Irish National Opera
VERDI
AIDA
Irish national opera principal funder
Acknowledgements The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Abbey Theatre, Flagman, Vincent Dolan of Clondalkin Youth Band, Richard McCullough, Marie Tierney, Ian Thompson, Ronan O’Reilly and all the staff at Artane School of Music, Abhann Productions, Irish Crests, The Fabric Counter, Justine Doswell, Defence Forces School of Music.
Giuseppe verdi 1813-1901
AIDA 1871
Opera in four acts Libretto by Anonio Ghislanzoni after a scenario by August Mariette First performance Cairo Opera House, 24 December 1871 First Irish performance, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 13 November 1888
Sung in Italian with English surtitles Duration 3 hours including one 20-minute interval after Act II The performance on Thursday 29 November will be recorded by RTÉ lyric fm for future transmission.
PERFORMANCES 2018 Saturday 24 November Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin Tuesday 27 November Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin Thursday 29 November Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin Saturday 01 December Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin
In association with Bord Gáis Energy Theatre In partnership with RTÉ Concert Orchestra
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Irish National Opera coming up in
2019
irishnationalopera.ie
Dennehy & WALSH
GLUCK
Orfeo ed Euridice THURSDAY 7 FEBRUARY – SATURDAY 2 MARCH
Puccini
The Second Violinist
madama butterfly
THURSDAY 7 & SATURDAY 9 MARCH
SUNDAY 24 MARCH – FRIDAY 5 APRIL
mozart
Rigaki & Okorie
the magic flute
this hostel life
FRIDAY 17 – SATURDAY 25 MAY
THURSDAY 27 & SATURDAY 29 JUNE
Welcome Note
Fergus Sheil Artistic director
Aida is an opera that’s larger than life. The roles demand singers of extraordinary ability. The major choral scenes require a large chorus. There’s ballet music which adds in dancers. And as well as a full orchestra in the pit, there’s an off stage band and onstage trumpets. Yet, when I think about Aida, it’s the emotional canvas that I find most monumental of all. There is no opera I can think of where the passions are so extreme, the emotions are so intensely wrought and where the stakes are so high. For Radamès, it’s the choice between love and loyalty. For Aida, it’s the irreconcilable demands of her country and her love. For Amneris it’s a harrowing descent brought on by emotional rejection. For Amonasro it’s the desperation of being the ruler of a country who finds himself ensnared under enemy control. The force of these conflicts creates an explosive cocktail of emotion that keeps audiences gripped from start to finish. Despite the opera’s remote setting in ancient Egypt – the setting was a requirement of the commission Verdi received to write the work – many of the themes still resonate today. There are geopolitical issues of empire, domination and the use of force which are unfortunately still with us. Our daily lives still exposes us to the more personal challenges – love or rejection, loyalty or betrayal, transparency or manipulation. In the weeks and months we have spent preparing this production, I’ve continually been struck by the contemporary relevance of the themes in this opera. Along the way, of course, we have some of the best music the mature Verdi ever wrote. There is the show-stopping declaration of love, Celeste Aida, just at the start of the opera. The heart-breaking O patria mia where Aida believes she will never see her native country again. And of course the triumphal march in the finale of Act Two.
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Irish National Opera
puccini
madama butterfly Sunday 24 – Saturday 30 March
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Tickets €15, €45, €50, €60, €69.50, €75, €95 0818 719 377 | bordgaisenergytheatre.ie
Starring Celine Byrne
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irishnationalopera.ie
Aida is the final production of our first year at Irish National Opera. It’s a chance to do something on a large canvas here at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. It’s an opportunity to showcase two exceptional Irish artists, Orla Boylan and Imelda Drumm, alongside outstanding international guests Gwyn Hughes Jones, Ivan Inverardi, Manfred Hemm and Graeme Danby. Our chorus of sixty singers includes many that have appeared with us throughout the year, as well as singers from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, several of whom are making their professional operatic debuts in this production. Welcome to the INO family! There is a whole army of others who have worked ceaselessly to bring you this production of Aida: our creative team, dancers, stage management, costume, wigs and make-up departments, set builders, lighting and technical operators as well as our administration staff. Their great dedication has helped to make a production of which we can all be proud. Tonight, for the second time this year, I’m particularly pleased to work with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, who, largely unseen in the pit, provide the Verdian heartbeat that keeps the entire show in motion from start to finish. 2018 has been a big year for all of us at Irish National Opera. With the support of our core funder The Arts Council we have begun producing work of a scale, ambition and diversity unique in Ireland today. We have harnessed a new energy within the opera sector. We have found new audiences and new supporters. There’s a lot more to do in the years ahead. But for now let’s sit back and enjoy tonight’s production. Fergus Sheil Artistic director
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Ritorna vincitor!
Diego Fasciati Executive Director
The rallying call “return victorious!” which sends Radamès off to war is a phrase that sometimes comes to mind when we start rehearsals for a new production. After months and often years of planning, it all comes down to the individuals in the team we have assembled. Off they go into the rehearsal room and we are forced to wait until they re-emerge victorious with a splendid new production. Our artists have certainly been delivering the goods throughout our first year of operation. Each of our productions was born out of the struggle between artistic imagination and real-world constraints and delivered performances of the highest operatic standards. In my view, and I hope you concur, each of this year’s operas had its own unique and unforgettable qualities. Whether you enjoyed the intricate and sometimes explosive nature of Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face, the suppleness and humour of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro or the seductive darkness of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, to mention but three of our eight productions in 2018, the year was varied and exciting, even at times startling – in the best possible way. We close with a masterpiece of 19th-century Italian opera. Aida has all the elements of grand opera: unforgettable melodies, rousing marches, epic choruses, dancing and doomed lovers. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, Verdi weaves all of these elements into one cohesive work of art. At all times, the grandeur of this work serves the intimate narrative that is its core – the story of three people caught in a love triangle and about to be crushed by the juggernaut of power, politics and religion.
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In many ways, our Aida epitomises our raison d’être. We have assembled a first-rate team of Irish and international artists to create an original production of a classic opera. The pivotal roles of the rivals Aida and Amneris are sung by Orla Boylan and Imelda Drumm – two remarkable and accomplished Irish opera singers. They are joined by guest artists from Wales, England, Austria and Italy. It’s no accident that Irish National Opera features so many Irish singers. The company came into being at a time when the nation is experiencing a veritable golden age for Irish singing. It would be a shame if the Irish singers whose work can by enjoyed at the Met in New York, the Salzburg Festival, and in the leading opera houses in Vienna, Berlin, Zurich and Amsterdam (the list goes on) were not to be heard in first-class productions for Irish audiences here at home. We have an eye to the future, too, and engage in the development and nurturing of emerging artists through our INO Opera Studio and other initiatives. As you sow, so shall you reap. We take our hats off to the many Irish opera singers who set off into the challenging world of international opera. And we are delighted and thankful that so many are returning victorious.
