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w e lcome
Welcome to the second dlr Glasthule Opera Festival. Last year’s success proved that there is an audience for opera in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown. The weather gave us a real summer festival atmosphere with flowery frocks, straw hats, Prosecco, strawberries and cream and the magnificent view of Dublin Bay before and at the interval of the opera. The aim of Glasthule Opera is to promote Irish singers by giving them a much-needed professional experience. The casts are drawn from singers who are in various stages of their career and development from international names to those aspiring to become professional singers. Even in these challenging, recessionary times, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council continues to support dlr Glasthule Opera and adds our festival to their already impressive portfolio of Arts Events in the county.
Please remember Molière’s famous words: “of all the noises know to man, opera is the most expensive” If you are not already a “Friend” of Glasthule Opera, please consider joining the list of people who help to make this possible. Together with our “Friends” Glasthule Opera can prosper and contribute to the promotion of Irish singers, conductors and directors and further enhance this beautiful area. I hope you have a wonderful evening of opera here in the Pavilion Theatre Anne-Marie O’Sullivan Artistic Director
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To see you again! For you had only to appear. Only to throw your glance at me In order to take a hold of all my being Oh my Carmen! And I was owned by you. Carmen, I love you!
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CARMEN
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CARMEN Music by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy Opera in Four Acts based on Prosper Mérimée’s Novella. Sung in French with English Surtitles First performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, March 1875 The scene is set in and around Seville, Spain. Act 1
A Square in Seville
pause Act 2
The tavern of Lillas Pastia
i nterval Act 3
Mountains at the frontier
pause Act 4
Outside the bullring in Seville
Conductor Director/Designer Additional Staging/ Direction
David Brophy John White Hélène Montague
Carmen Don José Micaëla Escamillo Zuniga Moralès Frasquita Mercédès Le Remendado Le Dancairo Flamenco Dancer
Doreen Curran Anthony Kearns Emily Alexander Brendan Collins Brian McIntyre Kris Kendellen Helene Hutchinson Gillian Hopper Ross Scanlon Robert Duff Lynn Dawson
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Ensemble: Adriana Juanita Alejandra Daniel Corina Blanca Alejandro Arturo Elena Dolores Mateo Cordina Beatrice Rodolfo Rodrigo Street Urchins
Orchestra Orchestral Reduction Surtitles Surtitles system Répétiteur Children’s Chorus Lighting Stage Manager Stage Director Set Construction Surtitle Operator Costumes Wardrobe Assistants
Niamh Abbey Sarah Byrne Elaine Coyle Fearghal Curtis Gemma Healy Maria Hughes Eoin Hynes Sean Kennedy Kate Larkin Ciara McMackin David Scott Helene Hutchinson Gillian Hopper Ross Scanlon Robert Duff Children from Harold School, Glasthule: Chloe O’Sullivan, Claire Ahern, Elena Drummond, Harry Kearns, Katie O’Sullivan, Louise Lawlor, Niamh Corr, Nicole Duffin, Orla Carroll, Robert Keating, Ruairi Frankling Glasthule Opera Orchestra ©Pocket Publications ©Jonathan Burton, by arrangement with the Royal Opera Covent Garden Opera Ireland David O’Shea Karen McDonnell Eamonn Fox Pauline Donnelly Sinead Ni Ghríofa John Julian, Pauline Donnelly Raymond England Utopia Costumes, Dundee and Flame Torbay Rachel Bergin, Ciara Fleming, Amy O’Shaughnessy
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t he d e va s tat i o n s o f d i f f eren c e Harry White
The position of Carmen in the history of opera is sadly emblematic of the crises of style and personality which characterised the life of its creator, Georges Bizet. lthough the work was not an immediate success, a spate of international productions in 1878 introduced the opera to English, German, Italian and Russian audiences some three years after the Paris premiere and the death of the composer in 1875. Thereafter, Carmen became a permanent feature of the standard repertory. Even if we discount the hypocrisy of the French musical press, which lavished praise on the 1883 revival at the Opéra Comique (in a volte face which overlooked the ruinous reception afforded to Carmen when it was first given there), we cannot avoid the discrepancy between the enduring public appeal of this opera and the contradictory critical opinion which it provokes even today.
A
The reaction against Carmen on its first performance constitutes a failure of the imagination which is perhaps difficult to grasp in the 21st century: the work was roundly condemned for its lack of moral perspective and for its unpalatably realistic portrayal of social disintegration. Above all, Carmen drew criticism because of its disturbing evocation of sexual desire. In almost every conceivable respect, Bizet managed to offend against the prescriptive norms and essentially trivial expectations of opéra comique. Having failed honourably with the public in his earlier operas, Bizet was now to provoke the wrath of an unduly influential press which reacted against his attempt to break the mould of French comic opera and thereby produce a work free from the artificial constraints of this genre. That Bizet conveyed and dramatised the power of sexual passion with compelling success mattered little when compared to the massive affront he offered (especially in the character of Carmen herself) to the rigid sensibilities of those accustomed to the irreproachable and steadfast heroines of the French operatic stage. Realism of the kind Bizet offered was taken as depravity, and one critic’s description of his heroine as “a savage: half gypsy, half Andalusian; sensual, mocking, shameless, believing in neither God nor the Devil… the veritable
prostitute of the gutter and the crossroads” gives an indication of the moral disapproval which the work aroused. Such terms describe, in truth, someone wholly out of place in the predictable and sanitised world of 19th-century popular French opera. The amoral force and nature of Carmen, its absolute commitment to the idea of sexual desire as a motivation worthy of dramatisation on its own terms, has led many commentators to take sides for and against the opera as a critique of social, mythic and specifically Christian norms of behaviour, and as an advocate of ruling passion and personal liberty. Thus Michel Rabaud has identified Nietzsche’s opportunistic approval of the opera (as an antidote to Wagner) with Bizet’s own conception of individual freedom. This conception replaces religious, philosophical and sentimental conservatism with sensual passion and anarchic realism. Those who have praised the work (notably Brahms, Fauré, Saint Saëns, Puccini, Tchaikovsky and indeed Wagner himself) applauded Bizet’s expert manipulation and dramatisation of desire per se. When Fauré remarked that he could not understand why the freshness and colour of Bizet’s music “did not conquer the public from the first moment”, he betrayed his own failure to perceive how the troubling, amoral drive of the text (released and animated in Bizet’s score) was for many people at odds with the charm and appeal of the music itself. It is a characteristic irony of Bizet’s biography that the composer’s official accession to the ranks of that very establishment which would condemn Carmen was announced on the morning of 3 March 1875, the date on which both Bizet’s election to the Legion of Honour and the first performance of Carmen took place. That night, as Mina Curtis reports, “one member of the audience was heard to say that they announced Bizet’s election in the morning because they knew that by tonight it would no longer be possible to give him a decoration”. In a single day, Bizet had joined the establishment and undermined its most cherished beliefs and value-systems. Is Carmen a tragic opera? Peter Brook’s version of the work, entitled La Tragédie de Carmen, explicitly favours this
