Least Like The Other programme book

BRIAN IRVINE & NETIA JONES
LEAST LIKE THE
OTHER
SEARCHING FOR ROSEMARY KENNEDY

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
PRINCIPAL FUNDER
CORPORATE
PARTNER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Laura MacNaughton, Aoife McCollum and the team at
the O’Reilly Theatre, Hugh Murray and Niall O’Connell at
the Pavilion Theatre, Paul Fahy and the team at Galway
International Arts Festival, Willie White, Stephen McManus
and the team at Dublin Theatre Festival, D&B Audio.

BRIAN IRVINE & NETIA JONES
LEAST LIKE
THE OTHER
SEARCHING FOR ROSEMARY KENNEDY
2019
OPERA IN ONE ACT
First performance, Black Box Theatre, Galway, 15 July 2019
First performance, new version in 16-track surround sound with live cast
and pre-recorded orchestra, O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin, 11 September 2021
SUNG IN ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES
Running time: 70 minutes without interval.
PERFORMANCES 2021
Saturday 11 September O’Reilly Theatre Dublin
Tuesday 14 September O’Reilly Theatre Dublin
Wednesday 15 September O’Reilly Theatre Dublin
Thursday 16 September O’Reilly Theatre Dublin
Friday 17 September O’Reilly Theatre Dublin
Saturday 18 September O’Reilly Theatre Dublin
Wednesday 22 September Cork Opera House Cork
Saturday 25 September Lime Tree Theatre Limerick
03

AN OPERA FOR OUR TIME
FERGUS SHEIL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
DIEGO FASCIATI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Least Like The Other – Searching for Rosemary Kennedy, which
premiered to great acclaim at Galway International Arts Festival in
2019, is a creation not quite like anything else.
It is the achievement of composer Brian Irvine and director and
designer Netia Jones to have created a shocking, white-finger
ride through issues raised by the tragic life of Rosemary Kennedy,
JFK’s least-known sister. It’s a story of innocence, beauty and
violence. It records transgressions of personal freedoms that
are difficult and troubling to think about from a 21st-century
perspective. And the events in the United States of the 1940s that
the opera presents have many other disturbing resonances for
today’s world.
At 70 minutes, the opera is short. But it is also the most technically
complex work we have yet produced at Irish National Opera. The
Galway performances featured fourteen musicians – including
three improvisers – led by two conductors. The orchestra provides
the powerful engine that drives the story forward. For the current
tour the instrumental parts have all been pre-recorded and freshly
mixed, so that their sound can be distributed on 16 speakers
surrounding the audience. The idea behind the use of leading
audio technology to process the orchestra is to give the audience
an experience of the music as if inside the very belly of the beast.
The multi-tasking live cast – singer, two actors and voice-over
– co-ordinate through a conductor who appears on video rather
than in the flesh.
We have also made a multi-camera video of the production and
are investigating the possibility of creating an installation version
of Least Like The Other in the future.
The pleasure and relief of once again being able to bring opera
to a sizeable audience is indescribable. It is 18 months since
Irish National Opera last welcomed a live audience to a theatre to
04

see a staged opera. But it feels much longer. Don’t be surprised if the
excitement and optimism that are palpable within the company bring
beaming smiles to our faces.
There was something almost surreal last month when we presented the
first Irish staging of Strauss’s Elektra in the aptly atmospheric setting
of the Castle Yard in Kilkenny to audiences limited to 100 in number.
That venture, with a pre-recorded orchestra of 79 players, almost sums
up the extremity of our efforts to bring opera to the public by whatever
means possible: from artists’ living rooms, Dublin Castle, the Bord Gáis
Energy Theatre and Kilkenny Castle. Not just online but also in outdoor
screenings, and through CD recordings, the first of which – of Gerald
Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground – will appear on the Signum
label in November. Our film of Gerald’s opera will also be available as an
online stream at that time
To see the large and ambitious programme we have planned for the
coming season just look at the back page of this programme, or go to
www.irishnationalopera.ie for fuller information.
All of our work is sustained by our principal funder The Arts Council,
who have been generous and steadfast in their support, particularly
through difficult times. Thanks also to Galway International Arts Festival,
who were our partners for the world premiere of the opera in 2019, and to
the three venues that host us in 2021 – O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin, Cork
Opera House and Lime Tree Theatre Limerick. Lastly, a big thanks to all
the individual donors – members of Irish National Opera who allow us to
think bigger, take on ambitious projects and expand the impact of our work.
We hope you enjoy tonight’s remarkable opera. And we look forward to
welcoming you back to Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre for our new production
of Beethoven’s Fidelio with the spectacular Sinéad Campbell Wallace in
the title role between Sunday 7 and Saturday 13 November.
FERGUS SHEIL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
DIEGO FASCIATI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
05

