Der Rosenkavalier programme book 2023

STRAUSS 

der 

ROSENKAVALIER

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA 

PRINCIPAL FUNDER 

THIS PRODUCTION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A GENEROUS 

CONTRIBUTION FROM A PRIVATE DONOR. 

PARTNERS 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Special thanks to Rosemary Collier, Mary Heffernan and 

Dave Cummins at the Office of Public Works and Dublin Castle. 

Thank you to the Artane School of Music.

RICHARD STRAUSS 1864–1949 

DER 

ROSENKAVALIER 

1909–10 

A CO-PRODUCTION WITH GARSINGTON OPERA AND SANTA FE OPERA 

KÖMODIE FÜR MUSIK (COMEDY FOR MUSIC) IN THREE ACTS 

Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. 

First performance, Königliches Opernhaus, Dresden, 26 January 1911. 

First Irish performance, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 1 December 1964. 

SUNG IN GERMAN WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES 

Running time 4 hours and 15 minutes including intervals of 20 minutes after Act I 

and 30 minutes after Act II. 

The performance on Saturday 11 March will be recorded for broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm. 

PERFORMANCES 2023 

#INORosenkavalier 

Sunday 5 March Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin 

Tuesday 7 March Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin 

Thursday 9 March Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin 

Saturday 11 March Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin 

03

THE DYNAMIC WORLD 

OF OPERA 

Opera has never remained static. It has always changed with the 

times. It has adapted to (and sometimes driven) vocal styles and 

orchestral developments, grappled with the implications of where 

its support and funding have come from, and often moved in 

utterly unexpected directions. 

FERGUS SHEIL 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 

One of the most striking shifts came in the career of Richard 

Strauss. His Elektra, which premiered in Dresden in January 

1909 (and which INO presented in an acclaimed, site-specific 

production for Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2021) is a modernist, 

angst-filled engagement with the world of Greek tragedy. Der 

Rosenkavalier, which followed it almost two years later to the day, 

is a sumptuous, waltz-infused comedy, set in the 1740s, which is 

almost everything that Elektra is not – I see it as a 

kind of summing up of romanticism in music. 

The early years of the 20th century have a fin-de-siècle potency. 

They brought us gargantuan works like Mahler’s Symphony 

of a Thousand, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Strauss’s Der 

Rosenkavalier. All these works from the high altar of central 

European classical music feel to me like a massive party the night 

before the end of the world. The pleasures are endless and they 

take no heed of any storm clouds gathering. They are a world 

apart from the dramatic gear-shift brought about by the 1913 

premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and they seem blissfully 

unaware of a wider European political environment which was on 

a path towards World War I. 

I love Der Rosenkavalier for the extraordinary emotional journey 

it offers. It is a story told through exceptional roles – ideally 

exceptional voices, too – with lavish orchestration, and it 

absolutely demands a glorious production. I see it as an opera 

about growing older, accepting change, holding and releasing 

04

love. Above all it is about one of the great truths that we must all accept: nothing is forever, 

everything changes, beauty and happiness slip through our fingers. I find the scene in Act I 

where the Marschallin describes getting up in the middle of the night to stop all the clocks in 

her house as one of the most intensely affecting moments imaginable. Yet, though there is loss, 

there is also wide-eyed youth, renewal, optimism, freshness and new love. As there must be. 

The clocks must keep ticking and the world must continue to revolve. 

Der Rosenkavalier is a demanding and complex opera to perform. It has not been seen in Dublin 

since 1984, and that is surely in part because of the scale of what it demands. The cast list is long, 

the orchestra is large, and the vocal demands are extravagant. I would not have programmed 

the work without the dream team of Paula Murrihy, Celine Byrne and Claudia Boyle to sing the 

three leading roles for female voices. Each of the three singers has appeared several times with 

Irish National Opera, but having all three on stage together is a dream come true. I have to pinch 

myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. This dream team is perfectly complemented by German 

bass Andreas Bauer Kanabas making his INO and role debut as Baron Ochs. 

The genesis of tonight’s production dates back to May 2014, before Irish National Opera was 

even on the horizon. I was attending an Opera Europa conference in Venice, and it was there 

that, for the first time, I met Nicola Creed from Garsington Festival in the UK. Garsington has a 

distinguished history of staging Strauss, but had not yet done Der Rosenkavalier. I suggested that 

we should undertake this together, and every time we subsequently met we promised that we 

would definitely do it. It is a real joy to have been able to make good on this project and to have 

developed this production directed by Bruno Ravella and designed by Gary McCann, not just 

with our friends in Garsington, but also with new partners on the far side of the Atlantic, Santa Fe 

Opera in New Mexico. You’re in for a heart-warming feast for your eyes as well as your ears. 

Lastly I’d like to salute one of the much appreciated but less often remarked on backbones of 

our company, the selfless players of the Irish National Opera Orchestra. We are in the fortunate 

position of having been able to build up a formidable roster of Irish musicians to come with us 

on our great operatic journey. Your responses to their performances always tell us how much 

you enjoy their playing. 

I hope you enjoy the veritable feast for your eyes and ears that is tonight’s Der Rosenkavalier. 

05

PLAUDITS ALL AROUND 

DIEGO FASCIATI 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

One of the themes so beautifully evoked in Der Rosenkavalier is the 

passage of time and attendant effects of ageing. Irish National Opera is 

still quite young, so we don’t share the apprehensions of the Marschallin. 

At least, not yet. However, as we look back on our first five years of opera 

making, we are proud of what we have achieved in a relatively short 

period of time. The facts and figures are impressive. We have presented 

54 operas – in the flesh, online, indoors and outdoors – and have 

brought opera to 47 different locations nationwide. We have created 

wide-ranging education and outreach initiatives as well as professional 

development programmes. And our work has garnered national and 

international awards as well as critical approbation at home and abroad. 

But, most importantly, we have touched hearts, stimulated minds, 

and brought joy through treasurable productions that highlight the 

best of Irish talent, on and behind the stage, as well as in the pit. 

We have changed the landscape of opera in Ireland. Reporting on 

the 2023 Irish Times Irish Theatre Award nominations, Sara Keating 

noted awards judge Gerry Godley’s view that “the prominence of 

opera across the categories makes a resounding statement about the 

growing status of the art form in the country”. Godley also observed 

that “The kind of wider traction that opera has within the awards this 

year is reflective of what is happening in Ireland overall. The work that 

Irish National Opera has been doing to make opera accessible, the way 

that the Arts Council has chosen to fund it: the piety has been taken 

out of opera in Ireland and the result is vibrant and dynamic.” 

The compliment is not just to INO, but also to the other vibrant opera 

companies and the expanding cohort of opera professionals who are 

vital to growing the opera ecology of the country. Conservatoires have 

been playing a crucial role in the advancement of opera in Ireland, 

and we wish to congratulate the Royal Irish Academy of Music and 

Technological University Dublin on their new and newly-extended 

campuses. They, along with The Lir and IADT, will continue to provide 

06

the training ground for the next generation of opera professionals. It is our role to help ensure 

the viability of careers for anyone wishing to work in opera. 

January brought the New York debut of our co-commission and co-production with Beth Morrison 

Projects of Emma O’Halloran’s Trade. This world premiere was presented with its companion piece 

Mary Motorhead, also with music by Emma O’Halloran and libretto by Mark O’Halloran. “Directed 

by Tom Creed,” the New York Times wrote, “both operas offer virtuosic showcases for daring singing 

actors...O’Halloran shapes lucid, communicative vocal lines; the text always sings out”. INO regular, 

“the vivid, charismatic Naomi Louisa O’Connell,” starred in Mary Motorhead, and INO’s resident 

conductor Elaine Kelly was on the podium for the double bill. Both works will be presented at 

the Los Angeles Opera in April and are scheduled for a future tour in Ireland. 

Also in January, but on this side of the Atlantic, we returned to the Royal Opera House’s Linbury 

Theatre in London, where last year we garnered glowing praise for our production of Vivaldi’s Bajazet 

– the production was nominated for two Olivier Awards and won one. This time we presented 

something completely different: Least Like The Other, Searching For Rosemary Kennedy by Brian 

Irvine and Netia Jones, an original INO commission premiered at Galway International Arts Festival 

in 2019. We were overwhelmed by the positive response to this production. In a five-star review 

for The Observer, Fiona Maddocks observed “Least Like The Other demonstrates the versatility 

of Irish National Opera, who triumphed with Vivaldi’s Bajazet at the Linbury last year and whose 

online project 20 Shots of Opera remains a highlight of that dismal pandemic year 2020.” 

We were particularly pleased that this production gave soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh, a member or our 

2018–19 Opera Studio, the opportunity to make her London debut. And what an impression she 

made! Writing for The Arts Desk, David Nice commented on “a breathtakingly disciplined Royal Opera 

debut”. Ní Fhearraigh, he wrote, “initially covered the role in Least Like The Other, and now owns it. How 

impressive, within weeks of 2023, to see so totally finessed a performance from a young rising star.” 

We thank everyone who supported us during our exciting and exacting first five years, in particular the 

Arts Council, our principal funder, and Culture Ireland, who support our international activities. And we are 

indebted to everyone else who’s joined us on our journey so far, a journey that has really only just begun. 

Tonight we just ask you to give yourself over to the joys and sorrows of Strauss’s endlessly 

seductive Der Rosenkavalier. 

07

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08

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07

SYNOPSIS 

ACT I 

THE MARSCHALLIN’S BEDROOM 

The Marschallin has spent the night with her 

young lover, Octavian, whom she calls by his 

pet-name, Quinquin. Hearing voices, they 

fear that her husband, the Feldmarschall, 

has returned unexpectedly. Octavian 

disguises himself as a maidservant but the 

intruder is the Marschallin’s cousin, Baron 

Ochs of Lerchenau. The Baron brings news 

of his forthcoming marriage to Sophie, the 

daughter of Herr von Faninal, a recently 

ennobled merchant. He is much taken 

with Octavian who, unable to escape, is 

introduced by the Marschallin as Mariandel, 

her new chambermaid. 

Ochs has come to request his cousin’s help 

in finding someone suitable to make the 

traditional presentation of a silver rose to 

his fiancée. The Marschallin objects to the 

attentions he is paying to her chambermaid 

but Ochs is unabashed: such actions are 

a nobleman’s prerogative. He speculates 

that Mariandel is so pretty she must have 

blue blood in her veins and boasts of having 

his own illegitimate offspring in his service, 

his manservant Leopold. The Marschallin 

suggests Count Octavian Rofrano as a 

possible rose-bearer and produces a portrait 

of him. Ochs is intrigued by the resemblance 

to Mariandel. 

The Marschallin holds her morning levée. 