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interpretation. There is, certainly, tragic circumstance in the meeting of Carmen and Don José, and specifically in the attraction that lies between them. If the motion of tragedy, moreover, produces “a constant descent from prosperity to suffering and chaos” (George Steiner), then the tragedy of Carmen lies in large part with Don José. Carmen herself precipitates the catastrophe, and her very nature instigates it. The collision between the upright soldier and the rebellious Gypsy is a collision between order and impulse, conformity and independence, duty and longing. But Carmen does not materially alter her position throughout the opera and nor is she developed beyond the point from which she enters the action to any fundamental degree. Although her fateful embrace of death (especially in the card scene) is dramatically arresting, it merely culminates the sequence of unerringly reckless and destructive gestures which typify her behaviour from start to finish. In Don José’s desperate progress, by contrast, we can easily discern a fundamental change of character wrought by circumstance. The pattern of seduction, humiliation, desertion, despair and disillusion through which Don José is led, directly as a result of his infatuation with Carmen, will lead to murder. And the vertiginous descent of that trajectory implicitly argues that a desire for freedom cannot be indulged without breaking the bonds of servile allegiance. To love Carmen is to love death. The novel by Prosper Mérimée from which the libretto of Carmen is derived emphasises this tragic dimension above all others (in the novel, it is Don José himself who narrates the tale on the eve of his execution). In the opera, the action which takes Don José to this point is enhanced by the condition of Micaela (who looms large in the opera, but is a shadowy figure in Mérimée’s novel) and by the presence and swagger of Escamillo. Both characters strengthen the tendency of Bizet’s opera to proceed by a conflict of opposing pairs (the naïve soldier versus his bragging rival; the rustic maiden undone by the coltish factory girl). These pairings condition the dramaturgy of the opera as a whole, so that Carmen opposes the city and the country, ceremonial bravado and military discipline, moral rectitude and sexual desire, life in the army married to a good girl from the provinces and life in the bullring with the your latest lover, ready for the kill. Carmen is about the devastations of difference. The realisation of this theme lies in the musical score. It is the music which enables our fascination with Carmen
herself as a personification of the consequences of ruling passion. It is the sharp distinction in contour and scoring which Bizet draws between the music he allocates to those recklessly committed to the pursuit of freedom and pleasure, and those regulated by the constraints of social obligation and conscience, which favours a reading of Carmen as a drama of mutually destructive opposites. The Spanish elements which characterise the seductive curve of Carmen’s music and the brazen gusto of Escamillo’s vivid boasting lie in complete contrast to the urgent lyricism of Don José’s ardour and the chaste remonstrations of Micaëla. Bizet’s effortless transition from one mode to the other guarantees the work its unnerving authenticity and dramatic plausibility.
But Carmen also stands apart. If it proposes ideas of freedom and anarchy which are deeply repugnant to the bourgeois status quo, it also re-animates the moribund conventions of romantic opera… Murder, love, revenge, sexual passion: these are the very essence, it might seem, of European opera since its brilliant beginnings in Italy. But two works in particular allow us to situate Carmen in a more sharply-defined context. Mozart’s Don Giovanni (1787) and Berg’s Lulu (1939) respectively anticipate and sustain the anarchic thrust towards pleasure and freedom which Bizet’s opera explores with such memorable potency. In all three cases, the eponymous hero/heroine poses a vital challenge to social stability which can only end in violent death. But Carmen also stands apart. If it proposes ideas of freedom and anarchy which are deeply repugnant to the bourgeois status quo, it also re-animates the moribund conventions of romantic opera and invests these with frightening and unsettling significance. In this tragedy of desire and difference, Bizet succeeds in making the medium of opera indispensable to an adequate treatment of the local colour and universal significance of Mérimée’s original tale. Therein, perhaps, lies its abiding claim to our attention.
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ca rme n Synopsis
Act I A Square in Seville, Spain Outside the cigarette factory and the guardhouse, Corporal Moralés tries to pick up Micaëla, who comes searching for Don José, a corporal of the dragoons. The changing of the guard is about to begin and a band of street urchins gather. A bell rings, announcing a break for the girls from the cigarette factory, who then emerge languidly smoking their cigarettes. But all eyes, except those of Don José, remain riveted on the factory door, as everyone awaits the arrival of “La Carmencita.” Don José’s indifference is rewarded by Carmen with a flower, which she throws at him as she re-enters the factory. Micaëla returns and brings Don José money and news of his mother. They sing an extended duet. Shouts from the factory announce that someone has been stabbed. One faction accuses Carmen. Zuniga, a captain, sends Don José to investigate. He emerges with Carmen in tow. She insolently responds to Zuniga’s questions only by humming. Zuniga instructs José to tie her hands and write an arrest warrant. Carmen flirts with José, asking him to set her free, since she knows that he is in love with her. José at first resists, but gives in and loosens her ties as the crowd frustrates the soldiers’ pursuit. Act II The tavern of Lillas Pastia Carmen, Mercédès, and Frasquita, along with gypsies and soldiers are drinking, smoking, and singing in the tavern. The soldiers include Zuniga, who lets Carmen know that José is being released from jail that very day. At this moment, the famous toreador, Escamillo enters the tavern. He is clearly attracted to Carmen, but she dismisses both he and Zuniga, clearly taken with the prospect of again seeing Don José, whom she expects at any moment. Lillas Pastias closes the tavern and, immediately, the smugglers, Remendado, and Dancairo emerge. Together with Mercédès, Frasquita, and Carmen they plot the future. But Carmen tells them they must go without her because she is in love and has unfinished business.
