Mitch Riley

Mitch Riley is a performer, theatre-maker and educator working across opera, contemporary music, theatre, clowning and movement. Originally trained as a classical singer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he later studied at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris, where he developed a practice shaped by movement, play and ensemble creation. During more than eight years in France, he also trained in clowning and puppetry, disciplines that continue to inform his work.

An early encounter with the music of György Kurtág became a defining influence, sharpening a long-held fascination with the relationship between music, gesture and theatre. Today, Mitch's work moves fluidly between singer, actor, collaborator and director, with an emphasis on contemporary performance and the creation of new work.

A long-standing collaboration with Sydney Chamber Opera has seen him perform in more than twenty productions, including world premieres by Jack Symonds, Elliott Gyger, Huw Belling, Bree van Reyk, Peggy Polias, Josephine Macken, and Michael Smetanin, alongside works by Pascal Dusapin, György Kurtág, Peter Maxwell Davies, Arnold Schoenberg, and Liza Lim. He has been praised for his "unique vocal timbre" and "astonishing physical abilities".

Beyond opera, Mitch has collaborated regularly with ensembles, theatre-makers and choreographers in Australia and Europe, including Ensemble Offspring, Australia Ensemble UNSW, Clockfire Theatre, New Old Now dance company, Francesca Bonato, Quatuor Béla, Ensemble Offrandes, Manchester Collective, and La compagnie des choses humaines. He also teaches movement, acting and musical interpretation, and lectures in Stagecraft (Acting) and French Diction at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.