The Baron consults her lawyer but loses his 

temper when told that, as bridegroom, he 

cannot stipulate the terms of the marriage 

settlement. He is approached by the 

mysterious Italians, Valzacchi and Annina, 

who offer to watch over his fiancée to ensure 

her fidelity. 

When everyone has gone, the Marschallin 

remembers herself as a young girl, forced 

into a loveless marriage. When Octavian 

returns she warns him that one day he will 

leave her for someone younger. He rejects 

the very idea. They discuss meeting later and 

part coolly. The Marschallin realises that she 

did not even kiss him goodbye and sends her 

servant after him with the silver rose. 

FIRST INTERVAL (20 MINUTES) 

10

ACT II 

HERR VON FANINAL’S HOUSE 

Faninal’s household is in a state of high 

excitement at the imminent arrival of the 

rose-bearer. Octavian enters with the silver 

rose and presents it to Sophie. Following the 

formalities, they talk, but are interrupted by 

the arrival of the groom, Baron Ochs. Sophie 

is appalled by his condescension towards 

her family and by his boorish behaviour. 

Speculating on the delights of the wedding 

night ahead, Ochs congratulates himself on 

the “luck of the Lerchenaus” and goes off to 

discuss the marriage contract with Faninal. 

Sophie admits to Octavian that she would 

do anything to avoid the marriage. He 

promises to help her. They are overheard by 

Valzacchi and Annina who summon Ochs. He 

at first laughs off the incident but becomes 

increasingly furious when Octavian insists 

that the wedding must be called off. In the 

ensuing struggle, Ochs is wounded. Faninal 

orders Octavian to leave but as he goes he 

enlists the Italians to work for him instead of 

Ochs. Recovering his temper upon realising 

that his wound is not life-threatening, Ochs is 

further cheered by the arrival of Annina with 

a message from “Mariandel”, suggesting a 

rendezvous at an inn. 

SECOND INTERVAL (30 MINUTES) 

ACT III 

A PRIVATE ROOM AT AN INN 

Valzacchi and his accomplices arrange 

various surprises for Baron Ochs, under the 

instruction of Octavian, who is again disguised 

as Mariandel. Ochs arrives but his attempts at 

seduction are thwarted by strange interruptions. 

He rings the bell in terror, only to be confronted 

by Annina, claiming to be his deserted wife and 

producing children whom she insists are his. A 

police commissar arrives and demands that the 

Baron explain what he is doing with a young girl 

in his room. When Ochs attempts to extricate 

himself by explaining that the girl is his fiancée, 

Faninal appears and is scandalised by the 

suggestion that Mariandel is his daughter. He 

sends for Sophie, who is waiting outside, before 

collapsing from shock. The chaos mounts until 

the Marschallin enters, summoned by Leopold 

on his master’s behalf. 

Appraising the situation, she quickly takes 

control. Recognising the commissar as her 

husband’s former army orderly, she convinces 

him that this has all been a joke. Ochs persists in 

trying to insist on his marriage to Sophie but the 

Marschallin reveals Octavian/ Mariandel’s true 

identity and he is persuaded to leave, pursued by 

the landlord, waiters and musicians, demanding 

payment. Sensing Octavian’s dilemma, the 

Marschallin tells him to go to Sophie. Seeing 

them together, so clearly in love, she reflects 

that what she prophesied has come to pass, 

sooner than she had foreseen. The Marschallin 

withdraws, leaving the two young lovers alone. 

11

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE 

BRUNO RAVELLA 

DIRECTOR STRAUSS’S 

DER ROSENKAVALIER 

Der Rosenkavalier offers challenges for a director. Act I is conversational. 

There are moments of romantic bliss, such as the presentation of the rose. 

There’s buffo comedy at the start of Act III. And it comes with baggage 

carried through from the very first production: the Alfred Roller costume 

designs for Dresden, for example, still often inspire the image of Octavian 

carrying the rose in Act II. It is delicate, and refined, and profoundly humane. 

I first listened to this piece in my late teens. I was immediately hooked 

in by the music of the “famous” scenes, and the comedy. The subtler 

elements eluded me – Act I, the subtle class references, Vienna, or the 

generosity of the Marschallin at the end of the opera. When I was asked to 

direct the piece, I was both thrilled and apprehensive. By now the piece 

had gradually opened up its full heart. I could identify with the Marschallin’s desire to hold back time 

whilst accepting it as an inevitability, and still enjoy the comedy. I decided I wanted to stay true to the 

subtle Viennese spirit of the piece, whilst giving it a modern twist and exploring in-depth the characters, 

situations and themes. The importance of the concept of Time is well documented and a key concern of 

Hofmannsthal’s. The Marschallin expands on this in her Act I monologue and her duet with Octavian. 

But beyond chronological time and getting old, we also have moments when time stops, such as in the 

presentation of the rose, the final trio or the Italian Tenor aria. I was particularly keen to illustrate the 

Marschallin and introspection. We also have “time travel”, as when something triggers memory in the 

vein of Proust’s madeleine. I use the sense of smell at regular intervals to convey just that, for instance 

how when the Marschallin again smells the rose perfume it takes her back to when she was a young girl. 

At a pure aesthetic level, I wanted the three acts to be connected, visually and symbolically. Gary 

McCann the designer suggested oversized volutes to represent a Baroque vision of Vienna, with 

Act II a bigger, brasher, tackier version of a nobleman’s palace, and Act III a shabby inn reusing the 

image of the volutes but without the class attached, pun intended. Finally, I was very keen on a coup 

de théâtre for the entrance of the Marschallin in Act III. Her arrival creates a seismic shift in that act. 

She brings nobility and order, and kicks off the denouement of the opera. She also brings with 

her the memory of Act I and I wanted that symbolised in the scenery at that point. 

The Marschallin is the character around whom all the others revolve – she is there at the beginning 

and at the end, before gracefully, generously, lovingly, leaving the stage to Sophie and Octavian. 

13

DER ROSENKAVALIER 

AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT 

When did Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier first make 

it to Ireland? Well, it depends on how you reckon 

it. The papers of the early 20th century reported 

generously on operatic news from all around 

Europe. The Belfast Telegraph got in early, with 

a report on 3 January 1911 speculating about 

the nature of “Strauss’s new opera” from “a few 

meagre details” in a Berlin newspaper. 

On 27 January, the day after the opera’s premiere in Dresden, the 

Cork Examiner printed a long report from the Press Association 

with a telegram-like heading: STRAUSS’S “ROSENKAVALIER.” 

THE PRODUCTION AT DRESDEN. A BRILLIANT AUDIENCE. 

ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. A day later, the Freeman’s Journal 

carried a short Reuters report suggesting that the critics were divided, 

that the public approbation might be attributed to “the presence of 

Strauss himself in the house and the general desire to do him honour 

personally.” It concluded that, “There are no confident prophecies 

of lasting success, and some of the critics have vigorously expressed 

their disapproval.” The Freeman’s Journal later carried a report 

on the first Vienna performance the following April. 

The coverage was of special interest to amateur musicians, 

who would look out for arrangements to play at home, and 

music lovers without performance skills who could purchase 

recordings. Singers from the Dresden production were busy 

recording excerpts before the year was out. Radio broadcasting 

as we know it was of course years away. But one of the major 

avenues of musical dissemination at the time was through 

the cinema. The silent films of the time were anything but 

silent. They were accompanied by music – a pianist, organist, 

ensemble or sometimes an orchestra. 

14 

Image: Richard Strauss in 1922, photo by Ferdinand 

Schmutzer; and, above, Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

In fact, before the end of the decade, Dublin cinemas would begin to compete with one 

another on the basis of the quality of their orchestras. An advertisement for the opening of the 

Bohemian Picture Theatre in Phibsborough in June 1914, promised “Refinement. Good Music. 

Clear, steady pictures.” And the cinema (“opposite Bohs’ ground” explained the advert) was 

soon claiming to have the best cinema orchestra in the city. 

In April 1916, two days before the Easter Rising, the Bohemian Picture Theatre took an 

advertisement in the Dublin Evening Mail to highlight its engagement of Clyde Twelvetrees, 

“Ireland’s Greatest ‘Cellist” to play in its orchestra, which, it boasted, was “admitted by press & 

public alike to be the finest in Ireland”. Twelvetrees, who taught at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, 

had played in the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Henry Wood, and would later become principal 

cellist of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. He still has a cup in Dublin’s Feis Ceoil named after him. 

In the next column on the same page, the Carlton Cinema, which had opened on O’Connell 

Street in 1915 (on the same site where the later, bigger, art Deco Carlton still stands), had an 

advertisement stating that “Mr Erwin Goldwater’s Violin Solos and his Orchestra at the Carlton 

cannot be equalled in Dublin. Our Imitators pay us a great compliment.” Goldwater was a pupil 

of Otakar Ševčík (whose exercises are still used today) and a former member of the orchestra at 

Covent Garden. The Carlton was aiming to outdo the Bohemian. 

In August 1916 the Bohemian presented Carmen, directed by Cecil B DeMille, who was then in 

his mid-thirties. According to a Dublin Evening Mail advertisement, the cinema was screening it 

“at Enormous Expense”. The billing described the film as an “opera-drama, in 5 Magnificent Acts, 

Featuring Geraldine Farrar (The Incomparable International Star)”. Of course Farrar, then a mainstay 

of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, only acted in the film. She didn’t sing. But the Bohemian did call 

on the services of two singers, Carlo Berckmans, “The Famous Belgian Operatic Tenor,” and Irvine 

Lynch, “The distinguished Irish Basso, fresh from his London Successes”. Carmen shared the bill with a 

Keystone comedy, a Pathé Gazette and a “full programme”. Bizet’s name appeared nowhere. DeMille 

baulked at the asking price for the film rights to the opera, and instead paid much less for the rights to 

Merimée’s novel. Yet he still found the money to film the bullfight scene to a crowd of 22,000 extras. 

Musical competition between cinemas intensified. On 25 August 1919 the Irish Independent carried 

an advertisement for the Carlton’s screening of Jerome Storm’s A Desert Wooing. The ad promised 

“Drama, Comedy, Travel, Gazette, etc.” and also a “Violin Solo, ‘Habanera’ by Sarasate, by Mr. Erwin 

Goldwater” and it listed an orchestral selection of seven items. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier jostled 

15

with work by Meyerbeer, Gounod, Suppé, Fauchey, Delibes and Michiels. Yes. I didn’t recognise all the 

names, either. And it was on screen that Der Rosenkavalier would get its first major outing in Ireland 

in October 1926, at the Grand Central Cinema at the Liffey end of O’Connell Street. The building still 

stands with its original façade. But, after a fire in 1949, the cinema was replaced by a branch of the 

Hibernian Bank, now part of Bank of Ireland. There were three Rosenkavalier screenings every 

day with what an advertisement in the Evening Herald called “one of the loveliest pictures possible”. 

