Saturday, 23rd March 2024
at 8:00pm
at the
National Concert Hall, Dublin
Box Office: 01 417 0000
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Rachel Croash
Rachel Croash
Rachel Croash has appeared for Lyric Opera Ireland as Marzelline Fidelio, Musetta La Bohème, Mabel Pirates of Penzance, Valencienne The Merry Widow, ‘Puccini by Candlelight’ and most recently ’A Classical Christmas’.
A member of the inaugural Irish National Opera Studio and the Cork Opera House Cara O’Sullivan Associate Artists, Rachel’s awards include the Wexford Festival Opera Aria Friends Award and the WFO & PwC Emerging Artist Bursary.
Operatic roles include Mathilde in Guillaume Tell with Nouvel Opéra Fribourg, Blanche; Norina and Avis (Glyndebourne Festival Opera – Cover) Mathilde; Marianne; Frasquita; Clorinda; Erste Dame; Kate Pinkerton; Mademoiselle Silberklang (Irish National Opera), Mimì; Fiordiligi; Susanna; Frasquita (Cork Opera House), Elvira; Fiordiligi (Blackwatervalley Opera Festival), Ines; Serafina; Reneé; Dew Fairy; Annina (Wexford Festival Opera).
Concert Highlights include the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, City of Dublin Chamber Orchestra, Music in Great Irish Houses Festival, Music for Galway and The Metropolitan Club, New York.
Rachel has sung at Áras an Uachtaráin for The President of Ireland Michael D.Higgins and as guest soloist for the televised National Commemoration Day Service in Collins Barrracks. Rachel has appeared with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in RTÉ’s ‘Carols from Dublin Castle’ and ‘Christmas with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra’.
Soprano
José de Eça
José de Eça
José de Eça trained under the guidance of his father, the distinguished Portuguese operatic baritone and lieder singer José de Oliveira Lopes, before attending the Conservatório Superior de Música de Gaia under the guidance of Professor Fernanda Correia.
He began his professional career as a teenage baritone, with performances of Amhal and the Night Visitors, The Sound of Music, Eloise, Bundibár, Die Zauberflöte and Le nozze di Figaro.
His solo Oratorio debut, as a baritone, in Fauré’s Requiem with Círculo Portuense de Ópera (CPO), returning to the company, as a tenor, to sing Haydn’s Missa In Angustis and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle.
He has performed in recital throughout Portugal, and internationally in Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Italy, Mozambique and Spain. He made his Irish at the Wexford Festival as Capello Il bravo and Nick La fanciulla del West.
He has collaborated with several conductors and pianists, including: Helena Marinho; Paule Grimaldi; Álvaro Teixeira Lopes; Adriano Jordão; Mário Mateus; José Eduardo Gomes; Luís Costa; Ángel González; Armando Vidal; among others.
Recent engagements include: Pinkerton Madama Butterfly with Lyric Opera Ireland under the baton of Ann-Sophie Duprels.
Future engagements include: Christmas concerts for Lyric Opera Ireland in Dublin, Wexford and Cork, and his debut as Cavaradossi at Opera Holland Park.
Tenor
Eimear Harper
Eiméar Harper
Eiméar Harper is a Wicklow-born soprano with a wealth of experience performing across a range of genres. She has cultivated a love of chamber music, regularly collaborating with other musicians in duos and ensembles.
Eiméar made her debut in the role of Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with Lyric Opera Ireland. Other roles include Mary Crawford in the Irish premiere of Dove’s Mansfield Park, Cousin in Madama Butterfly and Yum-Yum in The Mikado at the National Concert Hall, as well as singing chorus in Wallace’s Lurline, with Heritage Music Productions.
As a young artist, Eiméar has given recitals at Boyne Music Festival and Boyle Arts Festival. She has also sung soprano solo in both Handel’s Messiah and Scarlatti’s St. Cecilia’s Mass. She is currently a mentee of the Sestina Music: Next Generation Mentoring Programme.
Eiméar recently graduated with first-class honours with a Master of Music (Performance) from TU Dublin Conservatoire.
Soprano
Gyula Nagy
Gyula Nagy
Gyula Nagy is a Hungarian baritone based in Ireland. He trained at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with teacher Philip O’Reilly, then at the National Opera Studio, London and he is an alumnus of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
He appeared in the title role in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria for Opera Collective Ireland, as the Gypsy in Mussorgsky’s The Fair at Sorochyntsi for Komische Oper Berlin, as Schaunard in La Bohéme for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, as Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio for Lyric Opera, Dublin.
Recently he sang Escamillo in Carmen for Opera North, made his role debut in the title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid, appeared as Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and for Lyric Opera, Dublin, sang Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut for Dorset Opera Festival, the title role of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell for Irish National Opera, Urok in Paderewski’s Manru for Opéra National de Lorraine, Alfio/Tonio in Cavalleria Rusticana/ I Pagliacci for Cambridge Philharmonic and Valentin in Gounod’s Faust for Irish National Opera.
