On August 11, 2024, Steve Davislim died at 57.

Born in 1967 in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, his father David Lim was of Chinese ancestry, and his mother Joyce Davis was Irish. The father moved to Australia, firstly to Tasmania, then to Melbourne.

He first started studying music as a horn player in brass groups and orchestras and eventually obtained his Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts. While at university he began singing and eventually sang with the Victoria State Opera for three years.

At the 1988 Melbourne Spoleto Fringe Festival, he made his debut with the Treason of Images theatre company Cavalli’s “La Calisto.” Howveer, he eventually moved away from Australia and went on to study in Europe in Italy, Greece, Germany and Switzerland.

In 1994 he became a member of the Zurich Opera and went on to perform such roles as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Achilles in Offenbach’s “La belle Hélène,” Tamino in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Ferrando in “Così fan tutte,” and Don Ottavio in “Don Giovanni.”

Davislim went on to appear at many of the great opera houses in the world including the Salzburg Festival, the Hamburg Opera, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He also performed with the Chicago Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Royal Danish Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Throughout his career, he also made numerous recordings including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, and Martinů’s “Julietta.”