Their protests are to no avail. Don José arrives and Carmen is intent on seducing him, when to her great fury, she is interrupted by the sound of “retreat,” which calls Don José back to barracks. Though he adores her, he says, he must obey. Just then Zuniga returns and orders José out. Don José defies him and draws his sword against his superior officer. He now has no option but to join the smugglers’ band. Act III A rocky spot on the frontier José, unable to reconcile himself with his new status as a deserter, watches as the smugglers prepare to carry their contraband. Carmen joins him, and it’s clear that her passion is over and the affair is winding down. Frasquita and Mercédès join Carmen and throw the cards on the ground. Carmen foresees death and her fatalistic creed means she cannot evade it. They go to help the smugglers, and José is left alone on watch. Micaëla, comes looking for him. She hides when José unsuccessfully takes a shot at a stranger, who turns out to be Escamillo. The toreador admits he’s come looking for a girl he fancies, who once loved a dragoon. José and Escamillo fight and are separated by the arrival of the smugglers and Carmen. Escamillo invites the whole band to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered, and Carmen advises José to listen to Micaëla and go to his dying mother. Act IV Outside the bullring in Seville A festive parade opens the act with the various elements of the quadrille and townsfolk. Escamillo enters with Carmen by his side. He embraces her and they pledge their love for one another. Frasquita and Mercédès find Carmen and warn her that José is lurking in the crowd, but Carmen will not hide. She confronts him alone, but will not listen as his pleas turn to threats. As the crowd is heard cheering Escamillo, she hurls at José the ring he once gave her. In a fit of jealous rage, he stabs her and surrenders as the crowd starts to leave the bullring.
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ca rme n Cast
Liam O’Flynn, Séamus Begley, Sharon Corr, Máirtín O’Connor, The Chieftains, Rita Connolly, Carlos Núñez and Sharon Shannon. His broad musical tastes have also led to collaborations with U2, Sinéad O’Connor, and Duke Special.
David Brophy Conductor Appointed Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in 2007, David Brophy is the leading Irish conductor of his generation. His career, while primarily based in Ireland, has taken him to many parts of Europe, Africa, America and Canada. He studied in Ireland, England and Holland, was appointed apprentice conductor with the National Chamber Choir of Ireland and was subsequently the first person to be appointed assistant conductor with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. David has collaborated with many internationally acclaimed soloists, among them, Tasmin Little and Lesley Garret, and conducted the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra at the spectacular opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games in 2003. He works in the US with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, in Spain with Orquesta Nacional Clásica de Andorra, and with all the major Irish orchestras. He has worked with specialist new music ensembles Vox 21 and Crash Ensemble and has given world premières of works by leading Irish composers. He has conducted numerous tours with Co-Opera, Lyric Opera Productions, Opera Theatre Company and Opera Ireland. David has also worked closely with singer-songwriters such as Eleanor McEvoy, Paul Brady, Brian Kennedy and Declan O’Rourke, composers including Shaun Davey, Neil Martin, Bill Whelan and Arvo Pärt and traditional musicians, among them, Altan,
David has broadcast on RTÉ, BBC, CBC (Canada) and EBU and has recorded on Silva Screen and Tara Records. His television appearances include the National Concert Hall’s 25th anniversary gala concert and film credits include Shaun Davey’s score for The Abduction Club and Ella Enchanted. David lectures at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and is currently working towards a PhD researching Performance Practice in Eighteenth Century Orchestral Music with particular reference to the symphonies of Haydn.
John White Director John’s theatre work as director includes: Meeting Points (Expo 2000 Hanover), Red Noses by Peter Barnes Ulster Association of Youth Theatre (Lyric Theatre Belfast), The Old Lady Says No! by Denis Johnston for National Youth Theatre (Samuel Beckett Theatre Dublin), Kaleidescope (Coach House, Dublin Castle), United Colours of Domino a new play by Nick Kelly (Project Arts Centre), and The Torc of Gold, an opera for children by Maeve Ingoldsby as part of the National Chamber Choir’s outreach programme to primary schools. John is also a drama workshop facilitator, has taught drama in Rathmines
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College of Further Education, and was Education officer for TEAM Educational Theatre Company in 2001. John has also worked for the Abbey Theatre Outreach department, facilitating drama workshops for older people in Monaghan, as part of a wider outreach initiative, subsequently showcasing part of the work in the theatre itself. He has also facilitated workshops for Arts Train, the National Association for Youth Drama’s training unit, has devised and delivered drama training programmes for Arts offices in Carlow and Carrick-on-Shannon. As a musician, John has also conducted a number of oratorios and large scale works, including Verdi Requiem with soprano Virginia Kerr, contralto Deirdre Cooling-Nolan, tenor Ronan Tynan and Bass William Peel. He also conducted Orff’s Carmina Burana featuring soprano Regina Nathan, and Haydn’s Creation with soprano Orla Boylan. Initially John’s informal training for theatre took the form of musically directing and directing a wide variety of shows, such as: Chicago (Cambridge Arts Theatre UK), West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Odd Couple, When We are Married – all for Lakeland Productions and the Irish Premiere of Return to the Forbidden Planet.
Honours, as well as being awarded a Gold Medal. In 2000 she entered the Royal Northern College of Music as a post-graduate and completed her studies at the National Opera Studio where she was supported by a British American Tobacco Scholarship, The Goldsmiths’ Company, The Friends of Covent Garden and the Peter Moore’s Foundation.Doreen is currently studying with Janice Chapman. Operatic roles she has performed include Ottavia (L’incoronazione di Poppea) for English National Opera, Mercedes (Carmen) for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and ATAO Tenerife, Blanche (Prokofiev The Gambler) for Grange Park Opera, Zoë (Respighi La Fiamma), Ernestina (Rossini L’occasione F ail Ladro) and Penelope (Fauré Clione) for Wexford Festival Opera, Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) for English National Opera, Garsington Opera and Savoy Opera, Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) for Holland Park Opera, Ottavia (L’incoronazione di Poppea) for Opera Theatre Company in Dublin, Aldeburgh,Buxton and Iford, Kate (Pirates of Penzanze) for English National Opera, Suzuki (Madam Butterfl y) Lyric Opera Dublin, Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana) for Opera Northern Ireland, Kate (Madam Butterfl y) for Longborough Festival Opera, Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Ciesca (Gianni Schichi) for Opera Ireland, Maurya (Riders To The Sea) for Glasthule Opera Dublin, Meg (Falstaff) and Pauline (Queen of Spades) for Royal Northern College of Music and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) at the National Concert Hall, Rosina (Barber of Seville) for Opera Theatre Company and Armonico Consort and Bradamante (Alcina) for Opera Theatre Company which will be revived this summer at the Buxton Festival.