Diego Fasciati Executive Director
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Irish National Opera
Last chance to shape Irish opera history Join INO’s Founders Circle now “ Irish National Opera are making a powerful impact on the Irish cultural scene, selling out performances and gaining deserved plaudits from all corners.” The Journal of Music
We launched Irish National Opera last January with a sold-out concert featuring some of Ireland’s greatest opera singers. Since then we have produced opera of a scale, ambition and diversity unique in Ireland today. We take the work of Irish opera creators abroad – London this year, Amsterdam next year – as well as celebrate it at home. Make a one-off contribution of €1,000 before the end of December to become a member of Irish National Opera’s Founders Circle and have your name associated in perpetuity with the founding of the company. You can gift membership to a friend or loved one or, if you prefer, you can join anonymously. Contact Sarah Freeman on 01–679 4962 or send an email to sarah.freeman@irishnationalopera.ie Full details on irishnationalopera.ie 10
Founders Circle Norbert & Margaret Bannon
M Hely Hutchinson
Ann Nolan & Paul Burns
Valerie Beatty & Dennis Jennings
Gemma Hussey
F.X. & Pat O’Brien
Kathy Hutton & David McGrath
James & Sylvia O’Connor
Nuala Johnson
John & Viola O’Connor
Susan Kiely
Dr J R O’Donnell
Timothy King & Mary Canning
Diarmuid O’Dwyer
J. & N. Kingston
Patricia O’Hara
Kate & Ross Kingston
Annmaree O’Keeffe & Chris Greene
Mark & Nicola Beddy Mary Brennan Angie Brown Jennifer Caldwell Seán Caldwell & Richard Caldwell Audrey Conlon
Silvia and Jay Krehbiel
Gerardine Connolly
Landmark Productions
Jackie Connolly
Karlin Lillington & Chris Horn
Sarah Daniel
Stella Litchfield
Maureen de Forge
Jane Loughman
Doreen Delahunty & Michael Moriarty
Rev Bernárd Lynch & Billy Desmond
Kate Donaghy
Lyndon MacCann S.C.
Fergus Sheil Sr.
Marcus Dowling
Phyllis Mac Namara
Yvonne Shields
Mareta & Conor Doyle
Tony & Joan Manning
Gaby Smyth
Michael Duggan
R. John McBratney
Matthew Patrick Smyth
Catherine & William Earley
Ruth McCarthy, in memoriam Niall & Barbara McCarthy
Bruce Stanley
Jim & Moira Flavin Ian & Jean Flitcroft Maire & Maurice Foley Roy & Aisling Foster Genesis Diarmuid Hegarty
Petria McDonnell Jim McKiernan Jean Moorhead Sara Moorhead Joe & Mary Murphy
Margaret Quigley Patricia Reilly Riverdream Productions Dr Frances Ruane Catherine Santoro Dermot & Sue Scott
Sara Stewart Julian & Beryl Stracey The Wagner Society of Ireland Brian Walsh & Barry Doocey And those who wish to remain anonymous.
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Director’s Note Aida, like many of opera’s most loved titles, has never been absent from the repertoire. Through repeated performance in highly varied contexts, popular favourites can accrete layer upon layer of unwarranted baggage. The gut wrenching brilliance of Puccini’s La bohème, for instance. Or the celebrated grandeur that’s so movingly allied to intimate personal relationships in Aida. It’s as if the genius that inspired those works gets shrouded and, as the decades roll by, they become something other than what their authors Michael intended. They can become a depository of casualness in productions that Barker-Caven Director take them for granted. Lazy readings of their surface shimmer abound and fix them ever deeper in a form of creative aspic – always served up à la carte but never quite persuasive as the main banquet. Aida’s particular problem comes with the unique promise of its setting. Following Napoleon’s rediscovery of Egypt’s buried glories, the 19th century witnessed a veritable cross-continent outburst of Egypt-mania. Europeans could simply not get enough of mummies, pyramids and sand blasted obelisks, and went as far as uprooting many of them to be transported and re-erected in the heart of their own capitals. With this mania, however came a perverse and grotesquely bloated cultural imposition that combined awe with a sneaking distaste and a secret titillation for the unknown ‘other’. Despite the sensational scale of the wonders dredged up from the wreckage of history, the Egyptians were still savages after all! The irony that the real savagery might be emanating from London, Paris and Berlin was always lost upon the mercantile interventionists who had imperial imposition and boat-laden booty in mind whenever they sailed off to ‘civilise’. I don’t think this harsh 19th-century reality was lost on Verdi. After all, closer to home, his own people were still in the midst of what would be four brutal wars of independence as they sought to claim back their country from the claws of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Viva Verdi! was a slogan that secretly championed the Italian King in waiting Victor Emmanuel as well as the people’s composer – the letters of the composer’s name were taken to stand for Vittorio Emanuele Re d’Italia, and composer and king-to-be could be praised at the same time. The slogan was daubed on piazzas and palaces across the land as the populace, inspired by Verdi’s musical nationalism, bravely fought to rid themselves of the yoke of an ancient, more powerful imperial adversary.
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Verdi clearly wasn’t actually that interested in ancient Egypt. His few writings on the matter reveal a quiet disdain – not for the culture, but for the very idea of grand empire that Egypt appeared to inspire in its latter-day conquerors. So he set out to write an opera – a grand opera – that would, in the guise of a eulogy for this empire of empires, also implicitly critique the very thing it appeared to celebrate. Opera was a dangerous craft back then. Revolutions could be sparked and heads could roll. So, while he was circumspect he was also at the same time surprisingly overt. ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ is a key esoteric maxim and Aida is exactly that. Over three-quarters of the score is given over to a love triangle in which blind subservience to an overweening power centre is pitted against personal responsibility and – yes! – honour, truth and love. Unfortunately most modern productions ignore this fact, and bloat the stage with a grotesque parody of pseudo-Egyptian memorabilia, pitting taste and good sense in a losing battle with inanity. Too often Verdi’s Aida – both character and opera – gets lost along the way. For me this opera is more relevant now than ever. All empires are the same in their greed, arrogance and gift for destructivity. Today’s US-dominated West is no different, though its propaganda is, sadly, highly effective. But like all others before it, it will fall as surely as the sands will continue to blow eternally across the desert hills. Hubris was what the Greeks called it – a defiance of the sacred ways of the universe where objective truth rules above all else. Truth eventually catches up with all those who, like Shelley’s Ozymandias, foolishly believe they can outrun the sands of time. Aida, her father Amonasro (surely modelled on the great Italian freedom fighter Garibaldi) and the brave Ethiopians (a small, outnumbered, out-resourced people who are ‘rumoured’ to have attacked the slumbering beast: now where have we heard that before!?) are Verdi’s true heroes. They stand against the vast edifice of implacable power and resolutely proclaim ‘we will not give way, whatever the cost’. It’s a painful, tear-soaked path that is often filled with doubt and confusion. But it is a path of true nobility and courage, one that even the loyal Radamès eventually chooses over a lifetime lived as a lie. The readiness to face impossible odds and the refusal to yield is in itself an important victory. The trumpets may blast forth their bombastic barrage. But as long as love and truth live on in the human spirit, we shall prevail some day. Viva Verdi!
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synopsis The opera’s three central characters, Aida, Radamès and Amneris, have complex personal and political bonds in a state where military power is subject to control by the priesthood. Their relationships blend a sleeping with the enemy scenario and a classic love triangle, with an outcome that shows how an individual’s failure to conform can threaten the entire edifice of the state.