They were interleaved with four screenings of the 1926 world heavyweight boxing title fight in which 

Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey. Without any audio, that must have been quite a strange show. 

The opera, which was shot as a silent film, was directed by Robert Wiene of The Cabinet of 

Dr Caligari fame, and it was created with the involvement of both of Strauss and his librettist, 

Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The storyline had been changed, a new march was composed, and 

the arrangement was supervised by the composer. The project, which had premiered on 10 

January 1926 at the opera house in Dresden with Strauss conducting, was international news. 

Hofmannsthal was the prime mover, and he had serious reasons for his enthusiasm. “On account 

of the possible financial return for which nothing undue is demanded,” he wrote to Strauss in 

October 1923, “I attach above all the greatest importance to the conversation with Rosenauer 

about the film project. My income last quarter from my (German) share in the operas, from German 

performances of my stage plays, and from all book sales totalled two and a quarter dollars!” 

In January 1925 he broached the subject again in a letter to Strauss, “I would look upon the film, 

when it comes out, as a positive fillip and new impetus to the opera’s success in the theatre,” he 

wrote. “Why? Please have a look at my sketch for the film scenario or ask someone to read you a 

little of it. The whole thing is treated in the manner of a novel: it introduces the characters or, for 

those who know them, tells something new of these old acquaintances. Nowhere (not even in the 

final scene) are the events of the opera exactly repeated – not in a single scene. If the film appeals, 

it cannot but arouse great eagerness to see the now familiar characters in the original action 

on the stage, alive, speaking, singing.” There was evidence to support him. Farrar’s Carmen 

on stage became a bigger draw after her silent appearance in the role on the big screen. The 

Rosenkavalier film was first screened in the opera house in Dresden, with Strauss conducting, in 

January 1926. The composer came to London and conducted the British premiere the following 

April at the Tivoli Theatre, and recorded a suite from the score at the Queen’s Hall, the original 

16

Image: The Grand Central Cinema 

at 6-7 O’Connell Street (with domed 

portico entrance), ca 1928. 

Below: Der Rosenkavalier 

advertisement in the Evening 

Herald, 18 October 1926. 

home of the Henry Wood Proms. Opera on film has a surprisingly long history in the silent era, 

from arias and duets not very well synchronised with acoustic recordings in the 1890s through 

similar experiments in the early years of the new century. It’s been estimated that around 1,500 

operatic shorts with sound were made in Germany alone. But the survival rate is very low. 

The silent 1926 Der Rosenkavalier was the biggest 

venture of its kind and might have been expected to 

be quickly copied. But the world of film was changed 

by the arrival of talkies and the success of Al Jolson 

in Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer in 1927. Given its 

status, it’s ironic that that film concentrated not on 

speech, but on the musical numbers, and actually 

used old-fashioned intertitles to move the plot on 

rather than recording the actors’ speaking voices. 

Strauss seems never to have been that enamoured of the filmed opera project. And Hofmannsthal, too, 

became disillusioned, calling it “the most dilettante and clumsy film imaginable”. He can’t have been 

happy that the backstory of his new script was jettisoned. And there was the fact that the new score was 

somewhat longer than the film, so that in the cinema the film had to be broken up to facilitate the music. 

As a silent movie it lost value when the talkies took over. The prints of the film were intentionally destroyed 

within a few years, and the one that got away was not discovered until the 1960s. Something over 

three quarters of the film survived, though not the ending. Full restoration had to wait until 2006. 

Der Rosenkavalier finally made it to the opera stage in Ireland at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin 

on 1 December 1964. Its four performances featured in a 17-night Dublin Grand Opera Society 

season. The production was by Ernst August Schneider, with Elisabeth Thoma (Marschallin), 

Margarethe Sjostedt (Octavian), Veronica Dunne (Sophie) and Erich Winkelmann (Baron Ochs), 

and was conducted by Napoloene Annovazzi. 

The newspapers of 1926 contain strange connections with 2023. There are Rosenkavalier ads 

on pages with a leader article about “Fuel Famine”, and an ad pushing gas over coal, which had 

risen in price and was still in short supply as a consequence of the general strike in the UK. As 

well as bemoaning “distress amongst the poor who are without fire,” the leader article even 

raises the issue of “Russia’s hand in the coal strike”. 

MICHAEL DERVAN 

17

BEING PAU 

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE 

FIRST OPERA YOU WENT TO? 

The first opera I went to was Puccini’s La 

bohème. It was with Opera Ireland. I was 

already in college, so I’d already chosen to do 

voice as a performance degree in DIT. I believe 

I was in my first year, and Mairéad Hurley, 

who was my répétiteur, was involved in the 

production and was also doing the surtitles. 

She offered me the opportunity to go. I do 

remember it was pretty magical. It was also my 

first time in the Gaiety Theatre, and she had me 

up in a box, where I had both an orchestra and 

a stage view. It felt very special to see my first 

opera there. It was also maybe a little crazy that 

the first time I saw an opera I’d already chosen 

to do this as a full-time education. 

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE 

FIRST OPERA YOU WERE IN? 

The first opera I was in was as a student. I 

remember an awful lot about it because it was 

in Italy. While I was at DIT I remember Jane 

Carty [then a radio producer at RTÉ] wrote 

or spoke with the head of department at that 

time, Anne-Marie O’Sullivan, who was my 

teacher, and told her that the William Walton 

Foundation, which was in Italy, was doing 

a course for young singers, and they were 

going to be staging L’Ormindo by Cavalli. The 

auditions were going to be in London and they 

said, We don’t have any Irish singers. Why 

are they not coming over and auditioning? I 

16

LA MURRIHY... 

remember myself and Roland Davitt [the 

baritone] were sent over. It was my first time 

in London. I had no idea...I just picked an aria 

from the piece. Three weeks later I got a call 

to say that I’d got a part. And that summer 

I ended up spending three weeks in Ischia. 

It all just seems completely surreal now, to 

think that the first opera I ever did was in 

Italy. It was the first opera I’d ever studied in 

Italian. I was working with two of the greatest 

people in the business. Colin Graham was 

the director, who had worked very closely 

with Benjamin Britten and the English Opera 

Group, and I think staged Curlew River and 

other Britten premieres. And Stephen Lord, 

a wonderful conductor. Both of them at 

the time were artistic director and musical 

director of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. 

I don’t know how it came that they were 

running this programme. I was one of maybe 

nine singers. We staged the opera, just with 

continuo, no orchestra. I do remember being 

very naive in my preparation. I didn’t realise 

that we had to have it memorised on day 

one. I had never worked with a language 

coach. We had this wonderful language 

coach, Corradina Caporello, I still chat with 

her and work with her. She had come from 

Juilliard. I thought I was singing the words 

correctly. But, no, it was IPA, the International 

Phonetic Alphabet, the whole thing, breaking 

it down. That was an amazing baptism of fire. 

My first professional engagement was with 

Opera Ireland, the small role of Feklusha in 

Janáček’s Katya Kabanová. I just have a very 

vivid memory that I maybe had three lines to 

sing in the whole thing. And James Robinson, 

the director, had me deliver them from on top 

of a ladder. The smaller parts are often more 

difficult, because you’re on tenterhooks to 

have your big break. And there I was being on 

a ladder and capturing the maestro’s cue. 

WHAT WAS THE BEST OPERA-RELATED 

ADVICE YOU EVER GOT? 

I don’t think I can remember any singular 

piece of advice. I’ve had a lot of mentors, 

thankfully, in my life and I still have what I 

would call a team of people that I trust. I think 

probably the best piece of advice has always 

been to be myself, to be truthful to my voice, 

my work, my own worth – to be confident in 

my own worth and what I can give and offer 

as an artist. Colin Graham was extraordinary 

in the work that he did in preparation. That’s 

another thing I’ve been told. Be as prepared 

as you can. That is something I try to take with 

me now, because I think it’s only when you 

have done the work and come to the table 

as prepared as you can be, that then you 

can be open to the creative process. Which 

is the part that I love. I love rehearsing, I love 

working with a team of people. But if you’re 

not there with your preparation it’s really 

hard to be open to that. It all comes to that 

19

quote, “Be yourself, because everybody else 

is taken,” by Oscar Wilde. I love that. In opera, 

what touches people is...If you allow yourself 

to be vulnerable and to tell the story and be 

true to yourself, that’s what the audience gets. 

WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING 

MISCONCEPTION ABOUT OPERA? 

There are many, aren’t there. This idea that 

opera is only for a certain group of people 

who understand it. That it is elite. That it is 

something that you need to be educated 

on in order to attend. I hate that. I think that 

opera should be accessible to everybody. It 

think it’s an incredible artform that combines 

so many things. It’s that complete work, you 

know, that Wagner talks about. You have the 

music, you have the libretto, you most often 

have incredible sets, costumes, orchestra. All 

of it comes together and I think people should 

embrace that. Opera has so much to offer. 

WHAT MOMENT DO YOU MOST 

LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN YOU 

GO TO A PERFORMANCE OF DER 

ROSENKAVALIER? 

When I didn’t know the role, when I hadn’t 

studied it in its entirety, I do remember that 

moment of the presentation of the rose, early 

in Act II, is just the most special music. And 

when Octavian is revealed with the silver rose 

in his hand, it’s an extraordinary moment. I 

remember being in the audience and seeing 

it when my friend was singing Sophie. I just 

thought it was amazing. 

WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING 

ASPECT OF SINGING OCTAVIAN? 

One of the most challenging aspects is 

the stamina required. I think it is one of 

the longest operatic roles that I have ever 

studied. The role of Octavian is massive, 

and he is onstage for the majority of the 

opera. Everything revolves around him. It 

begins with him, it ends with him, I sing the 

opening notes, I sing the final note, and then, 

basically, everything in between. The Baron 

Ochs probably comes close as well. So for me 

it’s the stamina. I don’t think about pacing. 

Strauss is such a genius that it just takes care 

of itself from that point of view. The other 

aspect would be the fact that, dramatically, 

it’s a challenge. I’m playing the role of a 

young man, 17 years old and two months. 

And in the opera I have to play Mariandel, 

so I am a woman playing a man who dresses 

up as a woman. That’s challenging, so that it 

doesn’t come across as too kitsch or clichéd. 

It’s quite tricky. 

20

WHAT ASPECT OF THE CAREER OF A 

SINGER GIVES YOU THE GREATEST 

SATISFACTION? 