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
MEMBERS 2021
INO GUARDIANS
Anonymous
Catherine & William Earley
Ian & Jean Flitcroft
Howard Gatiss
Genesis
Timothy King & Mary Canning
Gaby Smyth & Company
INO PATRONS
Anonymous
Gianni and Michael Alen-Buckley
Mareta & Conor Doyle
Silvia & Jay Krehbiel
Karlin Lillington & Chris Horn
Rory & Mary O’Donnell
INO CHAMPIONS
Jennifer Caldwell
Noel Doyle & Brigid McManus
Florrie Draper
Anne Fogarty
Maire & Maurice Foley
Roy & Aisling Foster
Gerard Howlin
M Hely Hutchinson
Stella Litchfield
Stephen Loughman
Tony & Joan Manning
Jim McKiernan
Sara Moorhead
Joseph O’Dea
Dr Patricia O’Hara
Geraldine O’Sullivan
James & Marie Pike
Dermot & Sue Scott
Matthew Patrick Smyth
INO ADVOCATES
Anonymous
Maureen de Forge
Eric & Christina Haywood
Julian & Aoife Hubbard
John & Michéle Keogan
Catherine Kullmann
Lyndon MacCann
Kathleen MacMahon
R John McBratney
Joe & Mary Murphy
Ann Nolan & Paul Burns
Helen Nolan
FX & Pat O’Brien
James & Sylvia O’Connor
Paul & Veronica O’Hara
Peadar O’Mórdha
Frances Ruane
INO ASSOCIATES
Anonymous
Lynn Anderson
Desmond Barry
Alastair Boles
Deirdre Collier
Una Corr & Elaine Noonan
Veronica Donoghue
Noel Drumgoole
Michael Duggan
Hugh & Mary Geoghegan
Emma Golden
Mary Holohan
Nuala Johnson
Paul Kennan & Louise Wilson
Michael Lloyd
Patricia McCullagh
Petria McDonnell
Dara McMahon & Garrett Fennell
Katherine Meenan
Jean Moorhead
Jane Moynihan
John R Redmill
Catherine Santoro
Charlotte & Dennis Stevenson
J & B Sheehy
Judy Woodworth
INO COMPANIONS
Anonymous
Aimee Banks
Karen Banks
Ann Barrett
Liam Clifford
Sarah Daniel
Matthew Dillon
Jack Doherty
Dr Beatrice Doran
Anne Drumm
Keena Duffy
Devidyal Givens
Matthew Harrison
B. Howard
Mr Trevor Hubbard
Kieron Lawlor
Bernadette Madden
Cróine Magan
Andrew McCroskery
Miriam McNally & Pat Dolan
Siobhan O’Beirne
Viola O’Connor
Prof Desmond O’Neill
Líosa O’Sullivan & Mandy Fogarty
Marion Palmer
Lucy Pratt
Hilary Pyle
Joseph Musgrave
Philip Regan
Prof Sarah Rogers
Vivienne Sayers
Linda Scales
Olivia Sheehy
Liam Shorten
Jim Smith
Mary Spollen
Vivian Tannam
Philip Tilling
TU Dublin Operatic Society
Breda Whelan
Niall Williams
06

SHOW YOUR PASSION
BECOME AN INO DONOR TODAY
Irish National Opera is Ireland’s leading producer of opera at home and
on great operatic stages abroad. We are passionate about opera and its
power to move and inspire. We showcase world-class singers from Ireland
and all over the world. We work with the cream of Irish creative talent,
from composers and directors to designers and choreographers. We
produce memorable and innovative performances to a growing audience
and we offer crucial professional development to nurture Ireland’s most
talented emerging singers, directors, composers and répétiteurs.
We aim to give everyone in Ireland the opportunity to experience the best
of opera. We are a young company, still only in our fourth year, yet we have
presented over 100 performances and won popular praise and industry
awards both nationally and internationally for our ground-breaking work.
Through our productions, concerts, masterclasses, workshops, lectures,
broadcasts and digital events, we have reached an audience of over halfa-million
worldwide.
We want to do more, and we need your help to do it.
Become an Irish National Opera supporter to unlock exclusive, behindthe-scenes
events, including backstage tours, masterclasses with
world-renowned singers, ABL Aviation Opera Studio performances, artist
receptions and much more. Your invaluable help will ensure that Irish
National Opera can continue to widen access to opera in Ireland, provide
professional development to some of Ireland’s most talented singers and
that we can carry forward our 2020 commitment to provide an accessible
platform for our digital output. To support Irish National Opera’s pioneering
work, please get in touch or visit our website irishnationalopera.ie
Contact: Aoife Daly, Development Manager
E: aoife@irishnationalopera.ie T: +353 (0)85–2603721
Image: Rachel Croash in Close by Hannah Peel from INO’s 20 Shots of Opera. Photo by Ste Murray

COMPOSER’S NOTE
BRIAN IRVINE
COMPOSER
Seven years ago in a hotel lounge in Derry my friend Laurence
Roman introduced me to the story of Rosemary Kennedy. I was
immediately gripped, intrigued, horrified and fascinated by her
and the events which so determined the tragic shape of her life.
This conversation kickstarted a long process which involved the
gathering of texts, newspaper articles, interviews, conversations and
letters connected to her life. Simultaneously I also began writing
sporadic musical fragments or responses to these findings. Over the
next year or two I composed many musical responses but with no
real clear picture as to how these fragments would connect.
It was only after Fergus Sheil introduced me to Netia Jones that
the project really began to take shape. Netia and I seemed to
“click” very easily and we embarked on a further process to find a
way to articulate the collected information, to gather still more and
dig down into exactly how we would make a stage work.
A lot of documentation surrounding Rosemary has disappeared or
was destroyed. But the material that remains paints a picture of
an extraordinary, beautiful, sensitive and kind young woman. She
loved clothes and fashion, kept a diary and wrote many letters to
her mother, father, brothers and sisters. These letters express a
vivacious appetite for life, dancing, friends, children and a deep,
unrelenting want to please her father and mother.
In trying to comprehend her story we focused mainly on
examining the world and people that surrounded her. This allowed
us to wrestle with attitudes of the time in relation to definitions
of intelligence, gender, disability, social and political ambition,
religion and the right of all individuals to exist as unique, equal and
valued. It is extraordinary, extreme and terrifying that a person as
unique and captivating as Rosemary was treated in the way that
she was, and that so many of the elements that dominate her story
seem as relevant and as alive today as they ever were.
08

DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Least Like The Other is a story that can only be told in fragments
and broken pieces. All that has survived are fleeting glances of
Rosemary Kennedy and the events, people and social structures
that surrounded her, a reflection of the sparse and muchredacted
information about her in the archives and the difficulty of
broaching this story at all.
NETIA JONES
DIRECTOR
She was born into an extraordinary, brilliant, and intensely
ambitious Irish Catholic family from Boston, which was to become
one of the most famous families of all time. An emphatically
patriarchal world-view dominated every aspect of her life, from
the moment of her troubled birth, as her mother waited for
the delayed arrival of the male physician, to the extraordinary
ease with which fathers and husbands could render their
daughters and wives into the hands of two extremely charismatic
lobotomists, the surgically unqualified Walter Freeman and his
right-hand man, James Watts.
Through particular moments in Rosemary’s life, Least Like
The Other glances at ideas of intelligence and exclusion, the
requirement to conform and to be alike. It reflects on the wildly
contradictory expectations of gender, the pressures on young
women to be perfect, obliging, obedient and submissive, as well
as on the supreme strain on one family of constant attention,
judgment and media flurry. The impossibility of telling this story is
at the heart of the piece, but the issues it addresses are as crucial
now as they were then.
09

PERSONS OF INT
JOSEPH P KENNEDY SR 1888–1969
Boston-born businessman, politician and
investor who served as US Ambassador to the
United Kingdom, and whose nine children
included President John F Kennedy, Senators
Robert F Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, Eunice
Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special
Olympics, and Jean Kennedy Smith, who served
as US Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to
1998. He arranged the lobotomy of Rosemary,
his eldest daughter, when she was 23.
HENRY GODDARD 1866–1957
Psychologist and eugenicist who was
director of research at the Vineland Training
School of Feeble-Minded Girls and Boys.
He was a critical figure in determining how
people with learning difficulties would be
educated and how they would be treated by
society. He believed they were predisposed
to prostitution and criminality. He also
introduced the words moron, idiot and
imbecile as clinical descriptions.
ROSE KENNEDY 1890–1995
Rose Fitzgerald was born in Boston and in
1914 married Joseph P Kennedy Sr, the
son of one of her father John F Fitzgerald’s
political rivals. She was granted the title of
Papal countess in 1951 for her “exemplary
motherhood and many charitable works”.
ALFRED BINET 1857–1911
French psychologist who devised the first
intelligence test that successfully predicted
the school performance of children. His
test was used in the US to score people and
identify feeble-mindedness, and was even
used for controlling immigration at Ellis Island.
ROSEMARY KENNEDY 1918–2005
The full facts of Rosemary Kennedy’s life are
not easy to establish. She is described as
intellectually disabled, but to what extent, if
at all, is not clear. Her rebellious behaviour in
her early twenties was one of the issues that
her 1941 lobotomy was intended to resolve.
The procedure failed badly, her quality of life
was greatly diminished, and after she was
institutionalised her high-profile family kept
her strictly out of the public eye.
MARTIN BARR 1860–1938
Doctor who was the chief physician at the
Pennsylvania Training School of Feeble-
Minded Children. He campaigned for laws
to allow compulsory sterilisation and was
successful in Pennsylvania in 1905, but the
bill was vetoed by the governor.
10

EREST
WALTER J FREEMAN 1895–1972
The neurologist who developed the now
discredited technique of lobotomy, which
treated mental illnesses by cutting nerve
fibre bundles in the brain. He was responsible
for Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy, though
the actual operation was carried out by
James Watts, as Freeman was not surgically
qualified. Freeman has been described as
“the ultimate self-promoter and showman”.
JAMES WATTS 1904–94
The neurosurgeon, professional partner of
Walter J Freeman, who carried out Rosemary
Kennedy’s lobotomy. He also carried out
the first lobotomy in the US in 1936, but he
broke away from Freeman when the latter
developed a non-surgical form of lobotomy
that used an icepick and a mallet.
FREDERICK L GOOD 1882–1962
The Kennedy family’s physician and close
friend, who delivered Rose’s children in the
family home. He was late for Rosemary’s
birth and Rose was advised to hold the baby
in until the doctor arrived. The physician
would not have been paid had he not been
present at the delivery, and the midwife,
who was paid by the physician, was not
allowed to deliver the baby on her own.
With the Reverend Otis F Kelly, MD, Good
co-authored the book Marriage, Morals and
Medical Ethics, which in 1951 was granted
the Imprimatur of Richard J Cushing,
Archbishop of Boston, who was made a
cardinal in 1958.
11

CAST
11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 25 SEPTEMBER Naomi Louisa O’Connell Mezzo-soprano
15, 17 SEPTEMBER Amy Ní Fhearraigh Soprano
Stephanie Dufresne
Ronan Leahy
Aoife Spillane-Hinks
Actor
Actor
Voice-over
CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor
Director & Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Associate Sound Designer
Choreographer
Répétiteur
Assistant Director
Fergus Sheil
Netia Jones
Sinéad Wallace
David Sheppard
Kevin McGing
Muirne Bloomer
Aoife O’Sullivan
Aoife Spillane-Hinks
12