Act I The Egyptian general, Radamès, hears
from the High Priest, Ramfis, that the Goddess Isis has named the man to lead the country’s army against the Ethiopians. Radamès hopes to be that new leader, and that his military victory will impress Aida, with whom he is in love. Aida, who reciprocates his love, is a slave who was captured in war and, unbeknownst to any of her captors, is the daughter of the Ethiopian King, Amonasro. The fly in the ointment is the Egyptian princess Amneris. She is also in love with Radamès – but secretly – and is astute enough to suspect that Aida is her rival. She reads the truth in a look on Radamès’s face. News arrives of a fresh attack by the Ethiopians with Amonasro leading the invasion. The King of Egypt names Radamès as the commander of the army. In the middle of the Egyptians’
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surge of patriotic feeling Aida finds her conflict encapsulated in the collective war-cry, Ritorna vincitor! (Return victorious!). Radamès goes to the temple for ritual benediction, to be consecrated for war.
Act II Amneris is preparing herself for the
victorious return of the Egyptian army. Alone with Aida, she adopts a friendly pose and deceives Aida into believing Radamès has been killed in battle. When she’s confronted with that, Aida breaks down. It’s the final straw. The one thing that kept her alive, her love for an enemy general, has been torn from her. Once Amneris knows she’s right, she reveals her determination to crush Aida. Radamès is lionised on his return – the music includes the famous Triumphal March and a ballet. When the Ethiopian prisoners are paraded Aida recognises her father Amonasro, disguised as an officer. Amonasro spins a tale about his own death and seeks clemency for the captured Ethiopians. The priests want blood, the King and the crowd are sympathetic. In the face of Aida’s obvious distress Radamès adds his voice to ensure the success of the plea. Only Amonasro and Aida will continue to be held. The Egyptian king rewards Radamès with the hand of Amneris, and the celebrations continue.
Act III It is the night before the marriage of
Radamès and Amneris, and Amneris is praying for his love. Aida is distraught at the thought of never seeing her homeland again. She plans to meet Radamès but before they meet her father uses all his influence to get her to extract military plans from the Egyptian’s new hero. Amonasro hides and hears her do his bidding. When Radamès realises how he has been duped he is racked with shame and guilt. Amneris reappears with the high priest Ramfis and Amonasro attacks her. Radamès defends her, but, having done so, as Aida and her father escape, he surrenders.
Act IV Aida is still on the loose, although
her father was killed. Radamès is in his cell awaiting his fate, which is to be buried alive. Amneris wants to intervene on his behalf, on the condition that he renounce Aida. He declares himself ready to die rather than do that. He will not defend himself at his trial. Amneris has a change of heart, finds a new love for Radamès as the sentence is announced and she confronts the fatal outcome of her jealousy. Radamès is entombed, but he is not alone. Aida anticipated his fate and hid in the darkness. As the religious rituals are played out Aida and Radamès dream of the joy of an eternal reunion and Amneris prays for peace for Radamès. The lovers die in each other’s arms.
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CAST Aida
Orla Boylan
Soprano
Radamès
Gwyn Hughes Jones
Tenor
Amneris
Imelda Drumm
Mezzo-soprano
Amonasro
Ivan Inverardi
Baritone
Ramfis
Manfred Hemm
Bass
King of Egypt
Graeme Danby
Bass
High Priestess
Rachel Goode
Soprano
Messenger
Conor Breen
Tenor
Creative Team
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Conductor
Fergus Sheil
Director
Michael Barker-Caven
Set & Costume Designer
Joe Van k
Lighting Designer
Paul Keogan
Choreographer
Liz Roche
Assistant Conductor & Chorus Director
Sinead Hayes
Assistant Director
Davey Kelleher
Assistant Director
Sarah Baxter
Répétiteur
Aoife O’Sullivan
Assistant Répétiteur
Rebecca Warren
Irish national opera Chorus Soprano Lorna Breen
Tenor
Conor Breen
Bass
Robbie Blake
Ciarán Crangle
Adam Cahill
Susie Gibbons
Morgan Crowley
Desmond Capliss
Rachel Goode
Fearghal Curtis
David Corr
Ami Hewitt
Matthew Day
Amy Conneely
Ben Escorcio
Corina Ignat
Conor Gibbons
Lewis Dillon
Kelley Lonergan
Keith Kearns
Robert Duff
Maria Matthews
Philip Keegan
Rory Dunne
Maria McGrann
Jack Kinkead
Joseph Lalor
Muireann Mulrooney
Berus Komarschela
Cormac Lawlor
Luis Magallanes
Jakob Mahese
Lauren Scully
Shane McCormick
Robert McAllister
John McKeown
Kevin Neville
Mezzo Molly Adams-Toomey
Oisín Ó Dálaigh
Fionn Ó hAlmhain
Peter O’Reilly
Lorcan O’Byrne
Margaret Bridge
Tommy Redmond
Vladimir Sima
Tim Shaffrey
Ian Whyte
Amy Ní Fhearraigh
Rheanne Breen Dawn Burns
Madeline Judge
Aaron O’Hare Andrew Wenner
Sarah Kilcoyne
Bríd Ní Ghruagáin
Dancer Liv O’Donoghue
Martha O’Brien
Jack Webb
Carla Snow
Justine Cooper
Rachel Spratt
Niamh St John
Mari Woulfe 19
rtÉ Concert ORCHESTRA First Violins Mia Cooper (Leader) Bróna Cahill Ștefana Ivan-Roncea Eileen Comer Sébastien Petiet Hugh Murray István Barnácz Tadhg Murphy Matthew Wylie Natalie Box Second Violins Elizabeth Leonard Anne Phelan Carol Quigley Siúbhán Ní Ghríofa Camille Farrar Katie O’Connor Christine Kenny Síofra Grant Violas Lisanne Melchior Elizabeth O’Neill David Kenny Margaret Lynch Anthony Mulholland Carla Vedres
Cellos Yue Tang Margaret Doris Delia Lynch Sokol Koka Aoife Burke Yseult Cooper Stockdale Double Basses Seamus Doyle Liam Wylie Caimin Gilmore Bryan Quigley Flutes Deirdre Brady Naoise Ó Briain Marie Comiskey Oboes Suzie Thorn Jenny Magee Cor Anglais David Agnew Clarinets Michael Seaver Patrick Burke Bass Clarinet Seamus Wylie
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INO offstage band Bassoons John Leonard Ian Forbes Horns Cormac Ó hAodáin Declan McCarthy Fearghal Ó Ceallacháin Andre Cavanagh Trumpets Shaun Hooke Eamonn Nolan Trombones Stephen Mathieson Michael Marshall Bass Trombone Christopher Nery Cimbasso Adrian Miotti Timpani Oliver Taylor Percussion Stephen Kelly Noel Eccles Diarmaid Frain Harp Geraldine O’Doherty
Offstage Trumpet William Palmer Eoghan Cooke Julia Gåsvaer Martin Smutny John Kerr Frank Duff Offstage Trombone Karl Ronan Niall Kelly Paul Frost Offstage Tuba Gavin Warren Offstage Harp Fiona Gryson
Production Team Production Manager Peter Jordan Company Stage Manager Paula Tierney Stage Manager Conleth Stanley Assistant Stage Managers Aaron Kennedy Steph Ryan Technical Stage Manager Danny Hones Master Carpenter Peter Boyle Stage technicians Vincent Doherty Katya Solomatina Video Designer Aaron Kelly Chief LX Pip Walsh LX Programmer Eoin McNinch Production Electrician Donal McNinch
Lighting Technicians Líadan Ní Chearbhaill Sarah Jane Williams Emma Russell Simon Burke Head of Costume Monica Ennis Costume Supervisor Sinead Lawlor Costume Department Raziana Nojib Veronika Romanova Yvane Bude Yvonne Carry Sean Jackson Ciara Fleming Frances White Laura Fajardo Stefania Elettra Pantavos Florentina Burcea Becky Gygax Tailors Denis Darcy Gillian Carew Denise Assas Wigs & Makeup Supervisor Carole Dunne
Wigs & Makeup Assistants Paula Meliàn Tee Eliot Set Construction Theatre Production Services Props Supervisor Eimer Murphy
Additional Thanks to Transport Trevor Price Odie Sherwin
Graphic Design Alphabet Soup Photography Patrick Redmond Shane McCarthy
Promotional Video Gansee Films Programme edited by Michael Dervan
by kind permission of the Abbey Theatre
Scenic Artist Sandra Butler Armourer Paddy Condren Fire Effects Black Powder Monkey Gavin Morgan Rigging Irish Rigging Services Crewing Event Services Ireland Lighting Provider Production Services Ireland Video Hire Stage Sound Services Surtitle Operator Maeve Sheil