Doreen Curran Carmen Doreen Curran from Derry studied music at the DIT College of Music, Dublin, where her tutor was Anne-Marie O’Sullivan. She was awarded a BMus Performance Degree with First Class 10 dlr glasthule opera 2010
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Anthony Kearns Don José Anthony Kearns is one of the founding members of The Irish Tenors, one of Ireland’s most celebrated and long-running touring groups. Performing for over a decade in the world’s most prestigious venues from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney [Australia] Opera House, The Irish Tenors have produced 10 best-selling CDs. Anthony’s opera credits include the lead in Faust and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi for Opera Ireland. With Dublin’s Lyric Opera he sang Alfredo in La Traviata and Macduff in Macbeth. He also sang lead tenor in the first fully staged production in over a century of the Irish opera Lily of Killarney for the Royal Dublin Society. In addition to his opera work in Ireland, Kearns sang the role of Fenton in an Italian production of Verdi’s Falstaff in Tuscany, performed lead tenor in The Irish Ring at Carnegie Hall, and just this past February, sang Romeo for the Naples [Florida] Opera Company’s production of Romeo & Juliet: Then and Now. Kearns taped a new television special in Prague this year for Ireland’s Mind the Gap Films. Halleluiah Broadway was aired in Ireland on Easter and will be released on US public television stations this fall. Anthony tours three times annually with The Irish Tenors, and has a thriving solo career, performing concert tours, oratorio, and opera.
Emily Alexander Micaëla Emily Alexander graduated from the Conservatory of Music and Drama, DIT, with an Honours Degree in Music Performance (BMus), specialising in voice while studying under Mary Pembrey. Throughout this period Emily also participated in masterclasses with singers such as Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dennis O’Neill, Regina Nathan and Katia Ricciarelli. In 2007 Emily moved to Italy where she continued her vocal studies with bass Graziano Polidori and has remained based in Italy where she currently studies vocal technique and interpretation with soprano Luciana Serra. Emily has performed in venues throughout Ireland and Italy including singing the role of Zerlina in a reduced version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni performed in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in 2006, an Opera Ireland/ DIT co-production. The role of Adalgisa in selections from Bellini’s Norma in the National Concert Hall, in 2007 and Vivaldi’s Gloria in a number of locations in Ireland. Among her achievements Emily was also selected to sing at a presidential dinner in Dublin Castle for the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese and the President of Bulgaria, in 2006. In the latter part of 2007 and throughout 2008 Emily was invited to sing in many concerts in the Puccini Festival in Lucca Puccini e La Sua
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Lucca where in September 2008 she also debuted the role of Musetta in La Bohème. In June 2009 she performed the role of Mimì in La Bohème with Glasthule Opera in Dublin. Also in 2009 she was invited to sing in an opera gala as part of Ticino Musica in Lugano Switzerland and a romanticism concert as part of the A ‘ ssociazione Amici della Lirica “Guiditta Pasta” in Saronna, Italy. She has since performed in many concerts throughout Italy, Switzerland and Ireland including a recital in the National Gallery of Ireland in December 2009.
Brendan Collins Escamillo Cork Baritone Brendan Collins returns to Glasthule Opera after performing the role of Marcello in last years inaugural production of La Bohème. He began his studies at the Cork School of Music with Robert Beare, followed by studies at DIT Conservatory and the opera studio of Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels under renowned bass-baritone Jose van Dam. In 2005 he was one of only 12 Irish singers to be chosen for the first Wexford Festival Artists Development programme under the direction of Welsh tenor Dennis O’Neill. His roles include Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro – Taidhbhearc Opera), Demetrius cover (A Midsummer Night’s Dream – English Touring Opera), Notare (Don Pasquale – English Touring Opera), Masetto (Don Giovanni – Orchestra St Cecilia), Schaunard (La Bohème – Lyric Opera), Marullo
(Rigoletto – Anna Livia Festival), Yamadori (Madama Butterfl y – Opera Ireland), Elviro (Xerses – Opera Theatre Company),Dancaire (Carmen – Opera Cork), Fiorello (The Barber of Seville – CorkOpera2005) and Count Gil (Il segreto di Susanna – Bijou Opera) amongst others. In 2007 he made his American debut performing the role of the Dreamweaver in the American premiere of Irish Composer Stephen Deazley’s Bug Off!!! at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. Highlights on the concert platform include Handel Messiah (Pro Cathedral, Dublin), Handel Birthday Ode for Queen Anne (St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin), Mozart Requiem (National Concert Hall, Dublin), Mozart Vespers (Kajetanekirche, Salzburg), Mozart Coronation Mass (St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna), Mozart Spatzenmesse (Westminster Cathedral, London), Haydn Creation Mass (Clonard Monastery, Belfast), Haydn Nelson Mass (St Finbarr’s, Cork), Schubert Mass in G (St Nicholas, Galway), Orff Carmina Burana (National Concert Hall Dublin), and Beethoven 9th Symphony (Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) amongst others.
Brian McIntyre Zuniga Brian McIntyre is a marketing consultant and a recent convert to classical music, beginning part-time singing lessons at the age of 38. He is currently at the Conservatory of Music DIT in Rathmines taking voice lessons with
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Emmanuel Lawler. He has appeared with Opera Ireland in the chorus of The Magic Flute, and played the roles of Benoit and Alcindoro in Glasthule Opera’s production of La Boheme in 2009. In 2010, Brian was a medal winner (bass solo) in the Feis Ceoil.
Kris Kendellen Morales Kris is studying at the DIT conservatory of music and drama for his music degree. He has been studying voice with Emmanuel Lawler at the Conservatory of Music for three years. Last year Kris took on his first operatic role as Papageno in the Conservatory’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He has also performed in many concerts at the National Concert Hall and the Gaiety Theatre.