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA & IMPROVISING MUSICIANS
(PRE-RECORDED)
Violin 1
Bogdan Sofei
Violin 2
Ingrid Nicola
Viola
Andreea Banciu
Cello
Adrian Mantu
Clarinet/Alto Saxophone
Conor Sheil
Clarinet/Alto Saxophone/
Tenor Saxophone
Brendan Doyle
Clarinet/Bass Saxophone/
Baritone Saxophone
Fintan Sutton
Trumpet
Niall O’Sullivan
Trombone
Paul Frost
Horn
Liam Duffy
Piano
Aoife O’Sullivan
Percussion
Patrick Nolan
IMPROVISING MUSICIANS
Double Bass
Paul Rogers
Clarinet/Bass Saxophone/
Baritone Saxophone
James Allsopp
Percussion & Turntables
Steve Davis
13

14

PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Manager
Eamonn Fox
Stage Manager
Conleth Stanley
Assistant Stage Manager
Aidan Doheny
Technical Manager
Colm Robinson
Technical Stage Manager
Danny Hones
Chief Electrician
Eoin McNinch
Video Design
Netia Jones
Projection
Lightmap
Video Operator
Cathal Burke
Sound Engineer
Sean McKeown
Sound Assistant
Kate Crook
Costume Supervisor
Yvonne Kelly
Wigs, Hair & Makeup
Carole Dunne
Surtitle Operator
Maeve Sheil
Set Construction
Theatre Production Services
Transport
Trevor Price
ADDITIONAL THANKS
Photography
Patrick Redmond
Ste Murray
Graphic Design
Alphabet Soup
Programme edited by
Michael Dervan
15

BEING NAOMI
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE
FIRST OPERA YOU WENT TO?
The first opera I ever went to, I think, was... I can’t
actually get it straight in my mind whether it was
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, a touring company
that came to Limerick, or Puccini’s Madama
Butterfly in Galway. I remember being totally
fascinated by Porgy and Bess, just by the sheer
scale of it, more than anything else the ensemble
cast. And how the music and the movement were
so intertwined. There was a moment at the very
end where Bess took a sniff of the dust and did
a high kick up to her head — this woman could
really dance – and it perfectly lined up with the
musical flourish. That stuck out in my mind as
being kind of fantastic. Then My Man’s Gone
Now, and of course I knew Summertime. I have
less distinct memories of the Madama Butterfly.
I remember having the stage very close, and
feeling like I could almost reach out and touch it. I
was probably under 12 when I saw them.
Naomi Louisa O’Connell
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM YOUR
FIRST APPEARANCE ON AN OPERA STAGE?
I think the first full role I did was in Norfolk. We
went to Robert Alderson and Jennifer Hamilton.
They ran this musical festival in Norfolk. My
teacher Mary Brennan said, go, it will be good for
you to do it. I played Dido in Purcell’s Dido and
Aeneas. The stage was square and it was done in
the round. We did it as a double bill with Lampe’s
Pyramus and Thisbe. It was directed by Jennifer,
and the thing I asked her in particular was to do

LOUISA O’CONNELL...
with a moment in the Lament, in which I had
to drop to my knees. I always came out of the
feeling. I asked, how can I stay in it? She said,
remember that the energy and despair goes
right to the fingertips. So, this – she holds her
two hands before her face, curved fingers
spread. As well as all of the musical coaching,
there was this sense of putting it directly and
fully into the body.
Professionally, Terrence McNally’s play Master
Class [based on Maria Callas] was my first
outing on the stage. I really enjoyed doing a play
and yet doing this opera scene with Tyne Daly
goading me on in my ear. What I loved about that
experience more than anything, was to be able
to do it so often. The idea of being able to get into
the same shoes of a character in front of different
audiences every night, and going past that point
of having any backseat drivers worried about
staging, or this happening there, or that line not
coming to me, that worry that we always have on
our shoulders just disappeared.
After about a hundred performances I knew
that it was there. I could call on it. I didn’t have
to make it happen. I didn’t have to engineer
it. That allowed a more truthful story-telling to
happen. I was more open. I was able to listen
more. To get that in opera is a rare thing. You
don’t have such long runs. This piece I’m going
to do now in New York – Ricky Ian Gordon’s
Intimate Apparel – will have that. It will run on a
theatre schedule. But it is an opera.
WHAT WAS THE BEST OPERA OR
SINGING ADVICE YOU EVER GOT?
You never sing alone. It was said to me by Louis
Langrée who is the conductor of the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra. I was singing Mélisande,
which I had done as a play the previous year,
with Fauré’s incidental music. He auditioned
me afterwards and cast me in Debussy’s opera
the following year.
We were rehearsing that, and I was getting in
my own way in the opening of the third act,
that almost Rapunzel-like scene with her at
the window. She sings “Saint Daniel et Saint
Michel, Saint Michel et Saint Raphaël” and it’s
all beautiful, spinning, gorgeous, ethereal, and
then just voice in the clear. Which is terrifying.
At the best of times it’s always scary. It was also
sitting right in the passagio, it wasn’t in a place
that is a comfortable sing for me. I was in knots
about this moment.
He was at the piano and he turned to me and
he said, “You know, Naomi, you never sing
alone. Even if you are in silence there is always
something with you.” It clicked with me. This
fact that it’s about – and that’s what technique
is all about – about getting myself and my
own ego and my own crap out of the way, and
allowing her to come through. She’s always
singing, and I just need to hook into it and allow
it to join. It’s never in a vacuum. Even silence
has a kind of a shimmer around it.
17