Baritone
Gavan Ring
Gavan Ring
Dr Gavan Ring studied at the Schola Cantorum at St Finian’s College Mullingar before reading music and education at Dublin City University. The Royal Irish Academy of Music’s youngest doctoral graduate, Gavan is also an alumnus of the National Opera Studio in London.
Concert highlights include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms under Sir Simon Rattle and the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Prinzregententheater under Keri Lynn-Wilson. Recital highlights include frequent appearances at Wigmore Hall, the Oxford Lieder Festival and Ludlow English Song Festival.
Opera highlights include leading roles at Glyndebourne, Irish National Opera, La Monnaie, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Garsington Opera, Wexford Festival Opera and Opera Holland Park.
Discography includes Barry Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (Signum Classics 2021), Larchet: The Complete Songs and Airs (Champs Hill 2020), Rossini: Sigismondo (Bayerischen Rundfunks 2019), O’Dwyer: Eithne (RTÉ Lyric FM 2018), Gilbert and Sullivan: HMS Pinafore (Linn Records 2016), Offenbach: Fantasio (Opera Rara 2014) and Fleischmann: Orchestral Works (RTÉ Lyric FM 2010). Gavan is kindly supported by Howard Gatiss, the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Skellig Six 18 Distillery for whom he is also a brand ambassador, Andrew and Lucy Penny and Michael and Giancarla Alen-Buckley.
For more see www.gavanring.com
Tenor
Ami Hewitt
Ami Hewitt
Ami Hewitt is a soprano from Dublin, Ireland. Her recent roles include Elvira in ‘L’Italiana in Algeri’ (Rossini) and Lauretta in ‘Gianni Schicchi’ (Puccini) at Wexford Festival Opera, The Controller in ‘Flight’ (Dove) with Opera Collective Ireland, Sophie in Lyric Opera Ireland’s production of ‘Werther’, and Kitty in retrospect opera’s recording of Stanford’s ‘Shamus O’Brien’ with the orchestra of Scottish opera conducted by David Parry.
Ami was a top prize winner in the most recent ‘Veronica Dunne bursary for young Irish singers’ and an Irish representative in the final rounds of the Belvedere international singing competition. She was a finalist in inaugural Dutch televised competition ‘Aria’ – The Competition was in association with Dutch National Opera with the National youth Orchestra conducted by Leonard Evers.
After attaining her BMusEd degree from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s degree in vocal and opera studies from Conservatorium Maastricht, was a studio member with INO, a young artist with Wexford festival opera, and a member of the young singer’s collective with Le Foyer des Artistes.
Soprano
Shakira Tsindos
Shakira Tsindos
Australian/Cypriot Mezzo Soprano Shakira Tsindos was a 2021/2022 young artist with the National Opera Studio, an emerging artist with Oxford International Song Festival and is a Samling Artist.
Recent engagements include Mercédès Carmen for Staatsoper Hamburg & Shenzhen Opera & Dance Theatre, Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel for Opera Holland Park, Second Witch D ido and Aeneas or Waterperry Opera Festival, a tour of OPERA HIGHLIGHTS with Scottish Opera, Suzy & Lolette La Rondine for IF Opera, the title role Carmen for Opera Loki, Zerlina Don Giovanni for Merry Opera, Dorabella Cosi fan Tutte for MOF, Dorothée Cendrillon & Alisa Lucia di Lammeroor for Victorian Opera (Australia), and Agatha the Cat By the light of the Moon for Opera Australia.
On the concert platform Shakira made her Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra debut as the mezzo soprano soloist in the world premiere of Teresa Barlow Requiem 2020, Mozart Missa Brevis in D minor in Norway, Handel Messiah and Vivaldi Gloria.
Shakira’s principal work has spanned across various companies in Australia including Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, and as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. While at the National Opera Studio Shakira performed with the English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Opera North.
Shakira won the Nigel Beale First Prize at the 2021 Hurn Court Opera competition, is an award holder with: Help Musicians UK, the Tait Memorial Trust and the Australian Music Foundation. She holds a Masters of Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.
Mezzo Soprano
Marlena Devoe
Marlena Devoe
Winner of a Leonard Ingrams Award and the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award, New Zealand born Samoan soprano Marlena Devoe also won the Richard Bonynge Award and the Tait Memorial Prize. She was a 2018 Alvarez Artist at Garsington Opera at Wormsley, where she made her debut as Alice Ford Falstaff.
She attended the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto, which led to an invitation to sing Adina L’elisir d’amore at the Verbier Festival conducted by Jésus Lopez-Cobos, and her engagements have further included Anna Bolena Anna Bolena for Musica Viva Hong Kong, Mimì La bohème for Lyric Opera, Dublin, New Zealand Opera, and Oxford Opera, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi for Singapore Lyric Opera, Gilda Rigoletto for Opera Project, Violetta La traviata for Clonter Opera, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Orion Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, Messiah with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Verdi Requiem at the Snape Maltings and Classical Favourites with the Roman River Festival Orchestra.