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being or WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE FIRST OPERA YOU WENT TO? I was brought to see Suzanne Murphy in Verdi’s La traviata in what was her final Traviata at the Gaiety. There was a bench in the centre of the stage and she was in a black shimmery dress. That could be complete rubbish. But as a child that’s what I remembered. I was used to going to the Gaiety to see pantomimes. This was something completely different. There was no “Oh yes you are. Oh no I’m not.” I had to be quiet. I do remember this beauty in the middle of the stage. I think my grandmother came. She was the one in the family who brought children to the opera when my mother was a child. I was probably slightly perplexed. I remember that image of her. But I don’t remember the music. This is going to sound awful. But the next opera I heard was probably one that I was in. That’s going to sound very strange. The very first time I actually listened to an opera was when I was in one.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM YOUR FIRST APPEARANCE ON AN OPERA STAGE? I remember the man who was playing my husband, the Conte di Ceprano. I was playing Giovanna, the Contessa di Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto. It was the very first time I walked on to an opera stage and I had already been programmed to sing Fiordiligi – Mozart’s Così fan tutte would be my second production.
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orla BOYLan It was out in Italy, we were in Como. I was about 25. A baptism of fire. I’d won a competition, and I was off to Milan for two years, to an opera studio. Which actually turned out not to be a studio. It was basically groups of young singers who were brought in according to the programme they had scheduled for that season and we did tours of that production. The competition was called AsLiCo [Associazione Lirica Concertistica Italiana] and I won it along with four or five other people, I being the only Irish person. A year before that I had been sitting in the lab [she had been studying for a PhD in electronmicroscopy in botany]. It was in an old theatre in Como. We had rehearsed in Milan. I remember thinking all the Italian people were so beautiful and so beautifully dressed, and I had not really got there yet. I was still in jeans, with glasses, short hair and sweat shirts. It had never dawned on me that I had to dress a certain way. All these little Italians were around, and I knew I was going to have to have a partner. I thought, he could be so small! In walked this huge guy, he was about six foot ten, Lorenzo Muzi was his name, I think. He was playing my husband. I looked at him and thought, Thank God! He was fantastic. And we looked great together. I had these beautiful costumes which had been brought from La Scala. I had never worn a wig before. I remember being backstage, looking at the monitors, watching it all, as if I wasn’t part of it. I was in there, but at the
same time I was an outsider. It was great. There was no fear, because it wasn’t really me, yet. I hadn’t quite decided that this was actually me. I loved being on the stage. I loved being allowed to express stuff, even in small little roles. Because I was such a weird addition to their group – Irish, didn’t speak Italian. I must have had a lovely naivety and an innocence. I was always smiling. I didn’t know what people had said, but I was going to behave as if it was really interesting and pretend I understood. So I’d smile. I remember sitting around a table for four hours listening to someone talking about Rigoletto in Italian, and I didn’t understand a single word! I thought I can sit here and cry or laugh. The homesickness was appalling, I felt so different to everybody else. I’d walked in one door into a lab, and out another door onto an opera stage. It was really odd.
WHAT WAS THE BEST OPERA OR SINGING ADVICE YOU EVER GOT? I could probably take a few things and bring them together under the one heading. That would be, go back to nature. Forget everything that people say about technique. When you’re going through hard times you can begin to try and falsify technique. You think, I’ll try to form a sound this way, because it might be easier. But what you have to do is clear the decks again, and go back to nature. Relax. Go back to your primal sound. And build it again from there.
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That has over the years been something that was reiterated by various people in various ways. They all have their different methods. But you realise it all comes back to the same thing. The teacher who I’m with the most, Janice Chapman, says it sometimes comes back to the groan, as if you’re going to be sick. [She makes a letting it all hang out type of sound.] That immediately conjures up a feeling in your core. There was a man in Kiel in Germany, where I was singing Senta in Wagner’s Flying Dutchman. I had already sung her once. I was always told it was a difficult role. That it wasn’t written very well for the voice. I thought, if you can sing it, you can do it. I had sung her already, and I was engaged to sing her again. So I assumed they liked me and thought I’m going to bring what I bring to this new production. He said, I would like to work with you. I stood back, I had a slight bit of arrogance in me, and thought, Hmmmm? I knew my first Senta wasn’t the best, because it was bloody damn hard. So I said yes. You’re not going to say no to the boss of the opera – he was the artistic director and he was also a coach. He kept getting up from the piano and pushing me back to that primal sound, again and again. And I suddenly realised, I could sing this really well. I don’t want to make it sound as if it’s simple. But the basic premise is simple. There’s a whole new science coming out. It’s coming from speech therapists. Speech
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therapists are now working with ENTs [ear, nose and throat specialists] and voice coaches. They have found this primal sound can be used in helping people who have lost their voice to speak again. It’s back to the simplest of things – breathing exercises and putting sounds on them. I use this method all the time. It’s called the accent method. It’s a strange word to put on it. But it’s basically just getting that natural feeling going again. The fact that it can help people who’ve lost the power of speech is really quite remarkable.
WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING MISCONCEPTION ABOUT OPERA? The word diva. I can’t stand it. There might have been divas once, and there might still be some around. But the job is too hard to be a diva. I think it takes enough energy to just do the job, to get by, to get along with people. Being a diva is ridiculous. We’re all ordinary people. Opera singers now are being churned out on conveyor belts. In the States they’re just one after the other. There are so many people wanting to be opera singers, now. I would say I’m of a previous generation. I now am. I can’t believe that I am. But I’m of that generation between the Suzanne Murphys and the next one, the Taras [Tara Erraught]. I am in that kind of place in the middle. It wasn’t really that popular, you know. There was no such thing as Andrea Bocelli, that notion of popularising
opera when I came into it. In those days diva was part of the image, part of the business. We’re working people now. We have to carry luggage. We’ve to get on trains. We get bad backs. We get colds. We’ve nobody looking after us. We are part of a working industry. There’s no room to be a diva.