Working with different people. I just love the 

people that I meet in this business. I think 

it’s such a gift to be able to travel to different 

countries, and live in these countries, often 

for six to eight weeks, or twelve weeks at a 

time, and meet people who live there and 

work there. And then to meet the different 

type of people that you come across in opera. 

I love the collaborative aspect of the job. It’s 

always amazing the amount of people that 

are involved in a production. I don’t know 

if anybody quite realises the effort, and the 

sheer number of people that are involved in 

putting on a show. I love being a part of that. 

I’m a person who enjoys being around people, 

being a member of a team. It’s something 

that I learnt as well when I was in Frankfurt 

[where she was a member of the ensemble at 

Oper Frankfurt]. I so enjoyed the camaraderie 

that’s involved in putting on a show. That also 

ties in with the travelling and the different 

countries that I get to go to together with my 

family, and then experiencing that life on 

the road – which has huge challenges but 

amazing rewards. We homeschool. If the job 

is anything over two weeks we try to travel 

together. It depends. We have to look at each 

engagement as it comes, ahead of time, and 

see what makes the most sense. We just 

spent a month in Copenhagen. We were in 

Austria for the New Year. We’ll be going to 

Frankfurt the week after Der Rosenkavalier 

for a new production of Handel’s Hercules, 

the four of us. 

IF YOU WEREN’T A SINGER, WHAT 

MIGHT YOU HAVE BECOME? 

When I decided that I wanted to pursue 

music, I had also primary school teaching 

down as my option. However, I know that 

ultimately I would have needed to be 

somehow involved in stage. So if I were not an 

opera singer, I think I would like to be an actor 

in film or theatre. I would like to try that. 

IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL DERVAN 

21

CAST IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE 

Octavian Paula Murrihy Mezzo-soprano 

called Quinquin, a young gentleman of noble family 

The Marschallin Celine Byrne Soprano 

Princess of Werdenberg 

The Marschallin’s Major Domo Michael Bell Tenor 

Baron Ochs of Lerchenau Andreas Bauer Kanabas Bass 

Lackeys Richard Shaffrey Tenor 

David Mulhall 

Bass 

Ciarán Crangle 

Tenor 

Lewis Dillon 

Bass 

Noble Orphans Jade Phoenix Soprano 

Madeline Judge 

Mezzo-soprano 

Leanne Fitzgerald 

Mezzo-soprano 

A milliner Niamh St John Soprano 

An animal seller Fearghal Curtis Tenor 

Valzacchi Peter van Hulle Tenor 

A Man of Affairs 

An Italian Tenor César Cortés Tenor 

A notary Mark Nathan Bass 

Annina Carolyn Holt Mezzo-soprano 

Partner of Valzacchi 

Herr von Faninal Samuel Dale Johnson Baritone 

A rich merchant, newly ennobled 

Marianne Leizmetzerin Rachel Croash Soprano 

Companion to Sophie 

Faninal’s Major Domo William Pearson Tenor 

Sophie von Faninal Claudia Boyle Soprano 

Faninal’s daughter 

22

CAST IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE 

Lerchenau’s Servants Fearghal Curtis Tenor 

David Scott 

Bass 

Kevin Neville 

Bass 

Landlord Andrew Masterson Tenor 

Waiters Fearghal Curtis Tenor 

Ben Escorcio 

Tenor 

Rory Dunne 

Bass 

Matthew Mannion 

Bass 

Commissary of Police David Howes Bass-baritone 

Boots Kevin Neville Bass 

SILENT ROLES 

Cupid Ethan O’Connor Actor 

Leopold Vladyslav Volk Actor 

CREATIVE TEAM 

Conductor 

Director 

Set & Costume Designer 

Lighting Designer 

Associate Lighting Designer 

Chorus Director & Resident Conductor 

Assistant Conductor 

Assistant Director 

Assistant Director 

Répétiteur 

Répétiteur 

Language Coach 

Fergus Sheil 

Bruno Ravella 

Gary McCann 

Malcolm Rippeth 

Edward Saunders 

Elaine Kelly 

Medb Brereton Hurley 

Chris Kelly 

Katie O’Halloran 

Aoife O’Sullivan 

Richard McGrath 

Anna Weiss-Tuite 

23

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA 

First Violins 

Sarah Sew LEADER 

David O’Doherty 

Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke 

Anita Vedres 

Jennifer Murphy 

Emma Masterson 

Maria Ryan 

Brigid Leman 

Victor Perez Vigas 

Matthew Wylie 

Second Violins 

Larissa O’Grady 

Aoife Dowdall 

Christine Kenny 

Sarah Perricone 

Justyna Dabek 

Andrew Sheeran 

Feilimidh Nunan 

Rachael Masterson 

Violas 

Adele Johnson 

Giammaria Tesei 

Alison Comerford 

Gawain Usher 

Carla Vedres-Boyle 

Abigail Prián Gallardo 

Double basses 

Dominic Dudley 

Maeve Sheil 

Alex Felle 

Carlos Gomes 

Cellos 

Christian Elliott 

Alona Kliuchka 

Zoë Nagle 

Niall O’Loughlin 

Callum Owens 

Grace Coughlan 

Harps 

Dianne Marshall 

Claire O’Donnell 

Flutes 

Lina Andonovska 

Meadhbh O’Rourke 

Piccolo 

Susan Doyle 

Oboes 

Aoife McCambridge 

Jenny Magee 

Cor anglais 

Rebecca Halliday 

Clarinets 

Conor Sheil 

Suzanne Brennan 

E-flat Clarinet 

Seamus Wylie 

Basset horn & Bass clarinet 

Patrick Burke 

Bassoons 

Sinéad Frost 

Clíona Warren 

Contrabassoon 

Éanna Monaghan 

Horns 

Hannah Miller 

Ian Dakin 

Dewi Jones 

Liam Duffy 

Javier Fernandez 

Trumpets 

Darren Moore 

Pamela Stainer 

Colm Byrne 

Trombones 

Ross Lyness 

Clara Donnellan 

Paul Frost 

Tuba 

Francis Magee 

Timpani 

Noel Eccles 

Percussion 

Richard O’Donnell 

Brian Dungan 

Patrick Nolan 

Sam Staunton 

Celesta 

Edward Holly 

24

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA CHORUS 

Sopranos 

Jessica Hackett 

Ami Hewitt 

Megan O’Neill 

Jade Phoenix 

Niamh St John 

Mezzo-sopranos 

Leanne Fitzgerald 

Madeline Judge 

Sarah Kilcoyne 

Heather Sammon 

Dominica Williams 

Tenors 

Michael Bell 

Ciarán Crangle 

Fearghal Curtis 

Ben Escorcio 

Andrew Masterson 

William Pearson 

Richard Shaffrey 

Basses 

Lewis Dillon 

Rory Dunne 

Matthew Mannion 

David Mulhall 

Mark Nathan 

Kevin Neville 

David Scott 

CHILDREN’S CHORUS 

Clare Griffin 

Joya Hobson 

Catherine Leahy 

Emma Griffin 

Aibhín Hughes 

Ellen McAuliffe 

Flora Egan 

Joanna Molloy 

Smock Alley and Once Off Productions 

in association with INO 

An Audience with 

Maria Callas 

A 

Play by 

Terence McNally 

MASTER 

CLASS 

Smock Alley Theatre 

11 TH – 27 TH May 2023 

Tickets 

smockalley.com / 01 677 0014 

€25 / €22 Previews and Matinees, 

Dinner + Show Ticket €50 

25

MOZART 

COSÌ 

FAN TUTTE 

TUE 23 – SAT 27 MAY 2023 

TIMES: TUE 23, WED 24, THUR 25, FRI 26 MAY 7.30PM | SAT 27 MAY 2PM & 7.30PM 

TICKETS FROM €15 | TICKETMASTER.IE 

Internet bookings subject to 12.5% service charge per ticket (Max €6.85 per ticket). Agents €3.50 per ticket. 

irishnationalopera.ie

PRODUCTION TEAM 

Production Manager 

Peter Jordan 

Company Stage Manager 

Paula Tierney 

Stage Manager 

Anne Kyle 

Assistant Stage Managers 

Alessandro Rossetti 

Rachel Ellen Bollard 

Rachel Spratt 

Technical SM 

Danny Hones 

Technical Crew 

Abraham Allen 

Peter Boyle 

Conor Courtney 

Andy Edwards 

Sami Finucane 

Thomas Knight 

Fergus McDonagh 

Joey Maguire 

Martin Wallace 

Damien Woods 

Production Assistant 

Eoin Hanaway 

Chief LX 

Pip Walsh 

LX Programmer 

Eoin McNinch 

LX Crew 

Maeubh Brennan 

June González Iriarte 

Donal McNinch 

Líadan Ní Chearbhaill 

Wigs & Makeup Supervisor 

Carole Dunne 

Wigs, hair, Makeup Assistants 

Tee Elliott 

Marion O’Toole 

Wigs & Makeup Interns 

Callum O’Higgins 

Saoirse O’hUadhaigh 

Rebecca Wise 

John Carey 

Shauna Dowdall 

Costume Supervisor 

Aoife O’Rourke 

Costume Assistants 

Ana O’Doherty 

Kate O’Doherty 

Diméli Katiussia Rambo 

Hazel Ryan 

Chaperones 

Gillian Oman 

Jordan Browne 

Surtitle Operator 

Thomas Neill 

Lighting Provider 

Production Services Ireland 

ADDITIONAL THANKS 

Photography 

Kip Carroll 

Patrick Redmond 

Ste Murray 

Video 

Niall Sheerin 

Charlie Joe Doherty 

Olmo Hurley & Aaron Riordan 

Gansee 

Graphic Design 

Alphabet Soup 

Programme edited by 

Michael Dervan 

Transport 

Trevor Price 

Owen & Odhran Sherwin 

27

BIOGRAPHIES 

FERGUS SHEIL 

CONDUCTOR 

BRUNO RAVELLA 

DIRECTOR 

Fergus is the founding artistic 

director of Irish National Opera. 

He has conducted a wideranging 

repertoire of 48 operas 

in performance, recordings and 

on film. Highlights include Verdi’s 

Aida, Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like The 

Other – Searching For Rosemary Kennedy, Rossini’s 

La Cenerentola, half of 20 Shots of Opera, Strauss’s 

Elektra, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Rossini’s William 

Tell (Irish National Opera). He has also conducted 

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), 

which was recorded and issued on CD by RTÉ lyric fm. 

He has appeared with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the 

Ulster Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra and 

other orchestras at home and abroad. He has toured 

Ireland with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra 

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. Before founding Irish National Opera 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 over sixty 

operas, which have been seen around Ireland and 

in London, Edinburgh, New York, Amsterdam and 

Luxembourg. 

Bruno Ravella is an international 

opera director based in London. 

