New Zealand tenor Zachary McCulloch is based in Paris and is rapidly emerging as a distinctive voice in the Mozart, French, and bel canto repertoires. New Zealand Opera News has praised the richness and velvet colour of his voice, while Olyrix has singled out a timbre and technique it considers ideally suited to Mozart. Increasingly sought after as a concert and oratorio soloist, he brings the same vocal nobility and depth of characterisation to the platform as he does the stage.

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Zachary has steadily built his emerging career spanning Europe and Australasia, appearing with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Opéra de Toulon, the Festival della Valle d'Itria, State Opera South Australia, and Days Bay Opera. He has worked under the batons of Fabio Luisi, Joseph Swensen, Francesco Angelico, and Dane Lam, and alongside directors including Nicola Raab, Johannes Reitmeier, Rita Cosentino, Frédérique Lombart, Rodula Gaitanou, Julien Duval, and Matthias Goerne.

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His signature roles include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, the First Armed Man in the same opera for Opéra National de Bordeaux; Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Gualtiero in Il Pirata for Days Bay Opera; Ferrando in Così fan tutte for Festival Castel Artes; and Conte Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Opéra de Toulon. At Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, his work has included the 4th Jew in Salome and the 3rd SS Officer in Die Passagierin, a performance one critic credited with helping the production achieve its "freefall into an unfathomable abyss."

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Critics have consistently singled out the quality of his instrument and stagecraft: reviewers have described an "especially engaging stage presence," a Nadir "drawn with beautifully focused tones throughout," and a Romance "so very beautifully and sensitively phrased" that it compared favourably with celebrated recordings. His Tamino has been noted for a timbre and technique "ideally suited to Mozart," carrying "without heaviness," while his bel canto singing in Il Pirata has been described as "rich and velvety voiced."

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Alongside his operatic work, Zachary maintains an active concert and oratorio career, with performances including Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Handel's The Foundling Hospital Anthem and Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (title role of Tempo), Haydn's The Creation, Grosse Orgelsolomesse, and Kleine Orgelsolomesse, Mozart's Requiem, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Saint-Saëns' Oratorio de Noël, Bach's Coffee Cantata, and Schubert's Mass No. 6 in E minor.

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A semi-finalist at the 2023 Concorso Vincerò in Verona, Zachary was a 2026 semi-finalist at the Cesti Competition and is a competitor at the Renata Tebaldi International Singing Competition in San Marino.

 

Upcoming and recent engagements include the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in concert for Brunswick Vocal Arts in London, covering the role of Steve Wozniak in Theater Aachen's production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor for Days Bay Opera, and a return to Théâtre du Capitole for a reduced length production of Die Zauberflöte as Tamino.