WHAT MOMENT DO YOU MOST LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN YOU GO TO A PERFORMANCE OF AIDA? The ensembles. It’s the most rousing thing. When you have a big chorus, that’s the thing I most look forward to. I get goose-bumps when I’m standing with them as well as when I’m listening.
WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF AIDA? Keeping calm, knowing what’s ahead. Keeping within your own limits. Because with those big forces and sounds around you it’s very easy to give too much. I can’t hear myself. But I know what’s coming out is much bigger than what I hear. The thing is not to follow what you hear. When you’re singing with a chorus behind you it’s very hard to feel how much you’re giving. It’s to give a measured dose, so that you can get to the end. There’s no end to singing Aida. She’s just one difficult bit after the next, after the next.
WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF MAINTAINING A CAREER AS A SINGER? It changes over time. For me, at the moment, the most difficult thing is to be your own promoter. That’s the way the business has gone, I feel. Everybody is so well up on social media, they know how to self-promote, they have the right stuff on Twitter, on Instagram. Each time has its own difficulty. And at the moment that’s my great difficulty. I find it an appalling thing to be trying to do, to put photographs of myself up on Twitter or Instagram. I just hate it. You either have it in you or you don’t.
IF YOU WEREN’T AN OPERA SINGER, WHAT MIGHT YOU HAVE BECOME? I love cooking. I love DIY. I love gardening. I love teaching, although I don’t teach. But I want to teach. People are always saying, you should open a restaurant. My favourite pastime is to cook. My second favourite pastime is to do the garden. I love animals. I wouldn’t have been a vet, though, because I would cry all the time. It would be something very sociable, I think. Who knows? You asked “might have been”. I might have been a mother... In CONVERSATION with Michael Dervan
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Irish National Opera
to Come in 2019 February Thursday 7 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Civic Theatre Tallaght Friday 8 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Civic Theatre Tallaght Sunday 10 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice St. Peter’s Church Of Ireland Drogheda Tuesday 12 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Mermaid Arts Centre Bray Thursday 14 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Theatre Royal Waterford Saturday 16 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Visual Carlow Theatre Carlow Sunday 17 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Castletown House Celbridge Tuesday 19 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Everyman Cork Thursday 21 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Glór Ennis Saturday 23 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Siamsa Tíre Tralee Wednesday 27 February Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire
MArch Saturday 2 March Gluck Orfeo Ed Euridice National Opera House Wexford Thursday 7 March Dennehy & Walsh The Second Violinist Muziekgebouw Aan ‘T Ij Amsterdam Saturday 9 March Dennehy & Walsh The Second Violinist Muziekgebouw Aan ‘T Ij Amsterdam Sunday 24 March Puccini Madama Butterfly Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin Tuesday 26 March Puccini Madama Butterfly Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin Thursday 28 March Puccini Madama Butterfly Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin Saturday 30 March Puccini Madama Butterfly Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin
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April Thursday 4 April Puccini Madama Butterfly Cork Opera House Cork Friday 5 April Puccini Madama Butterfly Cork Opera House Cork
MAy Friday 17 May Mozart The Magic Flute National Opera House Wexford Sunday 19 May Mozart The Magic Flute University Concert Hall Limerick Tuesday 21 May Mozart The Magic Flute Gaiety Theatre Dublin Wednesday 22 May Mozart The Magic Flute Gaiety Theatre Dublin Thursday 23 May Mozart The Magic Flute Gaiety Theatre Dublin Friday 24 May Mozart The Magic Flute Gaiety Theatre Dublin Saturday 25 May Mozart The Magic Flute Gaiety Theatre Dublin
June Thursday 27 June Rigaki & Okorie This Hostel Life Christ Church Cathedral Dublin Saturday 29 June Rigaki & Okorie This Hostel Life Christ Church Cathedral Dublin
To book tickets and to find out more see irishnationalopera.ie 27
BIOGRAPHIES
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Fergus Sheil Conductor
Michael Barker-Caven Director
Fergus has worked for all major Irish opera companies and has conducted a wide-ranging repertoire of 34 different operas. Highlights include Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, John Adams’s Nixon in China, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Wide Open Opera), Mozart’s Don Giovanni and, in 2017, the first modern performance of Robert O’Dwyer’s Irishlanguage opera, Eithne (Opera Theatre Company). In the orchestral field he has appeared with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra and many other orchestras at home and abroad. He has toured the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra throughout Ireland in Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. As a choral conductor he has worked with the State Choir Latvija (giving the world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry) and the BBC Singers. Internationally he has fulfilled engagements in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, the UK, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Malta and Estonia. Fergus is the founding artistic director of Irish National Opera. Previously he led both Wide Open Opera (which he founded in 2012) and Opera Theatre Company. Since 2011 he has been responsible for the production of 30 different operas, which have been seen around Ireland as well as internationally in London, Edinburgh, New York and Luxembourg.
Michael is a six times nominated and four times winner, Best Opera Production director, at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. Previous opera work includes: Puccini’s Suor Angelica/Il tabarro (Opera North); Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Wide Open Opera); Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz (Danish National Opera); Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Irish Youth Opera); Marschner’s Der Vampyr (Everyman/ Cork Operatic Society); Puccini’s La bohème (Opera North); Britten’s Albert Herring (Mid Wales Opera); Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (Everyman/Cork Operatic Society); Cherubini’s Medea (Glimmerglass, New York); Linley/Sheridan’s The Duenna (English Touring Opera/Royal Opera House), and Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur and Conrad Susa’s Transformations (Wexford Festival Opera). Musical theatre includes The Bloody Irish! (PBS TV, USA); Anglo, the Musical (Bord Gáis Energy Theatre). Theatre includes Shadowlands (Wyndhams & Novello Theatres, West End); Little Women, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Play, Old Times, The Shape of Things, Thérèse Raquin (The Gate); Conservatory, Richard II (The Abbey); Miss Julie, Blackbird, The Secret Garden, The Goat, Skylight (Landmark Productions); Amadeus, Tales from Ovid, Macbeth, Richard III, Mutabilitie, Anna Karenina, Troilus & Cressida, Venus & Adonis, (Theatreworks); Best Man (Everyman / Project). Michael has four further nominations for his work in theatre at the Irish Theatre Awards. He is currently artistic director of The Civic Theatre, Tallaght. Previously, he was artistic director of the Everyman, Cork and of The Theatreworks Company.