Born in Casablanca, Morocco, 

of Italian and Polish parents, he 

studied in France and moved to 

London in 1991 on graduation. His 

critically acclaimed production of Massenet’s Werther 

at the Opera national de Lorraine won the Prix Claude- 

Rostand in 2017–18. Verdi’s Falstaff at Garsington 

Opera in 2018 was nominated for the South Bank Sky 

Arts Award in the Opera category. This was his second 

production at Garsington after a very successful 

Strauss’s Intermezzo in 2015. He has directed Verdi’s 

Rigoletto (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis), Puccini’s 

La bohème (Opera di Firenze, Italy), Offenbach’s 

La belle Hélène and Ravel’s L’heure espagnole 

with Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Opéra national de 

Lorraine, France), Werther (Opéra de Québec), 

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Verdi’s Macbeth, 

Handel’s Agrippina, Verdi’s Falstaff and Verdi’s La 

traviata (Iford Arts, UK), Handel’s Giulio Cesare and 

Verdi’s La traviata (Stand’été, Moutier, Switzerland), 

Bizet’s Carmen (Riverside Opera, UK), Charpentier’s 

La Descente d’Orphée aux enfers (Glyndebourne 

Jerwood Project, UK), and Blow’s Venus and Adonis 

(Les Arts Florissants, France). He was nominated for 

the Independent Opera Director Fellowship in 2015. 

He has been recognised time and again for his “pinsharp 

attention to detail” and ability to clearly portray 

subtleties of the human condition. He makes his INO 

debut with Der Rosenkavalier. 

28

GARY McCANN 

DESIGNER 

MALCOLM RIPPETH 

LIGHTING DESIGNER 

Gary McCann has worked extensively 

as a set and costume designer for 

some of the world’s most significant 

companies. His credits include 

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Santa 

Fe Opera), Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos 

(Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 

and Teatro Massimo, Palermo); Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz 

(Maggio Musicale Fiorentino); Britten’s Peter Grimes 

(Teatro La Fenice), Puccini’s Tosca (Wroclaw Opera/Irish 

National Opera); Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (Garsington 

Opera, Santa Fe Opera), Beethoven’s Fidelio (Garsington 

Opera); Weber’s Der Freischütz, Verdi’s Macbeth (Vienna 

State Opera); Verdi’s La forza del destino, Don Carlos and 

Simon Boccanegra, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Opéra 

Royal de Wallonie-Liége); Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (Opéra 

de Lausanne, Royal Opera House Muscat, ABAO Bilbao 

Opera); My Fair Lady (Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, Palermo); 

Bizet’s Carmen (Opera Philadelphia/Seattle Opera); 

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Smetana’s The Bartered 

Bride, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Strauss’s Ariadne 

auf Naxos, Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole, Poulenc’s La Voix 

humaine, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel (Nederlandse 

Reisopera); Handel’s Faramondo (Göttingen, Brisbane 

Baroque); Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (Norwegian 

National Opera); Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel 

(Santa Fe Opera/Dallas Opera); and Mozart’s La clemenza 

di Tito (Lausanne, Oviedo, Bilbao); The Girl In The Yellow 

Dress (Market Theatre Johannesburg, Baxter Theatre Cape 

Town, Stockholm City Theatre); Britten’s Les Illuminations 

(Aldeburgh Music); Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman 

(Ekaterinburg); Three Days in May, Dangerous Corner, The 

Shawshank Redemption, La Cage aux Folles, The Sound 

of Music, Saturday Night Fever, Cilla the Musical (Bill 

Kenwright, UK tours) and Killology (Royal Court). Gary 

lives in Brighton, Sussex. 

Malcolm’s opera designs include 

Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers at 

Glyndebourne; Handel’s Alcina 

at Santa Fe Opera; Offenbach’s 

Orpheus in the Underworld at 

English National Opera; Prokofiev’s 

War and Peace at Welsh National Opera; Britten’s 

The Turn of the Screw at Garsington Opera; Bizet’s 

Ivan the Terrible at Grange Park; Monteverdi’s The 

Coronation of Poppea at Opera North; Verdi’s Stiffelio 

at Opéra national du Rhin; Offenbach’s La belle 

Hélène at Opéra national du Lorraine; Massenet’s 

Werther at Opéra de Marseille; Arthur Lavandier’s 

Le Premier meurtre at Opéra de Lille; Handel’s 

Hercules at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe; 

Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves at St Gallen and 

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Oper Graz. Theatre 

credits include My Brilliant Friend at National Theatre 

London; Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in the West End; 

The Wild Bride for Kneehigh; The Dead at the Abbey, 

A View from the Bridge at the Gate; The Field at the 

Olympia and The Mirror Crack’d at the Gaiety. He 

makes his INO debut in Der Rosenkavalier. 

29

BIOGRAPHIES 

ELAINE KELLY 

CHORUS DIRECTOR 

MEDB BRERETON HURLEY 

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR 

Elaine Kelly is the resident 

conductor of Irish National 

Opera. Upon her appointment 

in late 2021, she conducted a 

national tour with Peter Maxwell 

Davies’s The Lighthouse. She also 

conducted nine new works by Irish composers in 

INO’s internationally praised 20 Shots of Opera in 

2020 as well as the film of Amanda Feery’s A Thing 

I Cannot Name which was streamed as part of the 

West Cork Literary Festival in July 2021. She held the 

position of studio conductor in the INO Opera Studio 

from 2019–21, and worked as assistant conductor 

and chorus director on performances of Rossini’s 

La Cenerentola, Mozart’s The Abduction from the 

Seraglio, Puccini’s La bohéme, Strauss’s Elektra, 

Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The First Child, 

Beethoven’s Fidelio and Bizet’s Carmen, and films of 

Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse and Gerald Barry’s 

Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. In March 2022 she 

was invited to work as assistant conductor on Opéra 

National de Bordeaux’s production of Donizetti’s 

L’elisir d’amore. In 2014 she won the inaugural ESB 

Feis Ceoil Orchestral Conducting Competition which 

led to engagements with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. 

She was musical director of the University of Limerick 

Orchestra (2019–21), the Dublin Symphony Orchestra 

(2017–19) and has worked with the National 

Symphony Orchestra, Dublin Youth Orchestra and Cork 

Concert Orchestra. Elaine is a BMus and MA graduate 

of the MTU Cork School of Music. 

Medb Brereton Hurley is from 

Bettystown, Co. Meath. She 

worked as assistant conductor of 

Julianstown Youth Orchestra and 

in 2019 conducted the orchestra 

in Verdi’s Nabucco Overture at the 

Lisbon International Festival of Youth Orchestras. 

She was the conductor/co-musical director of a 

production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the 

Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD, in February 2022. She 

has been the conductor of Trinity Orchestra since 

September 2020 and made her official concert debut 

with the orchestra in April 2022. She graduated from 

TCD with a first class honours degree last year and 

also started working as conductor of the newly formed 

Darndale Community Choir. She has also composed 

music and sound designed for theatre, including 

many plays for DU Players and multimedia online 

installations, including GULL (2020), Cagebirds, 

Echo and Everest (both 2021). She has designed 

and created two multimedia projects of her own: 

POP-TART (2020), as part of DU Players’ Resilience 

Festival, and Aurora (2021), as part of their Reverie 

Festival. POP-TART was nominated for six different 

awards at the 2020 ISDAs, including Best Original 

Writing and Best Sound, and won for Best Hair and 

Makeup. Medb has studied French horn at the Royal 

Irish Academy of Music since 2015 and won the Walton 

Cup at Feis Ceoil 2021. She has been a member of the 

quintet Vox Amicum Brass since 2019. 

30

CHRIS KELLY 

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 

KATIE O’HALLORAN 

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 

Chris is a director based in Dublin, 

working in opera and theatre. 

He holds a BMus from DIT and 

an MA in Theatre Practice from 

the Gaiety School of Acting and 

UCD. His previous directing 

credits include Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Viardot’s 

Cendrillon (Irish premiere), Humperdinck’s Hänsel 

und Gretel, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Purcell’s 

Dido and Aeneas, all with North Dublin Opera. For 

Opera Collective Ireland, he was assistant director 

for Britten’s Owen Wingrave, Raymond Deane’s 

Vagabones and Handel’s Semele. His theatre credits 

include Suicide Tuesday (Little Shadow Theatre 

Company), I Am (GSA), Unicorns Are Real (Jellybelly), 

and his own adaptation of Alice in Wonderland 

(Skerries Soundwaves Festival). In 2021, he wrote and 

co-directed Twenty Minutes from Nowhere with Crave 

Productions and Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, which was 

also performed in Listowel Writer’s Week. 

Katie is a Dublin-based, 

interdisciplinary director from 

Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 

graduating from The Lir Academy 

in 2020, she has worked with 

Druid, Irish National Opera, Dublin 

Youth Theatre, the Lir, dlr Mill Theatre, Aon Scéal 

Theatre, Dublin Fringe, and Fishamble. She is the 

2022 recipient of Druid’s Marie Mullen Bursary, and 

directed Laura Hennessey DeSena’s The Pendulum 

Moon as a Druid Debut for the Galway International 

Arts Festival. She holds a BFA (Hons) in Musical 

Theatre from The Boston Conservatory and an MFA 

(Distinction) in Directing from The Lir Academy. 

31

BIOGRAPHIES 

AOIFE O’SULLIVAN 

RÉPÉTITEUR 

RICHARD McGRATH 

RÉPÉTITEUR 

Aoife O’Sullivan was born in Dublin 

and studied at the College of Music 

with Frank Heneghan and later 

at the RIAM 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 and in 2001 

she joined the staff there for her final two years. 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, and on 

three Handel operas for Opera Theatre Company 

(Orlando, Xerxes, and Alcina), and for Opera Ireland 

on Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and Britten’s 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also worked at 

the National Opera Studio in London and was on 

the deputy coach list for the Jette Parker Young 

Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent 

Garden. She has played for masterclasses including 

those given by Malcolm Martineau, Ann Murray, 

Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson and Anna Moffo. 

She worked on Mozart’s Zaide at the Britten Pears 

Young Artist Programme and on Britten’s Turn of the 

Screw for the Cheltenham Festival with Paul Kildea. 

She has appeared at the Wigmore Hall in concerts 

with Ann Murray (chamber versions of Mahler and 

Berg), Gweneth Ann Jeffers, Wendy Dawn Thompson 

and Sinéad Campbell Wallace. She is now based in 

Dublin where she works as a répétiteur and vocal 

coach at TU Dublin Conservatoire and also regularly 

for INO. 

Richard studied at Maynooth 

University, the Royal Irish Academy 

of Music and the Guildhall School 

of Music and Drama, London. 