Image: Naomi Louisa O’Connell
WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING
MISCONCEPTION ABOUT OPERA?
That it’s old-fashioned, actually. That it’s dying.
For hundreds of years we’ve been saying this
artform is dying. I’m sick of hearing that it’s
dying. It’s never going to die. Because it’s
forever re-inventing itself. Looking at Ireland
today the amount of innovative new opera
being made... Look at INO’s 20 Shots of
Opera, for instance. That’s all fresh, new work,
interesting, very different. We’re able to use
new technologies. I’m involved with Out of the
Ordinary, this new community opera that’s
being built with virtual reality, all across Ireland.
That’s fascinating to be involved with. I like
to work in early music and in modern music. I
like the romantic stuff. All of it. I’m kinda tired
of hearing people say, Oh, that’s not for me,
or That’s only for the rich. Because that’s not
true. But also, it’s on us, then, as performers
and as presenters of classical music, to make
it accessible, to make it relevant. And to allow
people to see themselves in it, as well.
WHAT MOMENT DO YOU MOST LOOK
FORWARD TO WHEN YOU PERFORM
LEAST LIKE THE OTHER?
Ohhh! That’s an interesting question. It’s
just not an easy piece to perform. It’s a very
demanding piece, emotionally, vocally. So, to
say look foward to... Well, there is a moment.
First of all, I never play Rosemary. Right? It’s
always a kind of a reflection or a refraction.
It’s not a documentary. It’s maybe a “making of”
documentary. Communally, we’re telling her story,
but never with a direct focus. There is a scene
that comes on the back of three really intense
scenes of very hectic music, very demanding, and
it puts me in a very vulnerable spot. The music
is excellent. Netia’s directing is excellent. It gets
you to a pinnacle point of almost breaking. Then
there is this moment of release. I never leave the
stage during the show. But there is one moment
where the researchers leave. I’m left in this room
and there is dramatic change of music, from the
very intense, into a swimming scene. Because
Rosemary loved to swim.
There’s a beautifully projected image of
swimming at the back. There’s no singing.
It’s a very simple staging. I take my shoes off.
I lean back. I stand up and I walk across the
stage to a ladder and I sit on the ladder and
watch the water. The release in allowing that
moment to just be – not to do anything, not to
create anything, not to pump an emotion – it’s
like a gift to this translucent character. It’s the
moment where I feel we most line up. It never
quite lines up. But that’s the moment where
it’s most there. This kernel, right in the middle
of the show. I need it. The audience needs it.
The story demands it. But to look forward to it is
maybe not how I would phrase it.
18

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING
ASPECT OF SINGING IN LEAST LIKE THE
OTHER?
I think it’s the rapid changes between the
scenes. Brian’s music is complicated and
vocally demanding, and it meant to be this
way. He’s right to write it this way. But it’s very
taxing, vocally. And the scenes switch in a rapid
manner between moments of blaring loud,
to very beautiful, quiet, ethereal. It’s difficult,
managing those moments, to really engage here
– she strokes the sides of her throat with both
hands – or to calm down. I do it sometimes in
cabaret programmes. There’s a little bit of that
same switching between styles.
YOU’RE NOT JUST AN OPERA SINGER
BUT ALSO AN ACTRESS AND A CABARET
ARTIST. DID YOU PLAN IT THAT WAY?
No. I realised in some recent conversations that
I really didn’t plan a lot at all. I just went with the
flow. If my curiosity is piqued, I follow my nose.
When you have an interest, you just kind of dive
into it. It’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole. That’s
kind of how I’ve approached my life, actually.
IF YOU HADN’T BECOME AN OPERA
SINGER, WHAT MIGHT YOU HAVE BECOME?
A writer. I wanted to study English. I had a
fantastic English and Irish teacher in secondary
school, Marian O’Callaghan. I would have laid
down in traffic for Marian. She was the epitome
of what a teacher should be. I loved and still
love to write. But I need to interact with people.
So it possibly would have been too lonely a life.
IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL DERVAN
19

BIOGRAPHIES
BRIAN IRVINE
COMPOSER
NETIA JONES
DIRECTOR, DESIGNER
Belfast-born Brian Irvine’s unique
musical world combines the
known and the unknown, the free
and the fixed, the schooled and
the unschooled. He is driven by a
single desire to connect, disrupt,
reinvent and reimagine all aspects of life, people,
society, art and understanding in any and as many
ways possible. His output includes operas, largescale
oratorios, orchestral, ensemble, chamber,
solo and dance works as well as film scores, games
and installations. Often combining and layering
diverse and opposing elements, his music has been
commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the
world by a vast array of performers and organisations
including Irish National Opera, London Symphony
Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, RTÉ National
Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra,
Red Note Ensemble, Ulster Orchestra and Fidelio Trio.
He is Co-Artistic Director of the internationally awardwinning
creative production company Dumbworld,
and has collaborated and made work with artists
from vastly different disciplines as well as groups
and individuals from all tiers of society, including exparamilitaries,
young offenders, victims of violence,
special needs groups, residential homes, community
choirs, gardeners, footballers, bankers, homeless
associations, call centre workers and schools. He
has won two British Composer Awards (BASCAs) as
well as the BBC Radio 3 Jazz Award (with his own
13-piece ensemble) and a Paul Hamlyn Composers
Award. He was awarded an MBE for services to music
in 2011 and in 2016 became the first Music Laureate
for Belfast.
Netia Jones is a director, designer
and film-maker in opera, theatre
and classical music. She is the
director of Lightmap, a mixed
media creative studio working in the
UK, Europe and the USA. Recent
projects include Philip Glass’s Orphée (English National
Opera); Current, Rising (a virtual reality opera for the
Royal Opera House, music by Samantha Fernando);
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Garsington Opera); The
Dark Mirror: Zender’s Winterreise (Barbican Theatre,
London, Lincoln Center, New York, Shanghai Grand
Theatre, Perth International Festival, National Theatre
of Taiwan); Georg Friedrich Haas’s Atthis and György
Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments (ROH); Britten’s Curlew River
(Barbican Theatre, Lincoln Centre, CalPerformances,
Berkeley, USA); Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Aldeburgh Festival); Handel’s Messiah (Bergen); Unsuk
Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Barbican Theatre); Olga Neuwirth’s The Outcast (Wien
Modern); Samuel Beckett’s Words and Music (Happy
Days International Beckett Festival); Oliver Knussen’s
Where the Wild Things Are (LA Philharmonic, Barbican
Theatre, Aldeburgh Festival); Schoenberg’s Verklärte
Nacht (Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Bergen National
Opera); Tan Dun’s Marco Polo (Bergen National
Opera), and Britten’s Les Illuminations (Swedish Radio
Symphony Orchestra, Aldeburgh Festival). Together with
Lightmap, Netia has created site-specific multimedia
performances with large scale external projection
mapping, including Everlasting Light at Sizewell nuclear
power station, and The Way to the Sea, a performance
installation across a whole coastal village (Aldeburgh
Festival); Cross Currents at Tilbury Docks, and an
installation around Messiaen’s Louange à L’Étérnité de
Jésus at the South Bank Centre, London.
20