Joe Van k Set & Costume Designer
Paul Keogan Lighting Designer
Joe has designed extensively for opera in Ireland, the UK, Europe and America. Major companies in Ireland have included Opera Theatre Company, Opera Ireland, Wexford Festival Opera (where he was design associate from 2006 to 2008), Cork Opera House and Opera Collective Ireland. In the UK he has designed for Welsh National Opera (Verdi’s Rigoletto), Opera North (Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Dukas’s Ariane and Bluebeard), English National Opera (Puccini’s Il trittico) and Buxton International Festival (Lortzing’s The Poacher). Further afield he has designed for the Royal Danish Opera (Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges and Gluck’s La contesa dei numi), Opera Zuid in the Netherlands ( The Makropulos Case), New Israeli Opera (Donizetti’s Don Pasquale) and the Glimmerglass Festival in the USA (Cherubini’s Medea). He first designed for Wexford in 1987 and his work there has included Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery (1989), Conrad Susa’s Transformations (2006), Rusalka (2007) and Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur (2008). Both Transformations and The Mines of Sulphur won Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for best opera production. Significant operas for Opera Ireland included Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (2000) and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie (2001) for which he won an Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for best costume design. He was also nominated for best set design for the Opera Theatre Company production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo (2012).
Paul Keogan’s opera credits include Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Irish National Opera), Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses (Opera Collective Ireland), Verdi’s Falstaff (Vienna State Opera), Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Korea National Opera), Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires (Cork Opera House), Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Samson et Dalila (Grange Park Opera), Klaas de Vries’s Wake (Nationale Reisopera, Netherlands), Massenet’s Thérèse and La Navarraise, Foroni’s Cristina, regina di Svezia and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Snegurochka (Wexford Festival Opera), The Makropulos Case (Opera Zuid, Netherlands), Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie and Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking (Opera Ireland). His theatre and dance designs include De Profundis and Lady Windermere’s Fan (Vaudeville Theatre, London), The Plough and The Stars (Lyric Hammersmith/Abbey Theatre Dublin), Postcards from the Ledge (Landmark Productions), Katie Roche, Cyprus Avenue, Our Few and Evil Days, The Risen People and Drum Belly (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Hamlet, The Snapper, The Red Shoes, The Birds, Performances, Molly Sweeney (Gate Theatre, Dublin), The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic), The Gaul (Hull Truck), The Miser (Garrick Theatre, London), Tribes (Crucible, Sheffield), Double Cross, Here Comes the Night (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), A Streetcar Named Desire (Liverpool Playhouse), Far Away (Corcadorca Theatre Company), Big Maggie (Druid, Galway), No Man’s Land (English National Ballet), Cassandra and Hansel and Gretel (Royal Ballet) and Flight (Rambert).
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Liz Roche Choreographer Liz is artistic director and choreographer of Dublin-based contemporary dance company Liz Roche Company, currently company-in-residence at Dublin Dance Festival and the Civic Theatre, Tallaght. The company has produced and toured over 20 of her works, performing throughout Ireland and internationally at venues and festivals including the Baryshnikov Arts Centre, New York, South Bank Centre, London, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Meet in Beijing Festival and Powerhouse Brisbane. She has been commissioned to make new work by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin Dance Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Goethe-Institut Irland, Cork Opera House, An Post/GPO, National Ballet of China, Maiden Voyage, Croí Glan, CoisCéim, and Dance Theatre of Ireland. Her 2015 production Bastard Amber was the first time ever for an Irish choreographer to be commissioned to create a full-length dance work for the main stage of the Abbey Theatre. Her work in opera includes choreographies for Wexford Festival Opera (Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur), Korea National Opera (Verdi’s Aida), Rossini Opera Festival/Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona (Rossini’s Semiramide), Opernhaus Zurich (Salieri’s Axur, re d’Ormus, Mozart’s Lucia Silla), Opéra de Nice (Lucia Silla), and Opera Ireland (Verdi’s Aida, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Verdi’s Macbeth, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie, Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa). She has also choreographed productions at the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre and for Landmark Productions, the Ark Children’s Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, and Siren Productions.
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Sinead Hayes Assistant Conductor & Chorus Director Irish conductor Sinead Hayes is equally at home working with choir, orchestra and opera. She is in her fifth season as conductor of Belfast’s Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, with which she has premiered works by Irish and international composers. Last season saw her debuts with Irish National Opera (Mozart’s The Opera Director), Northern Ireland Opera (Weill’s The Threepenny Opera and Greg Caffrey’s The Chronic Identity Crisis of Pamplemousse) and Opera Collective Ireland (OCI), alongside return appearances with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ Concert Orchestra. She also made her Berlin Philharmonie debut, playing Irish fiddle in two of the Berlin Philharmonic’s family concerts and performing alongside members of the orchestra. She has been appointed Irish National Opera Studio conductor for 2018/2019, and she will be assistant conductor and chorus director for the company’s productions, as well as conducting a number of showcase events with the studio’s artists. This season she also returns to conduct productions with Northern Ireland Opera and Opera Collective Ireland. She studied violin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, graduated with a BMus in violin and composition from City University, London, and completed her MMus in orchestral conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, winning the Mortimer Furber conducting prize.
Davey Kelleher Assistant Director
Sarah Baxter Assistant Director
Davey is an independent director and producer based in Dublin whose work spans opera, musical theatre, commercial and independent theatre production. Recent directing projects include Seahorse (Project Arts Centre, Dublin Fringe Festival), These Lights (Lir Academy, DFF), Birdy (Peacock, Abbey Theatre, DFF), Cinderella (UCH, Limerick), This Looks Bad (Smock Alley and Axis Ballymun), The Olive Tree (The New Theatre, and national tour), Glowworm (Project Arts Centre, DFF) and Pornography (Lir Academy). Earlier this year he produced TRYST with Sickle Moon Productions, at Project Arts Centre and Civic Theatre, Tallaght. Recently he was associate director of ProdiJIG: The Revolution, and The Wizard of Oz at the Cork Opera House, and assistant director of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville with Wide Open Opera at the National Opera House, Wexford, and Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Davey is currently an associate artist at the Civic Theatre, and a guest tutor at the Lir Academy.
Sarah is a freelance director and dramaturg. She is the director member of INO Studio 2018/2019 and was assistant director for INO’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro last April. As assistant director she has also worked with Landmark Productions, Gate Theatre, Field Day Theatre Company, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre Company and was associate director for The Unmanageable Sisters (Abbey Theatre). Her work as director/cocreator includes: with Alice Malseed, it’s getting harder and harder for me (Dublin Fringe 2017/MAC, Belfast 2018) and Jellyfish (Dublin Fringe 2015/ UK tour 2016) and with Niamh Shaw Diary of a Martian Beekeeper (Rory Gallagher Theatre, Cork, 2017/ Smock Alley Dublin, 2018). Further director credits include: 24HourPlaysDublin 2018 (Dublin Youth Theatre/Abbey Theatre), Dubliners Women (Irish national tour), Taboo (White Label), The Hellfire Squad and Vehicle (Devious Theatre), and To Space (Niamh Shaw), which toured to Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe Festivals. Sarah works continuously on developing new work, as dramaturg and director, through workshops and readings. She works with the Abbey Theatre’s New Work Department. She trained in LeCoq-based theatre, devised theatre and physical theatre at London International School of Performing Arts and furthered her mask studies at Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali in Italy. She is a member of the artist collective White Label.
