She studied with Veronica Dunne at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. She joined the Artist Studio of the Bavarian State Opera as a mezzo-soprano in 2016 and stayed in Munich for seven years.
She has performed in some of the world’s best opera houses, including Carmen, Electra, and Werther.
She will appear in The Tragedy of Carmen at Cork Opera House on Wednesday, February 14th.
Reference: www.corkoperahouse.ie.
My father had a beautiful natural voice. He sang a lot of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Barbara Streisand around the house. I knew the lyrics to these songs when I was 6 or 7 years old. I was fascinated by them and my father’s voice. In the case of Barbra Streisand, I felt that her songs suited me.
Our voices have a similar quality, if I may be allowed to say so. Perhaps that was their range. Barbra Streisand is a mezzo-soprano like me. The best color of her voice is in the lower register. Her artistry, too, she was very natural, very spontaneous. There’s something special about her. she’s unique.
My mom had a Mary Black CD in the car with a lyric book, so I knew all the lyrics. She could keep up. Mary Black also had mezzo qualities and folk elements such as the Irish songs she composed. I performed “Song for Ireland” as a junior certified music practical. It was comforting to hear her story, and so was it when she went abroad to bring me back to Ireland a few years later. The Irish influence was special to me.
My party song when I was a kid was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” She did The Wizard of Oz at Everyman in Cork when she was about 10 years old. It was her first formal audition. She sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I remember being scared of the audition process. They worked on it with me. I changed keys and got higher and higher. I remember feeling confident in that work. Still, I’ll be happy to sing if asked. “The Wizard of Oz” has a bit of a classical sound, so it’s not very pop, so as an opera singer, I’m happy to sing it. It’s a crossover between musical and classical music. Judy Garland sounded very classically operatic.
Carla O’Sullivan is one of Cork’s most famous opera singers and the first opera singer I ever heard. She sang with our school choir at St. Columba’s National School in Douglas. I remember thinking, “Wow, the sound she can make without a microphone is amazing.” I would like to be able to do that someday. ”
She was also a past student of my middle school, Regina Mundi. She gave a concert on her school’s anniversary, so I was able to sing a duet with her at Cork City Hall. That was a big moment for me. Because I took Carla’s mother and grandmother to every concert she went to in Cork when she was a teenager. I sat in the front row and listened to her story.
When I was young, Faith Mighty was a huge figure in Cork. He participated in many light opera and musical competitions. One song I remember singing every year was “The Son Whose Rays Are All Ablaze” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Mikado.” It’s from the operetta. I started taking solo singing lessons with Mary Hegarty and it was something she instilled in me.
Perhaps the most beautiful repertoire we have as mezzo-sopranos is from France. I love singing French opera. Recently, we performed Jules Massenet’s French opera “Werther Around Ireland”. Playing Charlotte has been a dream role for me for a long time. It was very special and something I will never forget. I learned the aria thoroughly from Veronica Dunn. The more I studied opera, the more I identified with the character of Charlotte. I didn’t experience what she did, but it’s a role and a complex character that I wanted to express and explore on stage.
Another favorite is the French opera Samson and Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns. It’s for more mature mezzos, so I’d like to do it in 10 or 15 years. This is a classic mezzo role that mezzos dream of at some stage in their career. There’s a famous aria called “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” (My heart gently wakes up) that I often perform at concerts. It’s a role that I want to continue singing from beginning to end.
Since her introduction to proper opera singers, the standout singer of the last decade has been Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča. I’ve been watching her videos nonstop. We saw how she expressed herself, how her career developed from year to year, how she spoke to her audience, and how she dressed. And her voice has this golden instrumentation and perfect technique. I still go to her when I need inspiration.
In Munich I was very lucky to perform at the Bavarian State Opera. I was able to see a performance at the Opera House for free. I went there almost every night. A standout was Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. It was one of those few magical musical moments. I’ve been to a lot of shows and seen a lot of great things, and I was really moved by it. A night I’ll never forget. It’s a German opera. He has three main roles. Octavian, Sophie, and Marschalline. The trio’s ensemble was heart-wrenching. Since then, the mezzo role of Octavian has been one of my dream roles. Fortunately, I will be singing in three years. After seeing that performance, it just kind of dawned on me.
I love theater. My teacher in Dublin, Veronica Dunn, always encouraged her students to go to as much as possible, not just operas, but plays, symphony orchestra concerts, live interviews, etc. When it came to performance, it was important to expand my knowledge as much as possible. I always love seeing plays at the Abbey Theatre. What really left an impression on me was Portia Coughlan’s performance in Marina Carr a few years ago. Dennis Goff was the main character. It was intense. I remember from there I really wanted to be an actor. Even though we are singers, we are actors. There was a moment when I thought I could definitely create an opera.