FERGUS SHEIL
CONDUCTOR
SINÉAD WALLACE
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Fergus is the founding artistic
director of Irish National Opera
and has also worked for all
major Irish opera companies. He
has conducted a wide-ranging
repertoire of 35 different operas.
Highlights include Verdi’s Aida, Brian Irvine and
Netia Jones’s Least Like The Other – Searching for
Rosemary Kennedy and Rossini’s La Cenerentola
(Irish National Opera), 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, Robert O’Dwyer’s Irish-language opera,
Eithne (Opera Theatre Company), the first modern
performance of the work, which was subsequently
recorded and issued on CD by RTÉ lyric fm. In the
orchestral field 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 the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
throughout Ireland in Beethoven’s Choral Symphony
and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. As a choral
conductor he has worked with the State Choir Latvija
(giving the world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s
Cry) and the BBC Singers. Internationally he has
fulfilled engagements in the USA, Canada, South
Africa, Australia, the UK, France, Netherlands,
Denmark, Sweden, Malta and Estonia. Before
founding Irish National Opera he led both Wide Open
Opera (which he founded in 2012) and Opera Theatre
Company. He has been responsible for presenting
over 60 operas, designed for theatres, site-specific
venues, online, and film, with a geographic reach all
around Ireland as well as London, Edinburgh, New
York, Amsterdam and Luxembourg.
In 2004 Sinéad graduated from
Trinity College where she studied
Drama and Theatre Studies.
She works as a lighting designer
for theatre, opera and dance
throughout Ireland. She has
received an Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best
Lighting on three occasions, in 2010 for Happy
Days (Corn Exchange), in 2009 for Knives in Hens
(Landmark Productions) and in 2007 for Saved
(Abbey Theatre) and Don Carlos (Rough Magic).
Her recent lighting designs include a film of Peter
Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse (Irish National
Opera), Annwyl (National Dance Company of Wales),
The Fall of the Second Republic (Abbey Theatre/Corn
Exchange), The Haircut (The Ark). Other theatre,
dance and opera credits include The Patient Gloria
(PanPan/Abbey Theatre), The Country Girls, Anna
Karenina, Oedipus, By the Bog of Cats, Christ Deliver
Us, La Dispute, The Seafarer (Abbey Theatre),
Danse Morob (The Emergency Room), and Rossini’s
The Barber of Seville (Wide Open Opera), Verdi’s
Rigoletto (Opera Theatre Company), The Seagull,
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing (Corn Exchange), A
Tender Thing (Siren Productions), Wrongheaded,
Body and Forgetting, Fast Portraits, 12 Minute Dances
(Liz Roche Company), and Miss Julie (Landmark
Productions). Upcoming work with INO includes
Beethoven’s Fidelio, Vivaldi’s Bajazet (national tour
and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and a
national tour of a live production of The Lighthouse.
Sinéad is resident lighting designer at The Lir
Academy where she leads the lighting design module
on the Masters in Stage Design.
21