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Aoife O’Sullivan Répétiteur
Rebecca Warren Assistant Répétiteur
Aoife O’Sullivan studied piano with Frank Heneghan and later with John O’Conor. She graduated from TCD with an honours degree in music. In September 1999 she began her studies as a Fulbright scholar at the Curtis Institute of Music with Mikael Eliasen, head of vocal and opera studies, and in 2001 she joined the staff there for her final two years. She has played for masterclasses including those given by Malcolm Martineau, Ann Murray, Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, and Anna Moffo. She has appeared at the Wigmore Hall in Lieder recitals including with Ann Murray, Wendy Dawn Thompson and Sinéad Campbell-Wallace. She was awarded the Geoffrey Parsons Trust Award for accompaniment of singers in 2005. She has worked on the music staff at Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre Company and Opera Ireland. She worked at the National Opera Studio in London from 2006 to 2008 and was on the deputy coach list for the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She coaches the singers in the NI Opera Studio and the INO Studio. Since January 2010 she has been an assistant lecturer at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama working as a vocal coach and répétiteur.
Wexford pianist Rebecca Warren is a graduate of the MA in Classical String Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance where she studied violin performance and piano accompaniment with Mariana Sîrbu, Bruno Giuranna and Ferenc Szűcs. She holds a BA in Music from Waterford Institute of Technology and an Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the London College of Music. Her teachers have included Marian Ingoldsby, Finghin Collins, Jan Čáp and Yekaterina Lebedeva and she is undertaking further piano studies in the Royal Irish Academy of Music this year. She is in high demand as a piano accompanist and maintains a busy performance schedule while also running a successful teaching studio. As a violinist she has been a member of and soloist with several orchestras and ensembles with whom she has performed extensively throughout Europe. Her interest in opera was first sparked when she was répétiteur for a production of Marian Ingoldsby’s Lily’s Labyrinth. In 2016 she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Académie d’été Nei Stëmmen, Luxembourg. Since then she has undertaken further operatic and vocal accompaniment studies in Italy, the UK and Greece under the tutelage of vocal coaches Matteo Dalle Fratte, Manolis Papasifakis and Roberto Mingarini and has been répétiteur for several other operatic productions.
Orla Boylan soprano Aida Irish soprano Orla Boylan has appeared internationally on leading opera stages including La Scala, Salzburg Festival, Sydney Opera House, Royal Danish Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English National Opera, Opera North and New York City Opera. Throughout her career she has been greatly in demand as an interpreter of German, Russian and Czech repertoire. Her performances as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, the title roles in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Jenůfa and Katya Kabanova, Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre and Chrysothemis in Strauss’s Elektra affirmed her international reputation. Her move into dramatic repertoire brought her notable acclaim with The Telegraph writing of her Opera North performance in the title role of Puccini’s Turandot, “here as the ice princess she is operating at full throttle, sailing above the stave and glorifying in her power”. Her thrilling performances as Senta in Wagner’s Der fliegender Holländer brought her international success both on stage and in concert (Royal Danish Opera, Oslo Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra) and her performances in the title role of Puccini’s Tosca (Opera Ireland, New Zealand Opera) have been broadcast worldwide on the internet and in cinemas throughout New Zealand. Concert appearances include excerpts of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Die Walküre with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino, and her recent debut as Soprano I in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was released on CD.
Gwyn Hughes Jones tenor Radamès Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones has sung leading roles at many of the world’s major opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Walther von Stolzing in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly); Metropolitan Opera, New York (Ismaele in Verdi’s Nabucco, Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Manrico in Verdi’s Il trovatore); Opéra national de Paris (Ismaele in Nabucco); Lyric Opera of Chicago (Fenton in Falstaff, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème); Washington National Opera (Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca); and La Monnaie, Brussels (Fenton in Falstaff). Highlights of the 2018-19 season include Riccardo in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (Welsh National Opera) and engagements in the 2017-18 season included returns to the English National Opera (Radamès in Aida) and Welsh National Opera (Don Alvaro in Verdi’s La forza del destino and Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca). Other recent engagements include Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Rodolfo in La bohème (all for English National Opera); the title role in Massenet’s Werther (Opéra de Lyon), Ismaele in Nabucco and Rodolfo in La bohème (San Francisco Opera); Dick Johnston in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West (Santa Fe Opera); Cavaradossi in Tosca (LA Opera); Chevalier des Grieux in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (Savonlinna Festival); Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Manrico in Il trovatore, Duca in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Don José in Bizet’s Carmen, Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, the title role of Gounod’s Faust and Chevalier des Grieux in Manon Lescaut (all for Welsh National Opera).
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Imelda Drumm mezzo-soprano
Ivan Inverardi baritone
Amneris
Amonasro
Mezzo-soprano Imelda Drumm, who was born in Laois and currently lives in Bray, is a lecturer in voice at the Royal Irish Academy of music and Dublin City University. Her early career was developed by Glyndebourne Festival who sponsored her studies at the National Opera Studio in London. Since then, she has undertaken many international engagements as a freelance performer in a career spanning over 30 years. She has developed particularly strong relationships with Glyndebourne Opera and Welsh National Opera. In Ireland, she has performed with Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company, Lyric Opera Productions and Wide Open Opera and is delighted to make her debut for INO in Verdi’s Aida. She has won many national and international awards for her singing. These include the UK Esso and Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Glyndebourne Awards. She sang the role of Hansel in the 1999 Oliver Award winning production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel at WNO. Her recordings include Hansel and Gretel Jenůfa under Charles for Channel 4 TV, Mackerras, and Verdi’s Falstaff with Bryn Terfel for S4C. Recently she recorded Nuala in Robert O’Dwyer’s Eithne with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra under Fergus Sheil, a CD of which has just been released on the RTÉ lyric fm label.
Italian-born Ivan Inverardi is highly regarded internationally for his Verdi and Puccini dramatic baritone roles. He has performed in the title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto at Arena di Verona, Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Teatro Regio, Turin, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Comuniale di Firenze (Florence), Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Haus für Mozart, Salzburg, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and in many other houses. Further highlights of his career include Francesco Foscari in Verdi’s I due Foscari, the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth and Alfio in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana at La Scala; the title role in Verdi’s Nabucco at Arena di Verona, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and Deutsche Oper, Berlin; Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida at the Washington National Opera and Caracalla Festival, Rome; Renato in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at Opéra de Montpellier, Teatro Regio, Turin, and Deutsche Oper, Berlin; Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca at Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, Teatro Bellini, Catania, Seoul Arts Center, Theater St Gallen, and Deutsche Oper, Berlin; Michele in Puccini’s Il tabarro for Opera North; Ezio in Verdi’s Attila at Rome Opera; Don Carlo in Verdi’s Ernani at Teatro Comunale di Bologna; the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff at Teatro Comunale di Sassari and Teatro Comunale Pergolesi, Jesi; Iago in Verdi’s Otello at Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Teatro Filarmonico, Verona, Bunkamura Theatre, Tokyo, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Oper Graz; Seid in Verdi’s Il corsaro at the Teatro Regio, Parma, and Germont in Verdi’s La traviata at the Theater Basel. Future engagements include Michele in Puccini’s Il tabarro at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo and Scarpia in Tosca at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin.