Helene Hutchinson Frasquita Helene is a soprano from Dundrum. Currently a student on the advanced vocal studies course DIT conservatory of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Colette Mcgahon-Tosh and Mary Scarlett she has been a 1st prizewinner in major competitions throughout Ireland including the Soprano Solo and Percy Whitehead cups feis ceoil,Overall vocal award and RTÉ lyric fm bursay Sligo feis and Dermot Troy trophy for Mozart DIT.In 2008 she was a recipient of the Count John McCormack Society bursary with a recital at the Mansion House and named Musician of the Future[glengould project] with a performance at the NCH. Helene has performed as guest soloist for many choirs including St Peters Male voice choirThe Cloughmore Male voice choir, Setanta Choir and The Seafield singers .Roles in Opera for DIT include Pamina The Magic Flute, Mozart and Donna Anna Don Giovanni, Mozart.She has also performed in the Chorus for Opera Ireland in Madama Butterfl y, Puccini. Helene regularly performs with Jade strings harp and cello duo and has several future engagements with them including recording for RTÉ for Nighthawks at the Cobalt ,and has been broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm, performed at the Flatlake festival, Monaghan. Recitals include Boyle Arts Festival and Droichead Arts Centre.In 2009 Helene was invited to sing for the Bohemians Male Voice Group.
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Gillian Hopper Mercédès Dun Laoghaire native Gillian Hopper, is currently a second year student at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Mary Pembrey, Anne-Marie O’Sullivan and Trudi Carberry. She is a past pupil of Karen McDonnell, musical director of Stagecoach, Dublin. Gillian is now Stagecoach’s resident set and costume designer, having worked on shows including The Hot Mikado, Beauty and the Beast and Once Upon a Mattress . Gillian has performed in a number of Dublin’s major venues including The Gaiety, The National Concert Hall, The Helix, The Pavilion, The Olympia, and The Point. Recent productions include Pirates of Penzance (DMDS), La Bohème (Glasthule Opera), Riders to the Sea (Glasthule Opera), Evita (The Gaiety) and Maria in The Sound of Music. Gillian is delighted to be returning to Glasthule Opera this year as Mercédès.
Ross Scanlon La Romendado A native of Bray Co. Wicklow, Ross has just graduated from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, with a first class honours degree and the DIT Gold Medal for excellence in performance. Although only 22, Ross is in demand as a soloist in both the classical and musical theatre fields throughout Ireland. On the Oratorio platform, Ross has performed the tenor solo in Karl Jenkins The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace at the National Concert Hall with Bray Choral Society and also in Mozart’s Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore with Wicklow Choral Society. He also sung the tenor solo in Mendelssohn – St Paul at the National Concert Hall and Handel – Messiah in Newbridge with Our Lady’s Choral Society also in Halle in Germany for the Handel Anniversary Festival. Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli with the Galway Baroque Singers and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Schubert’s Mass in B flat . Opera Roles include, Monostatos in Mozart’s Magic Flute, Remendado in Carmen, Lord Lieutenant, Master of the Rolls and Skeffington The Earl of Kildare, Pierre The Wandering Scholar, Parpignol La Bohème and Midas M. His most recent performance of Haydn’s Creation, at the National Concert Hall with Our Lady’s Choral Society, received critical acclaim from Michael Dervan in the Irish Times. The review stated “Tenor Ross Scanlon sang with a commanding lightness and clarity (he’s the most promising young Irish tenor I’ve heard in years)”.
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Ross has won numerous prizes at feis’s around the country, most notably the Thomas Moore Cup, The Tenor Solo Cup and Gold Medal and the prestigious Count John McCormack Cup and Silver Medal for overall best male singer at the Feis Ceoil 2008. Ross was also the recipient of the Bray Endeavour awards receiving the Culture and Arts Award for 2008 as well as the recipient of the John Mc Cormack society young artist Bursary. Ross is delighted to be a Young Associate Artist for 2009/10 with the Opera Theatre Company Dublin.
Robert Duff Le Dancairo Robert has just finished his degree at the Conservatory of Music and Drama DIT. As a student at the Conservatory he performed in many of it’s operatic performances including the role of Papageno in a full production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and excerpts from Cosi fan Tutte , The Rake’s Progress, Don Giovanni, Fidelio, The Marriage of Figaro. He also sang in the chorus of Opera Ireland. In June 2009 he won an AIMS award for Best Actor for his portrayal in Honk! and most recently won the Baritone Gold Medal and the John McCormack Cup at Feis Ceoil.
Lynn Dawson Flamenco Dancer Lynn ‘La Gitanilla’ has been studying and performing flamenco in Ireland for over thirteen years. For twelve years, Lynn trained with Ann Cazzini in classical ballet. She began taking flamenco classes in Dublin with Esperanza Linares in 1997 and continued for seven years, then went on to study with Ana Castellano’s Flamenco y Más group for over two years. Lynn has performed at many events including St Patricks Festival, Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures, World Routes Day at the NCH, Samhlaíocht and the Waterford Spraoi Festival. She has been involved in promoting flamenco in Ireland since 1997 when she developed www.flamencodublin.com and in 2007 co-founded flamenco group Sólo Flamenco where she was involving in performing and organising regular workshops with dancers from Spain including Felipe de Algeciras until 2009. Lynn has studied in Spain with world class flamenco dancers including Farruquito, Andrés Marín, Mercedes Ruiz, Isabel Bayón, Manuel Liñán and María del Mar Moreno. Since 2008, Lynn has travelled to the Festival de Jerez in Spain every year to take part in workshops with world class professionals. In 2009, Lynn co-founded Flamenco Puro, a Dublin-based flamenco group who perform around the country.
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Come, follow my steps, dearest, only object of my faithful love. Is it you? Am I deceived? Am I dreaming or awake? Or delirious? Beloved wife, I am Orpheus, and I am still alive.