BIOGRAPHIES
DAVID SHEPPARD
SOUND DESIGNER
MUIRNE BLOOMER
CHOREOGRAPHER
David Sheppard is a sound designer
who has collaborated on a diverse
range of projects across the world.
He works with many leading
orchestras and ensembles as well
as rock and pop musicians, visual
artists, dance and film creatives. He collaborates
closely with composers on helping them realise their
ideas but he is also known as a sound installation
artist and electronics performer in his own right. Last
year saw design work with Music Theatre Wales and
Royal Opera House before the pandemic turned his
focus on immersive online mixes for YouTube and
experiments in a new performance format utilising
d&b Audiotechnika’s Soundscape. INO incorporates
this into its tour of Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least
Like The Other – Searching for Rosemary Kennedy.
David often works across art-forms including Mira
Calix’s Inside There Falls multimedia work for Sydney
Festival, Christian Marclay at the White Cube, London,
and collaborations with artist Matthew Ritchie and
The National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner. He has
consulted for Anthony Gormley and devised and led
learning projects including work with Björk on her
Biophilia School. His design for the Opera: Passion,
Power and Politics exhibition at the V&A in London
was considered a “game-changer,” with immersive
and interactive sound throughout the installation.
He often collaborates on new technologies and
performance methods including the creation of an
electro-magnetic harp and paper-speakers.
Dubliner Muirne Bloomer has an
extensive performance career in
ballet, contemporary and dance
theatre both at home and abroad,
working with Dublin City Ballet,
Vienna Ballet Theatre, Rubato Ballet,
Dance Theatre of Ireland, Holland Show Ballet, Irish
Modern Dance Theatre and CoisCéim Dance Theatre.
She choreographed INO’s productions of Rossini’s La
Cenerentola, Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like
The Other – Searching for Rosemary Kennedy and
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Other choreographic
work includes Hamlet (St Anne’s Warehouse NYC),
Look Back in Anger, The Great Gatsby, Private Lives,
Little Women, Arcadia and Dancing at Lughnasa (Gate
Theatre), Donegal, You Never Can Tell, She Stoops to
Conquer, A Doll’s House, Cavalcaders, Drama at Inis,
The Tempest (Abbey Theatre), Dandy Dolls, Gulliver’s
Travels (Peacock Theatre), Pageant, The Ballet Ruse,
As You Are, The Train, The Making of ’Tis Pity She’s a
Whore, Wallflowering, Hue and Cry, Moment, The Star
Child (Project Arts Centre), Verdi’s Rigoletto (Opera
Theatre Company), Red Riding Hood, Ssh! We Have A
Plan, Duck, Death and the Tulip (Lyric Theatre), Egg
(Lincoln Center, New York), Nivelli’s War (New Victory
Theater, New York), Pinocchio, The Incredible Book
Eating Boy (The Mac), Can You Catch a Mermaid?
(Pavilion Theatre), The Merchant of Venice (The Helix),
Dancing at Lughnasa (National Theatre Bucharest, The
Helix, An Grianán), The Death of Harry Leon (Smock
Alley) and The Hand (Liberty Hall). Her work was also
seen at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Ryder
Cup, the GAA 1916 Commemoration and the Special
Olympics Opening Ceremony at Croke Park.
22

AOIFE SPILLANE-HINKS
VOICE-OVER
AOIFE O’SULLIVAN
RÉPÉTITEUR
Aoife Spillane-Hinks is a director
who works in Ireland and the United
States. She is the co-founder of
Then This Theatre and an associate
artist with PICT Classic Theatre.
Her American credits include
Sharon’s Grave, Waiting for Godot, and Our Class
(PICT Classic Theatre, Pittsburgh) and her Irish
credits include It’s Not About Love (Making Strange
Theatre/Dublin Fringe); Spotless (Rise Productions/
Then This Theatre); So Where Do We Begin? (Sugar
Coat Theatre); Holy Mary by Eoin Colfer (Breda
Cashe Productions); Collected Stories and The Yellow
Wallpaper (Then This Theatre); Pilgrim (The Gonzo
Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe); The Motherfucker with the
Hat (ORion Productions); Run/Don’t Run (Project Arts
Centre/National Tour); Serious Money (Rough Magic);
Hamlet (Second Age); Boston Marriage (Gate Theatre/
Dublin Theatre Festival). Aoife has curated and
directed events for the Abbey Theatre Community
and Education Department, for the International
Literature Festival Dublin, and for the Royal Irish
Academy of Music. She trained as a director on the
Rough Magic SEEDS programme. She holds a BA
in Folklore and Mythology from Harvard University
and an MA in Drama and Theatre Studies from NUI
Galway. She currently teaches at the Lir Academy.
She made her INO debut as a director earlier this year
in the world-premiere, filmed production of Amanda
Feery’s A Thing I Cannot Name.
Aoife O’Sullivan was born in Dublin
and studied at the College of Music
with Frank Heneghan and later at
the Royal Irish Academy of Music
with John O’Conor. She graduated
from Trinity College Dublin 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.
23

BIOGRAPHIES
NAOMI LOUISA O’CONNELL
MEZZO-SOPRANO
AMY NÍ FHEARRAIGH
SOPRANO
Hailed by The New York Times
as “radiant,” Naomi made her
professional debut in 2012 starring
on the West End in Terrence
McNally’s play Master Class. Her
work encompasses both theatrical
and operatic repertoire, ranging from straight plays to
operas, recitals and cabarets to sound installations.
Operawire called her “a splendid singing actress” for
her recent performances in INO’s 20 Shots of Opera.
She created the role of Mrs Van Buren in Intimate
Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater, a development
of the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater
commissioning program and slated to return to the
stage in 2022. Other notable roles include the title
role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Oper
Frankfurt), Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro
(Welsh National Opera, Atlanta Opera), Offenbach’s
La Périchole (Garsington Opera), Beaumarchais’s
Rosine (McCarter Theatre), and Mélisande in Pelléas
et Mélisande – both Maeterlinck’s play and Debussy’s
opera – with the Cincinnati Symphony. Lauded by The
New York Times as “a natural in the recital format”
for her Carnegie Hall debut recital Witches, Bitches,
and Women in Britches at Weill Recital Hall, she
has performed in concert across the USA and has
been broadcast on PBS, WQXR, Met LiveArts, BBC
Radio 3, and RTÉ lyric fm. She was brought up in the
Burren and studied in Ireland with Archie Simpson
and Mary Brennan. She is a graduate of the Royal
Irish Academy of Music and the Juilliard School,
and is most grateful to be a professional storyteller.
She made her INO debut in Least Like The Other –
Searching for Rosemary Kennedy in 2019.
Based in Amsterdam, Amy Ní
Fhearraigh is an alumna of the
2018–19 Irish National Opera
Studio. She graduated with
first class honours from the DIT
Conservatory of Music and Drama
and was featured as one of GoldenPlec Magazine’s
2018 Ones to Watch. In April 2018 she made her
INO debut as Barbarina in Mozart’s The Marriage of
Figaro and in 2019 performed the role of Papagena
in the company’s production of Mozart’s The Magic
Flute. She performed for Opera Collective Ireland
as Mrs Julian in Britten’s Owen Wingrave, for which
GoldenPlec praised her “stunning performance”.
Other roles include Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di
Figaro, the title role in Handel’s Susanna and Drusilla
in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (DIT Opera
Ensemble), Lucinde in Gluck’s Armide (The Yorke
Trust) and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen (Lyric Opera
Productions).
24