Manfred Hemm bass
Graeme Danby bass
Ramfis
King of Egypt
Manfred Hemm’s recent engagements include Baron Ochs in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (Bolshoi Theatre, and Beijing), Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, and Opéra de Nancy), Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal (Estonian National Opera and Prague National Theatre), Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Teatro Comunale di Sassari), as well as Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona). He studied in Vienna and was a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera. His début at the Metropolitan Opera New York was as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. After a successful debut at the Salzburg Festival in the title role of Mozarat’s Le nozze di Figaro he was invited by Herbert von Karajan to sing at the Easter Festival in Salzburg. Other notable engagements have included Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Enrico VIII in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (Bavarian State Opera), Talbot in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda (Opéra de Monte-Carlo), Kuno in Weber’s Der Freischütz (Royal Opera House, London, and La Scala), Trulove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (Theater an der Wien, and Opéra de Nancy), Baron Ochs in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (Scottish Opera, Opéra de Marseille, Staatsoper Stuttgart and Den Norske Opera), Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal (Scottish Opera and Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa), Leporello in Don Giovanni (Hamburg), Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (San Francisco Opera), King of Clubs in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges (Volksoper, Vienna) and Hunding in Wagner’s Die Walküre (Nationaltheater Mannheim).
Graeme Danby is widely recognised as one of Britain’s finest character basses. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, he has sung Billy Jackrabbit in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, Charrington in Lorin Maazel’s 1984, Gonzalo in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest, Second Armed Man in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Casino Manager in Prokofiev’s The Gambler and il Sacristano in Puccini’s Tosca. The roles he has sung in over 1,000 appearances with English National Opera include Bartolo in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Basilio in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Collatinus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Quince and Snug in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pistol in Verdi’s Falstaff, Pooh-Bah in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, Ribbing in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Sacristan in Tosca, Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Somnus in Handel’s Semele. In the UK he has also appeared with Opera North, Scottish Opera and the Garsington, Glyndebourne and Buxton Festivals, and has performed internationally at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, De Vlaamse Opera in Belgium, the Salzburger Landestheater, Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg, La Scala, Milan, and Palau Reina Sofia, Valencia. Recent engagements include his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Don Magnifico in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Scottish Opera and Opéra de Rouen, and Swallow in Britten’s Peter Grimes in Lisbon. His recordings include Berg’s Lulu, Verdi’s A Masked Ball, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Strauss’s Salome for Chandos Opera in English and Adès’s The Tempest for EMI. He made his INO debut in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro last April.
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Irish National Opera
Gluck
Orfeo ed Euridice NAtional Tour Thursday 7 February – Saturday 7 March Civic Theatre Tallaght St. Peter’s Church of Ireland Drogheda Mermaid Arts Centre Bray Theatre Royal Waterford VISUAL Carlow Theatre Carlow Castletown House Celbridge Everyman Cork Glór Ennis Siamsa Tíre Tralee Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire National Opera House Wexford
A Co-production with United Fall. In partnership with Irish Baroque Orchestra. 02
irishnationalopera.ie
Rachel Goode soprano
Conor Breen tenor
High Priestess
Messenger
Galway soprano Rachel Goode graduated in 2014 with a first class honours BMus degree from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin, where she studied under Colette McGahon-Tosh, and was also awarded the Michael McNamara gold medal for highest recital mark. She most recently graduated in July 2018 from the Masters in Opera Performance course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) where she studied under Suzanne Murphy. In November 2017 she sang the role of Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicci at the RWCMD Winter Opera Gala with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra under Carlo Rizzi. Most recently she performed the role of Fortune and Juno in Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses with Opera Collective Ireland. Her other operatic roles include Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Iris in Handel’s Semele, Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Anna Maurrant in Weill’s Street Scene and Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. She has received support from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Galway County Council, Black Mountain Barns, Worshipful Company of the Girdlers and David and Alasdair MacWilliam Scholarship. She makes her INO debut in this production of Aida.
Conor Breen is from Co. Armagh and read English Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast, before taking up a place on NI Opera’s Young Artist Programme. He made his principal debut with the company in Strauss’s Salome, as the Fourth Jew, and sang The Prince of Persia in Puccini’s Turandot. He also understudied Narraboth in Salome, and Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Other operatic credits include: Ambrogio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, The Narrator in Greg Caffrey’s The Chronic Identity Crisis of Pamplemousse and in October he created the roles of The King and The Guard in Seán Doherty’s new chamber opera, Waking Beauty. Conor was a Lay Clerk at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, and was invited to present two recitals for the cathedral’s annual music festival. Oratorio work includes Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Haydn’s The Creation, and Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music with the Ulster Orchestra and the Belfast Philharmonic Choir; Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the St Columb’s Cathedral Chamber Choir; and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with St George’s Singers. Conor has been invited to perform as the tenor soloist in the world premiere of Eoghan’s Desmond’s setting of Katharine Tynan’s The Flower of Youth which was commissioned by St Anne’s Cathedral for the centenary commemoration of the World War I armistice.
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RTÉ Concert Orchestra Conductor Laureate Proinnsías Ó Duinn Leader Mia Cooper
Voted World’s Favourite Orchestra 2015 Introducing orchestral music to new audiences since 1948, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra has built a strong connection with the public that saw it named the World’s Favourite Orchestra 2015, winning 25% of the vote in an international poll. The orchestra is committed to an eclectic range of programming across various genres, meaning that no two RTÉ CO audiences are ever the same. It is as likely to be found presenting the world premiere of Mise Éire with live performance of Ó Riada’s score in the presence of the President Michael D. Higgins (2016) as performing live at Electric Picnic with RTÉ 2fm’s Jenny Greene (2017) or recording a one-off TV special with Niall Horan (2018). The RTÉ CO has performed with countless extraordinary artists across all genres. From the classical world, Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, Gheorghiu and Lang Lang; film and stage composers including Lalo Schifrin, Michel Legrand, David Arnold and Marvin Hamlisch; stars of jazz and musical theatre like Michael Feinstein, Cleo Laine and Kurt Elling. Even a quick roll call of the orchestra’s collaborations with Irish artists gives a flavour of the range and calibre: Colm Wilkinson, Altan, Sharon Shannon, Duke Special, Declan O’Rourke, The Coronas, Bell X1, Horslips, Sinéad O’Connor, Imelda May and Lúnasa.
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Executive Producer Gareth Hudson
RTÉ ORCHESTRAS, QUARTET & CHOIRS
Orchestra Manager Andrew Smith
RTÉ Orchestras, Quartet & Choirs is responsible for managing the
Planning & Event Co-ordinator Mary Sexton
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
PR Executive Angela Rohan
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Librarian Mary Adams
RTÉ Philharmonic Choir
Operations Assistant Marguerite Sheridan Senior Orchestral Assistant John Nugent
RTÉ Contempo Quartet
RTÉ Cór na nÓg
Head of RTÉ’s Orchestras, lyric fm, Quartet & Choirs Aodán Ó Dubhghaill
For full contact information see rte.ie/co
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La Traviata Verdi
Adriana Lecouvreur Cilea Sat 12th Jan 2019
Carmen Bizet Sat 2nd Feb 2019
La Fille du Régiment Donizetti
Die Walküre Wagner
Dialogues des Carmélites Poulenc
Sat 15th Dec 2018
Sat 2nd Mar 2019
Sat 30th Mar 2019
Sat 11th May 2019
Met Opera 2018-19 THE LIVE
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Irish National Opera
INO team
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