectively the prix d'honeur of the festival. This is an extraordinary achievement and something that, for example, I personally could not have achieved at his stage of development… Bravo Shanul!”
- WIAV Director Dennis O’Neill CBE on Shanul winning the 2017 Rossini International Award in Pesaro, Italy
Possessing a voice capable of ‘dazzling fireworks’ (The Age), ‘laser-like precision’ (Limelight Magazine), ‘radiant high notes’ (Opera Libera) and ‘resplendent clarity’ (Sydney Morning Herald), tenor Shanul Sharma ‘the first Indian-born Australian to perform as a principal artist in an Australian opera’ (SBS News).
Shanul launched his singing career as a lead vocalist in heavy-metal bands and released three original studio albums between 2004-2012. He explored the classical singing style as an artistic expression and relocated from Wagga Wagga to Melbourne in 2013 to commence his training as an opera singer. He has since appeared in opera houses, concert stages and arenas across Europe, Australia, Russia and the UK.
Shanul’s operatic debut came in 2014 with Opera Australia as ‘Don Ramiro’ in Rossini’s La Cenerentola. He joined the company's Moffatt-Oxenbould Young Artist Programme (2018-2021) and among others, has performed the roles of ‘Il Conte di Libenskof’ in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims (2019), ‘The Student’ in Reimann’s The Ghost Sonata (2019), 'Il Conte d'Almaviva' in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (2023) and M.K. Gandhi in Philip Glass' Satyagraha (2023) to critical acclaim in both Sydney and Melbourne on the company's main stage. He rejoins the company to debut the role of 'Tamino' in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in November 2024.
With other companies most notably, Shanul has appeared as ‘Il Conte di Libenskof’ in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (2020 & 2019) and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy (2018), as the title role in Mozart’s Mitridate, Re di Ponto at Teatro Olimpico for Festival Vicenza in Lirica (2021), 'Lindoro' in Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri for Fondazione Rete, Italy (2022), 'Gennaro' in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia for Melbourne Opera (2022), ‘Il Conte d’Almaviva’ in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, Italy (2018) and Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Pavia, Italy (2017). In addition, he has performed the roles of ‘Florville’ in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino, the title role in Massenet’s Werther and the tenor soloist in Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. In December 2023 Shanul created the role of 'Papa Urbano VIII' in the grand opera Galileo, written by celebrated Australian composer Richard Mills AO for Victorian Opera.
Shanul represented the Rossini Opera Festival at the prestigious LaVerdi Auditorium in Milan, under the baton of Claus Peter Flor as the tenor soloist in Rossini’s Stabat Mater and at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo (2018), has appeared with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra at the Llangollen Festival, Wales for Grammy-Award winning composer Christopher Tin's composition 'Calling All Dawns' (2017), with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra for Mazda Opera in the Domain under the baton of Brian Castles-Onion AM (2019) and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for the Perth International Festival under the baton of Richard Mills AM (2023), all of which were broadcast on S4C TV and ABC Classic FM respectively.
In late 2022 Shanul toured as the lead vocalist with Eric Lévi's French new age group +eRa+ across France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg playing to a combined audience of more than 60,000. He looks forward to joining the project again in early 2025.
Shanul holds an MA in Advanced Vocal Studies from the Wales International Academy of Voice, is a winner of the 2017 ‘Canto Lirico’ and the ‘Rossini International Award’ from Pesaro, Italy. He remains as the only artist to have won both the awards in the same calendar year.
In 2019, he was awarded Broadway World Sydney’s ‘Best Performer in an Opera - Male’ for his performance as ‘The Student’ in The Ghost Sonata for Opera Australia.