He was a trainee répétiteur at 

English National Opera and since 

then he has worked with companies including Irish 

National Opera, Northern Ireland Opera, Wide Open 

Opera, Opera Theatre Company and Lyric Opera. 

Previous productions with these companies include 

Bizet’s Carmen (INO and Lyric Opera), Donnacha 

Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The First Child (Landmark 

Productions/INO), Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures 

Under Ground (INO), Beethoven’s Fidelio (Lyric 

Opera), Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Lyric Opera, 

Wide Open Opera and English National Opera), 

Mozart’s The Magic Flute (INO), Bartók’s Bluebeard’s 

Castle (INO), Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s 

The Second Violinist (Landmark Productions/INO), 

Verdi’s La traviata (English National Opera and Lyric 

Opera), Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Lyric Opera), 

Puccini’s La bohème (Opera Theatre Company, 

English National Opera and Lyric Opera), Donnacha 

Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The Last Hotel (Landmark 

Productions/Wide Open Opera), Verdi’s Rigoletto 

(Opera Theatre Company), Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore 

(Opera Theatre Company and Northern Ireland 

Opera) and John Adams’s Nixon in China (Wide 

Open Opera). Richard is a répétiteur in the vocal 

department at the TU Dublin Conservatoire and is a 

coach for the INO Opera Studio. 

32

ANNA WEISS-TUITE 

LANGUAGE COACH 

Anna Weiss-Tuite is senior German 

language lecturer and coach of 

German diction for second- and 

third-year Vocal Studies students, 

and also at Masters level at the 

Royal Irish Academy of Music. She 

makes her INO debut with Der Rosenkavalier. 

CELINE BYRNE 

SOPRANO 

THE MARSCHALLIN 

Celine Byrne, who won First Prize 

and gold medal at the Maria Callas 

International Grand Prix in Athens in 

2007, is an INO Artistic Partner and 

made her company debut in the title 

role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly 

in 2019. Other INO appearances include Micaëla in 

Bizet’s Carmen and a concert performance of Mimì in 

Puccini’s La bohème (released by Signum Records). 

Other recent performances include Madama 

Butterfly (Bregenz Festival), Magda in Puccini’s 

La rondine (Minnesota Opera), Madama Butterfly 

(Staatstheater Kassel), Die Marschallin in Strauss’s 

Der Rosenkavalier (Santiago), Marietta/Marie in 

Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (RTÉ NSO), Donna Elvira in 

Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Israeli Opera), the title role in 

Puccini’s Tosca (Mikhailovsky Opera, St Petersburg), 

Liù in Puccini’s Turandot (Oper Leipzig and Deutsche 

Oper am Rhein), Elisabeth in Verdi’s Don Carlo 

(Deutsche Oper am Rhein) and Mimì in La bohéme 

(Hamburg State Opera). She made her operatic debut 

in 2010 as Mimì with Scottish Opera in a production 

that also came to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. She 

made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent 

Garden, in Dvořák’s Rusalka in 2012, taking over the 

role at short notice. She returned to sing First Flower 

Maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal followed by Micaëla in 

Carmen. Future engagements include Micaëla in 

Carmen (Lyric Opera Kansas), Mimì (Deutsche Oper 

am Rhein) and Madama Butterfly (Bregenz Festival 

and Zurich Opera House). Engagements lost due to 

Covid–19 included her debut at the Opéra national 

de Paris. 

33

BIOGRAPHIES 

PAULA MURRIHY 

MEZZO-SOPRANO 

OCTAVIAN 

Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy 

enjoys a busy career at the highest 

level in both Europe and the US. 

She was previously a member of the 

ensemble at Oper Frankfurt, where 

her roles included the title role in 

Bizet’s Carmen in Barrie Kosky’s iconic production, 

Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and the title 

role in Fauré’s Pénélope. Highlights of recent years 

include the title role in Carmen for INO, her house 

debut at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, in the title of 

Handel’s Ariodante, her debut at the Metropolitan 

Opera as Stéphano in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, 

a return to Santa Fe Opera as Ruggiero in Handel’s 

Alcina and Orlofsky in Johann Strauss II’s Die 

Fledermaus, and the Salzburg Festival as Idamante in 

Peter Sellars’s production of Mozart’s Idomeneo. She 

recently made her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu 

in Barcelona as Komponist in Strauss’s Ariadne auf 

Naxos, returned to the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía 

as Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, 

appeared with the Dutch National Opera as Octavian 

Der Rosenkavalier, at Zurich Opera House as 

Concepcion in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and at the 

Teatro Real in Madrid as Countess of Essex in Britten’s 

Gloriana. She works regularly with MusicAeterna and 

Teodor Currentzis, and toured with them in Mozart’s 

Da Ponte operas. In her 2022–23 season she sings 

Carmen at the Royal Danish Opera, returns to the 

Royal Opera House in London as Elvira in Mozart’s 

Don Giovanni, Oper Frankfurt as Dejanira in Handel’s 

Hercules, and Santa Fe Opera as Messaggeria in 

Monteverdi’s Orfeo. 

ANDREAS BAUER KANABAS 

BASS 

BARON OCHS OF LERCHENAU 

German bass Andreas Bauer 

Kanabas’s repertoire includes Verdi 

roles such as Philippe II in Don 

Carlos, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Fiesco 

in Simon Boccanegra, De Silva in 

Ernani and Padre Guardiano in La 

forza del destino, as well as Wagner roles such as King 

Marke in Tristan und Isolde, King Henry in Lohengrin, 

Landgrave Hermann in Tannhäuser, Veit Pogner 

in Die Meistersinger and Daland in Der fliegende 

Holländer. He also sings Mephisto in Gounod’s Faust, 

the title role in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Vodnik in 

Dvořák’s Rusalka, Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene 

Onegin, King René in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Escamillo 

in Bizet’s Carmen and Mozart roles such as Sarastro 

in Die Zauberflöte, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem 

Serail and Commendatore in Don Giovanni. He has 

sung in Vienna, London, Paris, Moscow, Seattle, Tokyo, 

Munich and at all three opera houses in Berlin. He 

has been a member of the ensemble at the Frankfurt 

Opera since 2013. During the global Covid–19 

shutdown he was lucky enough to perform in Rusalka 

at the Teatro Real Madrid. Recent engagements 

brought him back to Antwerp and Ghent as De Silva in 

Ernani, saw his debut at the Hamburg State Opera as 

Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Pogner in Wagner’s 

Die Meistersinger in Tokyo is imminent. In 2015 he 

sang Eremit in Der Freischütz in a new production 

of the Semperoper Dresden under the direction of 

Christian Thielemann. He makes his INO debut and 

his role debut as Baron Ochs in this production. 

34

CLAUDIA BOYLE 

SOPRANO 

SOPHIE 

Irish soprano Claudia Boyle has 

secured a stellar international 

profile through highly-acclaimed 

performances in Paris, Zurich, 

Rome and New York. She recently 

made her house debut at Opéra 

national de Paris as Dede in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place 

conducted by Kent Nagano and directed by Krzysztof 

Warlikowski. Career highlights include Konstanze 

in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Teatro 

dell’Opera di Roma and Komische Oper Berlin, Alice 

in Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground 

at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under 

Thomas Adès, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore 

at Semperoper Dresden and Norwegian National 

Opera, Leila in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers for English 

National Opera, Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer 

Night’s Dream conducted by James Conlon at Teatro 

dell’Opera di Roma, and the title role in Donizetti’s 

Lucia di Lammermoor with Danish National Opera. 

She performed the roles of Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta 

and Stella in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman for 

Irish National Opera and made her debut as Verdi’s 

Gilda in Rigoletto at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma under 

Renato Palumbo to overwhelming audience and 

critical acclaim. Her blossoming concert career has 

taken her to Tokyo, São Paolo and Ankara. She has 

appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Cherubini’s 

Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn under Riccardo 

Muti, and with NHK Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s 

Symphony No. 8 under Paavo Järvi. 

SAMUEL DALE JOHNSON 

BARITONE 

FANINAL 

With a voice described by Bachtrack 

as “gloriously lyrical”, Australian 

baritone Samuel Dale Johnson has 

established a reputation as one 

of the leading young baritones of 

today. While in the Royal Opera 

House’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme 

his numerous roles included Moralès in Bizet’s 

Carmen, Silvio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Albert 

in Massenet’s Werther and Leuthold in Rossini’s 

Guillaume Tell. While at Covent Garden, he made 

his London Symphony Orchestra debut in Thomas 

Adès’s orchestral work Brahms, conducted by 

the composer. He is currently a member of the 

ensemble of Deutsche Oper Berlin where his roles 

in the 2022–23 season include Escamillo in Bizet’s 

Carmen, Peter in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel 

on tour to the Royal Opera House Muscat, Marcello in 

Puccini’s La bohème, Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca and 

Ostasio in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini. He will 

also make house debuts with the Opéra de Rouen and 

the Glyndebourne Festival as Demetrius in Britten’s 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In concert, he made 

his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in 

Dublin in Orff’s Carmina burana. Previous roles at the 

Deutsche Oper Berlin include the title role in Mozart’s 

Don Giovanni, Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer 

Night’s Dream, Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di 

Siviglia, and Matthieu in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. 

Other highlights of recent seasons include his US 

debut as the Count in Mozart’s Il nozze di Figaro at 

Santa Fe Opera, and Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir 

d’amore for both the Opéra National de Bordeaux 

and Zurich Opera House. He makes his INO debut in 

Der Rosenkavalier. 

35

BIOGRAPHIES 

RACHEL CROASH 

SOPRANO 

MARIANNE 

Dublin soprano Rachel Croash 

is an alumna of the INO Opera 

Studio. Roles for INO include 

Mathilde in Rossini’s William Tell, 

Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen, Andi 

in Hannah Peel’s Close, Clorinda in 

Rossini’s La Cenerentola, First Lady in Mozart’s The 

Magic Flute, Kate Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama 

Butterfly, Mademoiselle Silberklang in Mozart’s The 

Opera Director and Woman in Evangelia Rigaki’s 

This Hostel Life. Other roles include Marzelline 

in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Musetta in Puccini’s La 

Bohéme, Mabel in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates 

of Penzance and Valencienne in Lehár’s The Merry 

Widow (Lyric Opera), Mimí in La bohéme, Fiordiligi 

in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Susanna in Mozart’s Le 

nozze di Figaro and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen (Cork 

Opera House), Elvira in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri 

and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (Blackwater Valley 

Opera Festival), Serafina in Donizetti’s Il campanello, 

Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and 

Annina in Verdi’s La traviata (Wexford Festival Opera 

ShortWorks), Mrs Coyle in Britten’s Owen Wingrave 

(Opera Collective Ireland), Susanna in Wolf-Ferrari’s 

Susanna’s Secret and Úna in Robert O’Dwyer’s Eithne 

(Opera Theatre Company), and Amore in Gluck’s 

Orfeo ed Euridice (Festspiele Immling). Concert 

highlights include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 

1915 with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and 

performances with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, City 

of Dublin Chamber Orchestra, Great Music in Irish 

Houses and Music for Galway. Rachel has performed 

at Áras an Uachtaráin for The President of Ireland 

Michael D Higgins and has sung at the National Day 

of Commemoration Service at Collins Barracks. 