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ORFEOED EURIDICE
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ORFEOED EURIDICE Music by Christoph Gluck Libretto by Ranceri de Calzabigi Opera in Three Acts based on the myth of Orpheus Sung in Italian with English Surtitles First performed in Vienna 1762 The scene is set in a Parish Hall during a group therapy session for grieving women who act out the story in a play-within-a-play. Act 1 Act 2
At the tomb of Euridice Scene 1 Scene 2
The entrance to the Underworld The Elysian Fields
i nterval Act 3
Outside Hades
Conductor Director/Designer Choral Director Choreographer
Mark Keane Ian Walsh Niamh O’Kelly Lucy Dundon
Orfeo Euridice Amor
Raphaela Mangan Katy Kelly Sarah Reddin
Choir Dancers Orchestra
Tribal Chamber Choir Rebecca O’Brien, Kate Carroll, Madelene Harper, Rachel McNamee, Simone Murphy, Sinead O’Meara Glasthule Opera Orchestra
Orchestral Reduction Surtitles Surtitle System Repetiteurs Lighting Designer Stage Manager Stage Director Costumes
© Pocket Publications © Kenneth Chalmers Opera Ireland Niamh O’Kelly/Peter Barley Eamon Fox Pauline Donnelly Sinead Ni Ghríofa Pauline Donnelly
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orf e o e d e u r i d i c e Niamh O’Kelly choral director, Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice ( 1762 ) is considered one of the most important 18th-century operas. It is the earliest work to have never entirely left the operatic repertory.
In this opera Gluck strove to eliminate the virtuosic singing which was then in vogue and to focus more on the dramatic value of Virgil’s work, albeit with a slight diversion for his inclusion of a happy ending. In typical Greek tragedian style, the chorus is used not only to comment on the action but also to become an integral part of the drama – they become almost the fourth character of the opera. His attempts to reform Italian opera included the utilisation of simplistic vocal melodies, orchestral accompaniments for the recitatives and the dramatic infusion of chorus and dance. Gluck wrote three versions of Orfeo ed Euridice. In the first edition, with libretto by Calzabigi (1762), the role of Orfeo is sung by a contralto castrato. The second edition (again in Italian) was written for a production in Parma (1769) with the role of Orfeo adapted for a soprano castrato. Under the patronage of Marie Antoinette, Gluck wrote his final edition for performance in Paris (1774). The French libretto was supplied by the poet Molin (based on Calzabigi’s libretto but with additions) and the role of Orfeo was now sung by an hautcontre or high tenor (unlike the rest of Europe, castrati did not enjoy popularity in France). Since then many composite or hybrid versions of the opera have been made. Today however, the one most frequently performed is based on an adaptation by Berlioz who incorporated parts of the French version and the original 1762 version. In this adaptation the opera is sung in Italian with the role of Orfeo once again returned to the contralto – albeit a female ‘en travesti’.
Like many composers of his time, Gluck was economic with his compositions and engaged in the habit of recycling his material. In later years, however, such practice was uncovered, especially when he revised Orfeo for Paris (1774), where controversies about plagiarism from and by Gluck became a heated debate. Gluck supplied additional numbers for the Paris production as part of an augmentation of the original chamber opera; however, the addition which caused the greatest controversy was the bravura aria which ends Act 1. Gluck clearly felt the need for a brilliant finale number but it is unclear whether this was to appease the singer or purely for dramatic effect. If the latter is true then it is rather paradoxical since his original opera strove to eliminate excessive use of ornamentation and virtuosic singing. Gluck was accused of plagiarising this aria from Bertoni which gave birth to the ensuing controversy. However, the aria had already been used in two of Gluck’s previous works, Il Parnasso erufuso (1765) and Alto d’Aristeo (1769). Bertoni had also used it in his work and so it has never been fully established which one of them should be thanked for this lovely aria. There is little doubt that the inclusion of this piece, plus the Dance of the Furies and the Dance of the Blessed Spirits (both also taken from previous works) helped cement the extraordinary success the opera enjoyed in the Paris production and one which we enjoy to this day.
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s oul t he r a py Ian R. Walsh director, Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is a psychological drama: the crucial action takes place within the protagonist’s mind. The librettist Calzabigi’s focus was on intense emotional states and to make Orfeo’s capacity for sorrow and joy the heart of the drama.
Each scene is built around the simple apposition of Orfeo with one other character or grouping. This series of encounters either reinforces or highlights by contrast Orfeo’s state of mind. Gluck and Calzabigi were influenced by the acting style of the famous actor David Garrick that moved away from the one gesture /one emotion acting style of the tragic tradition (found also in opera seria) towards more naturalistic flowing expression. Similarly, Gluck’s music and Calzabigi drama move from one emotional state to another swiftly and seamlessly. This is most evident in the famous second act of Orfeo where we are rapidly transported from the darkness of Hades in the Dance of the Furies to the light of Elysium and the dancing of the Blessed Spirits. In order to accommodate such reform the opera had to be simplified. Calzabigi simplifies the plot of the Orfeus myth by eliminating unnecessary detail and foregrounding the protagonist. We begin not at Orfeo’s wedding or Euridice’s death but at her graveside, with the attention focused immediately on Orfeo mourning. There are nominally three soloists but the roles of Euridice and Amor are slight and in no way detract from Orfeo. Likewise Gluck’s music is simplified. He wrote of Orfeo that he “sought to restrict the music to its true purpose of expressing the poetry and supporting the action without interrupting the story or holding it up with superfluous ornamentation”.
In approaching this production it was decided to reflect the simplicity and the psychological nature of the piece. The stage has been stripped of superfluous ornamentation just as Gluck had done with his music. The focus of the production is on Orfeo’s psychology – his changing emotional states. To do this we have framed the opera within a group therapy session. For a contemporary audience such therapy is recognisable and familiar. Here is a place where psychological states of grief, anxiety and loss are explored in an effort to heal. Where better to set a story of a bereaved hero descending to the Underworld to bring back his lover from the dead. Such a story speaks to our wishes of bringing loved ones back. Euridice’s weakness is a reminder of all our own failings. The music brings forth our own emotional states. We embark on an emotive journey where we move from grief to joy. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung wrote “Myths are first and foremost psychic phenomena that reveal the nature of the soul”. Orfeo ed Euridice is a myth that when put to music and staged as opera is a phenomenon that appeals to the psyche and may even pull back a curtain to reveal the soul.