Recent engagements have included Anna Bolena for Musicaviva in Hong Kong, First Nymph Rusalka for Garsington Opera at Wormsley (also at the Edinburgh International Festival), Purea in Tim Finn’s Star Navigator for New Zealand Opera, Pamina The Magic Flute for Oxford Opera, Melissa Princess Ida with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by John Wilson and A Night at the Opera with the Hallé conducted by Eduardo Strausser.
Soprano
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Vivian J. Coates
Vivian J. Coates
Returning from abroad having worked in most of the opera companies in the UK, Vivian Coates has spent much of his career in Ireland nurturing young Irish talent on stage and guiding them on their first professional rung of the ladder. He has presented countless fully staged operas in Ireland through his company Lyric Opera, and is recognised for the tireless work he has done in keeping core opera alive in this city.
He is privileged to work across opera and musical theatre, directing and designing in most of the main theatres in Ireland; The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, The Grand Opera House, Belfast, The National Opera House, Wexford and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Opera productions include Aida, Il Trovatore, Don Giovanni, Hansel und Gretel, I Due Foscari, La Traviata, Carmen, Nabucco, Macbeth, La Bohéme. Turandot, Suor Angelica, The Turn of the Screw, Rusalka, Cavalleria Rusticana, Madama Butterfly and Attila among others. His musical theatre credits include Annie, The Sound of Music, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof, Carousel, 9 to 5, Camelot and many more.
Mr Coates has received many international accolades for his work. In 2007 he was honoured with a Knighthood and title of Cavaliere by the Italian Government for his work in presenting Italian opera in Ireland. In 2015 he designed for The Music of Northern Ireland, which received 4 EMMY’S in the 2016 roll of honour. And his recent productions with The 2018 International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Harrogate UK played to extraordinary acclaim, garnering five star reviews in The Stage & The Daily Mail.
Recent productions include Sweeney Todd (The National Opera House), La Traviata, Pirates of Penzance and La Bohème (NCH) and Carmen (NCH).
Artistic Director
Dearbhla Collins
Dearbhla Collins
Dearbhla Collins is one of Ireland’s finest musicians. The prize winning international pianist is a regular recital partner to many renowned singers including Tara Erraught, Fatma Said and most recently Sir Simon Keenlyside and Nicky Spence. Her performances have brought her to the US, China, Japan, and many European countries. Venues she has performed in include the Wigmore Hall, London, the Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Lincoln Center, New York and Festivals including Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and Dublin International Chamber Music festival.
Dearbhla is Artistic Director of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. She is passionate about mentoring young vocal talent and is Artistic Consultant at the National Opera Studio, London. She has for many years been a vocal coach at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin and is also visiting coach to Mascarade Opera Studio, Florence and the YAP Opera Academy of the Polish National Opera, Warsaw. She has given masterclasses and workshops in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, China, in the Royal College of Music, London, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and Opera North, Leeds.
Dearbhla founded Dublin Song Series in 2013 and continues to curate it in partnership with the National Concert Hall and the Hugh Lane Gallery. The concerts in 2024 will feature the Irish debut of American baritone, Sean Michael Plumb and the return of mezzo soprano, Angela Brower. Other up coming engagements include a concert in the Opera House, Warsaw with Irish and Polish singers to mark St. Brigid’s Day and concerts in University Concert Hall, University of Limerick and Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Accompanist
Alex Norton
Alex Norton
Alex Norton is a British pianist and continuo player, who trained as a Young artist at the National Opera Studio (2023/24).
As a repetiteur recent productions include the UK premiere of Salieri’s La fiera di Venzia, the Danish premiere of Mascagni’s Zanetto, and multiple premieres with the Music Troupe.
Other highlights include various projects with the Royal Opera House’s Learning and Participation programme, English Touring Opera, and Welsh National Opera’s Cherry Town by Shostakovich, where he was a repetiteur and orchestral pianist. As a collaborative pianist Alex has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Wigmore Hall, various European venues, and made his concerto debut with the Leeds Symphony Orchestra performing Gershwin’s piano concerto.
Accompanist
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of extended scenes ** and some arias and duets
I Pagliacci
Ruggero Leoncavaallo
Si Può!Suor Angelica
Giacomo Puccini
Senza Mamma o bimba tu sei mortoMadama Butterfly**
Giacomo Puccini
Viene la seraAndrea Chénier
Umberto Giordano
Un dì, all’azzurro spazioL’elisir d’amore
Gaetano Donizetti
Chiedi all’aura lusinghiereTosca
Giacomo PucciniVisi d’arte
E lucevan le estelleRigoletto**
Giuseppe VerdiGiovanna, ho dei rimorsi… T’amo ?
Gualtier Malde… Caro nome che il mio cor
Ella mi fu rapita!…Parmi veder le lagrinme
Un di, se ben rammentomi…Bella figlia dell’amoreLa Boheme – Act 3**
Giacomo Puccini
Mimi?!Don Pasquale
Gaetano Donizetti
Tornami a dir che m’amiDue to a financially difficult year last year, this concert is a Gala Fundraising evening in order to sustain the rest of it’s 2024 / 25 season.