PETER VAN HULLE 

TENOR 

VALZACCHI 

English tenor Peter Van Hulle’s 

many operatic engagements have 

included Hotel Porter in Britten’s 

Death in Venice (La Scala, Milan, 

La Monnaie, Brussels, Dutch 

National Opera and English National 

Opera), Pang in Puccini’s Turandot, Snout in Britten’s 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shepherd in 

Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (all ENO), Der Narr in 

Berg’s Wozzeck (ENO and BBC Symphony Orchestra), 

Charles Lamb in Sally Beamish’s Monster, Rector in 

Britten’s Peter Grimes, Schoolmaster in Janáček’s 

The Cunning Little Vixen, Monostatos in Mozart’s Die 

Zauberflöte, Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, 

Chaplitsky in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Dr 

Caius in Verdi’s Falstaff and First Brother in Weill’s The 

Seven Deadly Sins (all Scottish Opera), and Sir Bruno 

Robertson in Bellini’s I puritani and Valzacchi in 

Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (Welsh National Opera). 

His performance in Death in Venice is available 

on Opus Arte DVD, and other recordings include 

Schoolmaster, Mosquito and Grasshopper in The 

Cunning Little Vixen with the Deutsches Symphonie- 

Orchester Berlin (Kent Nagano/BBC TV). Recent 

engagements include Schoolmaster in Janáček’s 

The Cunning Little Vixen (WNO), Time/Peter Doody 

in Monckton and Talbot’s The Arcadians (Opera della 

Luna), Torquemada in Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole (Mid 

Wales Opera), and Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II’s 

Die Fledermaus (West Green House). He makes his 

INO debut in Der Rosenkavalier. 

36

CAROLYN HOLT 

MEZZO-SOPRANO 

ANNINA 

Carolyn Holt is from a farming 

background in Kildare. She made 

her Irish National Opera debut as 

The Voice in Offenbach’s The Tales 

of Hoffmann, for which she received 

critical acclaim. Bachtrack wrote 

“Carolyn Holt as the voice of Antonia’s mother stood 

out with her rich and seductive mezzo-soprano”. 

She covered the role of Mrs Sedley in the Royal 

Opera House’s five-star production of Britten’s Peter 

Grimes in 2022, and has recently performed with 

Garsington Opera, Scottish Opera and Welsh National 

Opera. She sang the role of Sister Helen Prejean in 

the UK stage premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man 

Walking in Glasgow, also to great critical acclaim. 

Opera magazine wrote: “Carolyn Holt’s Sister Helen 

was impeccably sung, sensitively acted and never 

less than sincere”. She has enjoyed recent success 

in competitions, particularly the Veronica Dunne 

International Singing Competition, in which she was 

awarded the Dermot Troy Prize for the best Irish 

singer in 2019, and one of the first Veronica Dunne 

Bursaries of €5000 in 2020. Other competition 

successes include the Grange International Singing 

Competition (semi-finalist), Bampton Opera Young 

Singers’ Competition (second place) and the NI Opera 

Festival of Voice (audience prize). Carolyn, who has 

been praised in concert for her “wonderfully dark, rich 

tone,” is in demand as a soloist with orchestras and 

choral societies throughout the UK and Ireland. 

CÉSAR CORTÉS 

TENOR 

SINGER 

The Colombian tenor César Cortés 

completed his master degree in 

2019 with Marta Mathéu at the 

Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona. 

He has won prizes in various 

competitions: the Colombian 

National Singing Competition with the Orquesta 

Filarmónica de Bogotá in 2016 and the Concurs de 

Cant Josep Palet in 2017. In 2019 he was awarded 

the International BelCanto Prize as best emerging 

voice at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad. He made his 

operatic debut at Ópera de Colombia in Rossini’s La 

cambiale di matrimonio. Since moving to Spain he 

performed at Teatro de Sarrià in Rossini’s Il Signor 

Bruschino and L’inganno felice; Òpera de Sabadell 

in Mozart’s’s Così fan tutte, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci 

and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore; in Rossini’s La 

Cenerentola (which he studied with Teresa Berganza), 

and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Palau de la 

Musica (which he studied with Francisco Araiza). 

Other international engagements include: Rossini’s 

Il barbiere di Siviglia in Reggio Emilia, Bologna and 

Mannheim; La Cenerentola in Stockholm and Bonn; 

Bellini’s La sonnambula, Mozart’s La clemenza di 

Tito and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Oldenburg; Don 

Pasquale in Trieste; Auber’s La muette de Portici, 

Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Berlioz’s Les Troyens, 

Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Die Zauberflöte in 

Kiel; and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Liceu in 

Barcelona. He makes his Irish National Opera in Der 

Rosenkavalier. 

37

BIOGRAPHIES 

DAVID HOWES 

BASS-BARITONE 

COMMISSAR OF POLICE 

David Howes is a bass-baritone 

from Limerick where he studied with 

Olive Cowpar, before completing the 

BMus at the DIT (now TU Dublin) 

Conservatory of Music and Drama. 

Since 2021 he has been a member 

of the International Opera Studio at Oper Köln. He 

was previously a member of the INO Opera Studio, 

the Wexford Factory at Wexford Festival Opera and 

the Young Artist Programme with Northern Ireland 

Opera. With Oper Köln he has performed the roles 

of Der Kerkermeister in Orff’s Die Kluge, the Hunter 

in Dvořák’s Rusalka, Deninskin in York Höller’s 

Der Meister und Margarita, Gottfried Klepperbein 

in Ivan Eröd’s Pünktchen und Anton and Fiorillo in 

Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other opera roles 

include Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio (INO), 

Badger and Parson in Janáček’s The Cunning Little 

Vixen (Longborough Festival Opera Emerging Artist 

Programme), Doganiere in Puccini’s La bohème (INO), 

Robert Coleman’s The Colour Green (INO’s 20 Shot of 

Opera), Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto (OTC), Buff 

in Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor (INO), the title role 

in Hans Krása’s Brundibár (Killaloe Chamber Music 

Festival), Marchese d’Obigny in Verdi’s La traviata 

(Lyric Opera), the title role Mozart’s in Le nozze di 

Figaro (Zerere Arts Festival, Portugal), Sciarrone in 

Puccini’s Tosca (Wexford Festival Opera ShortWorks), 

Father Truelove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, 

Quince in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Craig 

Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard (WDR 

Funkhausorchester), and an appearance at the Höri 

Musiktage festival in Öhningen. 

VLAD VOLK 

ACTOR 

LEOPOLD 

Vlad Volk was born in Odesa, 

Ukraine. He studied at the Kyiv 

National I. K. Karpenko-Kary 

Theatre and Cinema University. He 

moved to Ireland because of the 

war in Ukraine, and is continuing his 

education at Bow Street Academy, Dublin. Previous 

performances in theatre and film include Vanya in 

My Mermaid, My Lorelei (2013), Waif in Oleksandr 

Dovzhenko (2014), Syoma in Anka s Moldavanki 

(2015) and Vanya in the play Family scenes at Odesa 

V. Vasilko Academic Music and Drama Theatre. This 

is his first acting role in an opera. 

38

INO ORCHESTRA & CHORUS 

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA 

The Irish National Opera Orchestra is made up of 

leading freelance musicians based in Ireland. Members 

of the orchestra have a broad range of experience 

playing operatic, symphonic, chamber and new music 

repertoire. The orchestra plays for contemporary 

opera productions – Thomas Adès’s Powder her 

Face and Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like 

the Other – as well as chamber reductions of larger 

scores – Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and 

Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. The orchestra, 

which appeared in its largest live formation to date in 

Rossini’s Cinderella/La Cenerentola at the Bord Gáis 

Energy Theatre in Dublin in 2019, numbered even 

more – 79 players – for the sessions to produce the 

soundtrack for INO’s spectacular, site-specific, outdoor 

production of Strauss’s Elektra at Kilkenny Arts Festival 

in 2021. The Irish National Opera Orchestra has been 

heard in 17 venues throughout Ireland. 

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA CHORUS 

Irish National Opera Chorus is a flexible ensemble 

of professional singers that has ranged in number 

from four, in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, to 60, in 

Verdi’s Aida. The chorus is a valuable training ground 

for many emerging singers and has been heard in 

venues large and small throughout Ireland as well as 

internationally. The membership is mostly drawn from 

singers based in Ireland. Members are frequently 

offered solo roles, and for INO’s touring production 

of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann most were 

also heard in a principal role. Membership of Irish 

National Opera’s chorus is often a springboard to 

greater involvement in the company’s productions. 

For larger works Irish National Opera collaborates with 

TU Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama and the 

Royal Irish Academy of Music whose senior students 

are offered positions in the chorus, usually in tandem 

with specially devised professional development 

programmes for emerging singers. Over the course 

of INO’s first two years, the company has offered 200 

chorus contracts to over 80 individual singers. 

39

PRESENTS 

Verdi’s Falstaff on Saturday 1 April 

3 SEASON 

The Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live cinema transmissions returns this fall 

with a lineup of ten spectacular stagings, including seven new productions. 

WAGNER 

Lohengrin 

MAR 18 

VERDI 

Falstaff 

APR 1 

STRAUSS 

Der Rosenkavalier 

APR 15 

TERENCE BLANCHARD / LIBRETTO BY MICHAEL CRISTOFER 

Champion 

APR 29 

MOZART 

Don Giovanni 

MAY 20 

MOZART 

Die Zauberflöte 

JUN 3 

For more information see 

www.irishnationalopera.ie 

metopera.org/hd 

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by 

a generous grant from its founding sponsor 

Digital support of The Met: 

Live in HD is provided by 

The Met: Live in HD 

series is supported by 

The HD broadcasts 

are supported by

FOUNDERS CIRCLE 

Anonymous 

Desmond Barry & John Redmill 

Valerie Beatty & Dennis Jennings 

Mark & Nicola Beddy 

Carina & Ali Ben Lmadani 

Mary Brennan 

Angie Brown 

Breffni & Jean Byrne 

Jennifer Caldwell 

Seán Caldwell & Richard Caldwell 

Caroline Classon, in memoriam 

David Warren, Gorey 

Audrey Conlon 

Gerardine Connolly 

Jackie Connolly 

Gabrielle Croke 

Sarah Daniel 

Maureen de Forge 

Doreen Delahunty & Michael Moriarty 

Joseph Denny 

Kate Donaghy 

Marcus Dowling 

Mareta & Conor Doyle 

Noel Doyle & Brigid McManus 

Michael Duggan 

Catherine & William Earley 

Jim & Moira Flavin 

Ian & Jean Flitcroft 

Anne Fogarty 

Maire & Maurice Foley 

Roy & Aisling Foster 

Howard Gatiss 

Genesis 

Hugh & Mary Geoghegan 

Diarmuid Hegarty 

M Hely Hutchinson 

Gemma Hussey 

Kathy Hutton & David McGrath 

Nuala Johnson 

Susan Kiely 

Timothy King & Mary Canning 

J & N Kingston 

Kate & Ross Kingston 

Silvia & Jay Krehbiel 

Karlin Lillington & Chris Horn 

Stella Litchfield 

Jane Loughman 

Rev Bernárd Lynch & Billy Desmond 

Lyndon MacCann S.C. 