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orf e o e d e u r i d i c e Synopsis
Act 1 Orfeo, echoed by the chorus, mourns the death of his beloved, Euridice. He begs the gods to bring her back to life or allow him to die as well. Amor then appears with the good news that the gods have indeed taken pity on Orfeo. He shall have their permission to descend into Hades and lead Euridice back from the dead. There is one condition – he must neither look at Euridice nor explain his behaviour. If he does she will be lost to him forever. Orfeo realises that Euridice may doubt him when he turns away from her but is confident that the strength of his love will enable him to stand the test set to him by the gods.
Act 3 While Orfeo urges Euridice to leave the kingdom of the dead, she is happy just to be with him. When he lets go of her hand she begins to doubt his love. Euridice begs him to look at her but he dare not and she refuses to follow him any further. He can no longer resist her pleas and turns around. The moment he looks at Euridice, she dies. Orfeo wants to kill himself and follow her to Hades but Amor, again affected by Orfeo’s grief and resolution prevents him from doing so and rewards him by bringing Euridice back to life.
Act 2 In Hades Orfeo is greeted by a chorus of demons and furies who describe the kingdom of the dead as a place of torment and terror. Orfeo’s resolve is strengthend by his ardent love and sweet songs which help him to overcome the resistance of the furies. They allow him to enter. The chorus of happy shades sings about the Valley of the Blest which Orfeo now enters in search of Euridice. He is driven by his longing to find her and begs the spirits to lead him to her. They grant his wish and Euridice is returned from the dead.
i nterval
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orf e o e d e u r i d i c e Cast
Mark Keane Conductor Mark Keane is the founder and director of Tribal Chamber Choir. A music graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, he studied organ with Peter Sweeney and conducting with Ite O’Donovan. Whilst there he won the Actor’s Church Union Award for advanced organ performance and a scholarship to the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, together with many awards at the Dublin Feis Ceoil. He has since completed a Masters degree in Chant and Ritual Studies at the University of Limerick, and is currently undertaking doctoral studies with Professor Harry White at UCD. He also holds diplomas in organ performance and conducting from Trinity College London, the Royal School of Music and London College of Music. A former organ scholar of the National Cathedral of St. Patrick in Dublin, Mark is now Head of Music at Galway Community College and Organist at the Church of Christ the King, Salthill. Mark enjoys a solo organ performance career, which has seen him play in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney; King’s Chapel and St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Boston; and St. James’ Cathedral, Toronto. He has received many awards for his contribution to the arts in Galway including the Galway REHAB Person of the Year, the Mayor of Galway’s Award for Arts and Culture, and the Junior Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Leadership award. He has recently been elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Irish Choirs.
Ian R. Walsh Director Ian R. Walsh has a PhD in Drama Studies from University College Dublin where he also teaches in The School of English, Drama and Film. He is a Theatre Reviewer for Irish Theatre Magazine, where he was also General Manger in 2008-9. Ian also is a Researcher and regular Theatre Critic for the RTÉ Radio 1 Arts Programme, Arena. He has a Certificate in Directing Theatre from NUI Maynooth and is a freelance director of both theatre and opera. Ian has published on theatre in Irish University Review and New Voices in Irish Criticism and is currently working on a book entitled Experimental Irish Theatre, 1939-1953. When studying as an undergraduate Ian was nominated for best Director at the Irish Student Drama Awards 2000. In the inaugural DLR Glasthule Opera Festival 2009 he directed Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea and Holst’s Wandering Scholar. Other directing credits included Purple Path to the Poppy Field, The Dumb Waiter, The Visit, Howie the Rookie, Streetcar Named Desire, The Rock Bottom Café, Stags and Hens. Ian is delighted to be back directing at this years festival.
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Niamh O’Kelly Choral Director Niamh O’Kelly studied singing, composition and piano at the College of Music, Dublin, The Royal College of Music, London, the Leopold Mozart Konservatorium, Augsburg, Germany and University of Limerick where she received an MA in Chant & Ritual Song. As a singer she has many awards to her credit including recipient of the Golden Voice of Ireland, Soprano Gold Medal (Feis Ceoil), two Arts Council scholarships and a Richard Wagner scholarship to Bayreuth, Germany. From 1981-’94 she was the Director of Music for the US Army in Augsburg, Germany and has travelled extensively throughout Germany and Ireland giving choral and vocal workshops and concert recitals. Her music is published by the Gregorian Institute of America, High Meadow Publishers and Lorenz Inc. publishers, USA. From 1999-2001 she was Musician in Residence for Mayo County Council and is currently head of music in Castlebar College of Further Education.
Lucy Dundon Choreographer Lucy started dancing at the age of seven. She became a member of Barefoot Youth Dance Company in her early teens and from there went on to full training at the Laban Centre of London. Lucy was selected as a member of Transitions Dance Company, a training company for young dancers, which she toured with in the UK, Japan, Korea, USA, Greece and Ireland. Since returning to Ireland in 1995 Lucy has performed with Dance Theatre of Ireland, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Daghdha Dance Company, Rex Levitates, Michael Foley Dance (NY), Dance Theatre Etcetera (NY) and most recently with Fluxusdance. Her work with Fluxusdance includes working as a Teaching Artist in Education, Youth Dance and Community contexts. She also works with Counterbalance, developing integrated dance practices in Ireland. Lucy is currently the Course co-ordinator on the two year dance training course at Sallynoggin College of Further Education.
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Raphaela Mangan Orfeo Irish mezzo soprano Raphaela Mangan graduated last year with a distinction from the Flanders Opera Studio in Gent, Belgium. As a student of Anne-Marie O’Sullivan at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama she graduated top of her class in 2007 with a First Class Honours Degree and also received the DIT Award for Academic Excellence as well as the Michael McNamara Gold Medal for Performance. Raphaela’s Feis Ceoil wins include the Dramatic Cup for opera, the Dermot Troy Trophy and the Vincent O’Brien Cup. She was a winner at the Thomas Moore Festival and was also awarded the prize for Excellence in Opera Plus, Portugal. Her performances include: Alto Solos in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Guest soloist with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, all at the National Concert Hall and Alto soloist with Wicklow Choral Society in Mozart’s Vespers. Raphaela has sung with Opera Ireland, Lyric Opera, Anna Livia Opera, Co-Opera and in Glasthule Opera’s Inaugural Gala in 2008. She sang the role of Ottavia in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Genevieve in Debussy’s Pelleas, Euridice in Haydn’s Orfeo and Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo for Gent Opera. Last summer she performed the role of Glasha and covered the role of Varvara in Janacek’s Katya Kabanova for Scottish Opera. More recently she sang Bradamante in Alcina for Flanders Opera and has just returned from the revival of Katya Kabanova with Scottish Opera.
Katy Kelly Euridice Katy Kelly studied at the Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin, where she obtained her MMus in Performance under Anne Marie O’Sullivan (voice) and Roy Holmes (répétiteur). She has won many prizes for her singing, including the IAWS John McCormack bursary and the Thomas Moore ‘My Gentle Harp’ competition. She recently performed in Carnegie Hall with the Thomas Moore Festival. She is also a regular performer at the NCH including a performance with the National Symphony Orchestra during RTÉ Lunchtime Series Recitals in the National Concert Hall. Her recent performances include Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Saint-Saens’ Oratorio de Noel, Handel’s 250th Anniversary Concert, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Queen of the Night” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and “Musetta” in Puccini’s La Bohème. Her recordings include six songs for the first ever full catalogue of Moore’s melodies, and she was the featured soloist on the AIB Choral Society CD, Simply Christmas and a soloist on the Park Singers (under Sean Creamer) CD Regardez le Chef. She recorded the two Könniger die Nacht arias for the RTÉ television programme The Symphony Sessions with the NSO, which aired in January 2009. Katy has been accepted to study at the Boston Conservatory this September.
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Sarah Reddin Amor Sarah Reddin is currently a Masters student at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, under the tutelage of Colette McGahon-Tosh. She is a scholarship winner of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. While at the RIAM, she completed a Dip Mus in Teaching and Performance in which she received First Class Honours. Sarah is B.A. Finance and Economics graduate from NUI Maynooth University. Sarah’s experience extends to the oratorio, concert circuit and the operatic stage. She has sung soprano solos in Vivaldi’s Gloria and Faure’s Requiem, with The Belfast Philharmonic Choir, Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G and Haydn’s Little Organ Mass, with Bray Choral Society in Salzburg Cathedral during the Mozart celebrations. She has performed the role of Amor in Monteverdi’s L’Coronazione di Poppea as part of The Young Artist Program at Longborough Opera Festival. (July 2008). Last summer, she performed the role of Barbarina and under-studied the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro under Conductor Gianluca Marciano and Director Jenny Miller (Longborough Opera Festival 2009). In September, she performed the role of Susanna in a touring production of Le Nozze di Figaro around the UK including venues at Covent Garden, Hastings, and Maidenhead. Sarah was invited to represent DIT at the Lord Mayor’s Christmas Gala (Mansion House 2009).
Tribal Chamber Choir Tribal Chamber Choir, directed by Mark Keane, is based in Galway City and named after the City of the Tribes. In February 2009 the choir won the Sacred Music Competition at the Limerick Festival of Church Music and then went on to win the Premier Competition for Mixed Voice Choirs at the Cork International Choral Festival in May. As part of this competition, Tribal received the highest mark in the premier competitions were awarded the Victor Leeson Memorial Trophy and designated ‘National Choir of the Festival’. The choir has recently performed the Brahms Requiem with the Charnwood Symphony Orchestra from the UK, the premiere of Anne-Marie O’Farrell’s Chalice and Paten Prayer and Palle Mickelborg’s A Noone of Night. The choir has also toured to France and England where they performed in Chartres Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Future performances include concerts in St. Peter’s Basilica and the Irish College, Rome, in October 2010.
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frie nd s o f gla s t hu l e o pe r a
Tom Alexander Alberto Andreucetti Ita Balfe Denis Barror Mary Barry Maeve & Alan Bell Bernie & Brian Brady Ann Brophy Ingrid Browne Raymond Burke Deirdre Campbell Sean Carroll May Casey Ann & David Charles Mary-Paula Colgan Bernadette Comerford Kevin & Suzanne Cronin Conor Davitt John Donnelly Beatrice Doran Mary Finan Peter Flanagan Ann-Marie Scarry Florabunda Martina Flynn Madeleine Flynn Pat & Caoimhe Frain Thomas Galligan Con Galligan Alan & Mary Garrioch Marie Harrington Karen Harrington Valerie Houlden Dr Tony Healy Laurette Hegarty Roy Holmes Raymond M Kane Mary Kells Fionnuala Kelly Eamonn Kelly Patrick & Elizabeth Kevans James A Lenehan John P Lyons
sp ec ial than k s to
Pat & Jean MacCafferty Jack McCarthy III Una MacConville Oliver & Doreen Martin Oliver McCullen Andrew McElroy Rita McGinnity Robin & Annica Menzies Brian & Kay Mooney Siobhan & Austin Morgan Breda Mulcahy Patrick J Mulvihill Eugene Magee Nick Maxwell Denis & Jean O’Connor Catherine O’Connor George O’Brien Breda O’Donoghue Anne O’Kelly Niamh O’Kelly Celly O’Reilly Ciaran & Una O’Somachain Olivia Pembrey Katherina Purcell Kate Redmond Micheal Reid Dara Robinson Thomas J Roche Stephen Sheehan Catherine Sheridan Mary Short Mary & Paddy Scarlett John Terry Una Thompson Fred Trenaman Anne Tynan John & Olivia Wall Siobhan Ward Joan Ward Liz Whelan Brian Whiteside
The Glasthule Opera Team, Anne–Marie O’Sullivan, Mary Pembrey, Bernadette Farrell, Breda O’Sullivan, Caitey O’Sullivan, Vivian Pembrey and James Heney extends special thanks to the following: Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Owen Keegan, Richard Shakespeare, Lynda Fox; DLR Arts Office, Kenneth Redmond; Martin Murphy and the staff of Pavilion Theatre; Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Harold School Principal, her staff, pupils and their parents; Martina Flynn; Flanagan’s of Mount Merrion; Carol & Kieran Tobin; Karen McDonnell; Eamon Hewitt, Stena Line; Nicky Logue, Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel; Niall Meehan, Verso Design Consultants, The Flower Company; Professor Harry White; Sallynoggin College of Further Education, Principal Fred Meany; Fiona O’Sullivan; Concetto La Malfa; DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama; Ireland US Council; IS Varian Ltd.
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