Phyllis Mac Namara 

Tony & Joan Manning 

R. John McBratney 

Ruth McCarthy, in memoriam Niall 

& Barbara McCarthy 

Petria McDonnell 

Jim McKiernan 

Tyree & Jim McLeod 

Jean Moorhead 

Sara Moorhead 

Joe & Mary Murphy 

Ann Nolan & Paul Burns 

F.X. & Pat O’Brien 

James & Sylvia O’Connor 

John & Viola O’Connor 

Joseph O’Dea 

Dr J R O’Donnell 

Deirdre O’Donovan & Daniel Collins 

Diarmuid O’Dwyer 

Patricia O’Hara 

Annmaree O’Keefe & Chris Greene 

Carmel & Denis O’Sullivan 

Líosa O’Sullivan & Mandy Fogarty 

Hilary Pratt 

Sue Price 

Landmark Productions 

Riverdream Productions 

Nik Quaife & Emerson Bruns 

Margaret Quigley 

Patricia Reilly 

Dr Frances Ruane 

Catherine Santoro 

Dermot & Sue Scott 

Yvonne Shields 

Fergus Sheil Sr 

Gaby Smyth 

Matthew Patrick Smyth 

Bruce Stanley 

Sara Stewart 

The Wagner Society of Ireland 

Julian & Beryl Stracey 

Michael Wall & Simon Nugent 

Brian Walsh & Barry Doocey 

Judy Woodworth 

41

OPERA ALL OVER 

– AND FOR EVERYONE 

Opera is our passion. And we want to share that 

passion. Not just through live events in cities and towns, 

large and small, but also through educational initiatives 

in schools and colleges, and community activities that 

appeal to young and old alike. 

OPERA WHEREVER YOU ARE 

We take our productions to all corners of the land, from Dublin 

to Galway, Tralee to Letterkenny, Wexford to Sligo. Projects such 

as our site-specific production of Strauss’s Elektra in Kilkenny’s 

Castle Yard offer a unique way of engaging with our work. INO 

has developed its digital output and grown its online content. You 

can come to us wherever you happen to be. Our innovative online 

project 20 Shots of Opera was highly praised, as also were our film 

productions of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, 

Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse and Amanda Feery’s 

A Thing I Cannot Name. Outdoor screenings take our filmed 

productions to some of the most remote corners of Ireland and 

our revamped Street Art projected operas will allow us to increase 

our reach. Our partnership with Signum Records brings highresolution 

recordings of our work to new audiences worldwide. 

Image: Watching Peter Maxwell Davies’s 

The Lighthouse at Hook Head 

TRAILBLAZING DEVELOPMENTS 

IN THE COMMUNITY 

In June, our first youth opera, David Coonan and Dylan Coburn 

Gray’s Horse Ape Bird, gave young people the experience of 

performing in a professional operatic production. Our groundbreaking 

virtual reality community opera, Finola Merivale’s Out of 

the Ordinary/As an nGnách premiered at the Kilkenny Arts Festival 

and was also seen at Dublin Fringe Festival. It’s a voyage into the 

unknown and places people from diverse communities directly at 

the heart of the creative process. In October our World Opera Day 

42

“Irish National Opera is one 

of the great success stories... 

it is a dazzling achievement.” 

NICHOLAS PAYNE, DIRECTOR OF OPERA EUROPA 

pop-up chorus allowed 100 choristers and opera enthusiasts to workshop and perform with 

a professional orchestra and soloists. Our pre-performance In Focus talks delve into varied 

aspects of opera with opera makers, from the histories of specific works, the development of 

the characters and the issues facing performers and composers. 

NURTURING THE NEXT GENERATION OF OPERA TALENT 

The professional development and employment of Irish artists are key to the success of Irish 

National Opera itself. The Irish National Opera Studio is our artistic development programme. 

It provides specially-tailored training, professional mentoring and high-level professional 

engagements for singers, répétiteurs, conductors, directors and composers whose success 

is crucial to the future development of opera in Ireland. We also work with third-level music 

students through workshops designed to give them a fuller understanding of the inner workings 

of the world of opera, that heady mixture of musical, artistic, theatrical and management skills 

that make possible the magic that is opera. Colleges and universities we have worked with 

include University College Dublin, National College of Art and Design, Maynooth University, 

NUI Galway, TU Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. 

WE PURSUE AND EMBRACE INNOVATION 

We are at the forefront of operatic innovation. Our award-winning virtual reality community opera 

Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách uses new technologies to widen participation in the arts at 

community level. It explores the cutting-edge relationship between opera and digital technology. 

In 2023 we will bring this ground-breaking work on a national tour to all 32 counties. We recently 

won a major grant from FEDORA to develop a cutting-edge Street Art Performance app that 

has the potential to redraw the reach of performing arts and improve accessibility in the sector. 

Watch out for its availability on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. 

WE PRODUCE GREAT WORK 

Our commissioned works explore issues from climate change to mental health. We present opera 

in thought-provoking and relevant ways. We nurture and develop emerging talent to ensure that 

the Irish opera landscape provides equitable opportunities and pay. We champion gender equality 

in the creative teams we work with. Opera is for everyone, and we are committed to inclusivity and 

diversity. Everyone, regardless of socio-economic, ethnic or national background, or physical and 

mental challenges, should have access and the opportunity to participate in opera. 

43

IRISH NATIONAL 

OPERA STUDIO 

STUDIO MEMBERS 2022–23 

JADE PHOENIX SOPRANO 

KATHLEEN NIC DHIARMADA SOPRANO 

MADELINE JUDGE MEZZO-SOPRANO 

EOIN FORAN BARITONE 

KATIE O’HALLORAN DIRECTOR 

CHRIS KELLY DIRECTOR 

MEDB BRERETON-HURLEY CONDUCTOR 

ÉNA BRENNAN COMPOSER 

The Irish National Opera Studio is key to delivering a core 

aspect of INO’s mission, the development of the very best 

operatic talent we can find in Ireland. The studio is the 

company’s artistic development programme. The membership 

is selected annually, and the studio provides specially tailored 

training, professional mentoring and high-level professional 

engagements for a group of individuals whose success will be 

key to the future development of opera in Ireland. 

Members of Irish National Opera Studio are involved in all 

of Irish National Opera’s productions, large and small. They 

sing onstage in roles or in the chorus, understudy lead roles 

– enabling them to watch and emulate great artists at work – 

and, for non-singing members, they join in the world of opera 

rehearsals as assistants. 

Studio members also receive individual coaching, attend 

masterclasses and receive mentorship from leading Irish and 

international singers and musicians. Brenda Hurley, Head of 

Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, London, is the vocal 

consultant who guides our singers throughout the year. 

Other areas of specific attention are performance and 

language skills, and members are assisted in their individual 

personal musical development and given professional career 

guidance. They benefit from Irish National Opera’s national 

and international contacts and Irish National Opera Studio 

also develops and promotes specially tailored events to help 

the members hone specific skills and showcase their work. 

For information contact Studio & Outreach Producer 

James Bingham at james@irishnationalopera.ie 

44

Success for 2018–19 INO Opera 

Studio artist, Amy Ní Fhearraigh, 

at her Royal Opera House debut 

in the UK premiere of INO’s 

production of Brian Irvine and 

Netia Jones’s Least Like The Other – 

Searching For Rosemary Kennedy. 

“a tour de force” 

GEORGE HALL THE STAGE 

“superbly sung by the young Irish 

soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh” 

FIONA MADDOCKS THE OBSERVER 

“the remarkable Amy Ní Fherraigh” 

NICHOLAS KENYON THE TELEGRAPH 

“Amy Ní Fhearraigh incarnates 

Rosemary with pathos and 

delicately inflected persuasiveness” 

MICHAEL CHURCH, THE INDEPENDENT 

45

INO TEAM 

Pauline Ashwood 

Acting Artistic Administrator 

James Bingham 

Studio & Outreach Producer 

Sorcha Carroll 

Marketing Manager 

Aoife Daly 

Development Manager 

Diego Fasciati 

Executive Director 

Lea Försterling 

Digital Communications 

Manager (Maternity Cover) 

Cate Kelliher 

Business & Finance Manager 

Elaine Kelly 

Resident Conductor 

Audrey Keogan 

Development Assistant 

Anne Kyle 

Stage Manager 

Patricia Malpas 

Project Administrator 

James Middleton 

Orchestra & Chorus Manager 

Gavin O’Sullivan 

Head of Production 

Fergus Sheil 

Artistic Director 

Sarah Thursfield 

Marketing Executive 

Paula Tierney 

Company Stage Manager 

Board of Directors 

Jennifer Caldwell (Chair) 

Tara Erraught 

Gerard Howlin 

Dennis Jennings 

Gary Joyce 

Sara Moorhead 

Suzanne Nance 

Ann Nolan 

Bruce Stanley 

Jonathan Friend 

Artistic Advisor 

Irish National Opera 

69 Dame Street 

Dublin 2 | Ireland 

T: 01–679 4962 

E: info@irishnationalopera.ie 

irishnationalopera.ie 

@irishnationalopera 

@irishnatopera 

@irishnationalopera 

Company Reg No.: 601853 

Registered Charity: 22403 

(RCN) 20204547 

46

MASSENET 

WERTHER 

Passion...Duty...Heartbreak 

NATIONWIDE TOUR 

22 APRIL – 14 MAY 2023 

LETTERKENNY | NAVAN | GALWAY | LIMERICK 

DUNDALK | ENNIS | CORK | WATERFORD 

KILKENNY | DÚN LAOGHAIRE 

irishnationalopera.ie

Der Rosenkavalier programme book 2023

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