STEPHANIE DUFRESNE
ACTOR
RONAN LEAHY
ACTOR
Stephanie is a dancer, actor and
maker from the West of Ireland
currently based in Dublin. In 2012
she graduated from the Rotterdam
Dance Academy with a BA in Dance
and since then she has worked for
companies in Ireland and abroad, including Protein
Dance, Chrysalis Dance, Icon Dance, Dam Van Huynh,
Marguerite Donlon, Liz Roche, Emma Martin/United
Fall and Junk Ensemble. In 2017 she graduated from
the two-year, full-time programme at Bow Street,
the Academy for Screen Acting in Dublin where she
worked with directors Shimmy Marcus, Jim Sheridan
and Cathy Brady. She has been featured in music
videos for Talos, Crash Ensemble, Galia Arad and Lilla
Vargen and she was the face of the Galway Arts Festival
in both 2017 and 2018. In December 2017, she played
the lead role of Karen in Selina Cartmell’s production
of The Red Shoes for the Gate Theatre, Dublin. Her own
choreographic work fuses dance, music and theatre
and is supported by the Arts Council, Galway City
Council, Galway Dance Project and Dance Ireland. She
has collaborated previously with Irish National Opera
on Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice and the world premiere
production of Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least
Like The Other – Searching for Rosemary Kennedy.
She made her opera-directing debut in Benedict
Schlepper-Connolly’s Dust, one of the 20 new works in
INO’s highly-praised 20 Shots of Opera.
Ronan graduated from the threeyear
Performance Arts course
at Bull Alley in Dublin in 1992.
He was a member of the Abbey
Players from 1994–96 and has
performed in over 20 productions at
the National Theatre. He has trained in a multiplicity
of disciplines and performed in a wide variety of
styles with many of the country’s leading directors.
In April 2019 he graduated with an MFA in Theatre
Directing from the Lir Academy in Dublin. His recent
theatre work includes Polymester in Hecuba by
Marina Carr, directed by Lynne Parker, and Toby
in The Effect by Lucy Prebble, directed by Ronan
Phelan, both for Rough Magic. Le Corbusier/Badovici
in Invitation to a Journey, a collaboration between
Fishamble, CoisCéim, and Crash Ensemble for Galway
International Arts Festival. Various roles for Fishamble
in Tiny Plays for Ireland and America [Washington/
New York]. Éamonn Ceannt in Waged written by
Frank McGuinness as part of Signatories, directed
by Patrick Mason. Patrick Pearse in Inside the GPO
by Colin Murphy, directed by Jim Culleton. Gustav
in Creditors by August Strindberg, directed by Aoife
Spillane-Hinks. The Stranger in Oedipus adapted and
directed by Wayne Jordan for the Abbey. Hindley in
Wuthering Heights at the Gate directed by Michael
Barker-Caven. Mr Whitbread in Brendan Behan’s
Borstal Boy at the Gaiety directed by Conal Morrison.
Billy Wicklow in Drumbelly by Richard Dormer at the
Abbey, directed by Sean Holmes. He made his INO
debut in the premiere of Least Like The Other in 2019.
25

BIOGRAPHIES
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’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 Strauss’s Elektra at Kilkenny
Arts Festival last month. The Irish National Opera
Orchestra has been heard in 17 venues
throughout Ireland.

ABL AVIATION OPERA STUDIO
ABL Aviation, the international aviation investment company
with offices in Dublin, New York, Casablanca, Dubai and
Hong Kong, is the principal sponsor of Irish National Opera’s
studio mentoring programme.
Members of ABL Aviation 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. One
of Ireland’s leading theatres, The Civic, Tallaght, works with
the studio as a cultural partner, and the theatre’s artistic
director, Michael Barker-Caven, is the studio’s stagecraft
consultant.
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 ABL Aviation 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
27

NEAR AND FAR, HIGH
AND LOW
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA IS 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.
And if you’re not able to come to us, we can come to you
wherever you are in the world. Our digital platform, with many
offerings that can be viewed for free, has won praise from the
international media. And we will be launching exciting new
online projects over the coming months.
Photo: Pupils from Bennekerry
Primary School giving an operatic
blast in a Popera project with Irish
National Opera, the Royal Irish
Academy of Music, and Music
Generation Carlow
TRAILBLAZING DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE COMMUNITY
Our innovative virtual reality community opera, Out of
the Ordinary, is already in full swing. It’s a voyage into the
unknown and will place people from the communities involved
directly at the heart of the creative process. The project is not
just embracing new technologies and widening participation
in the arts at a community level. It is also exploring the cutting
edge relationship between opera and digital technology. We
are working with our partners in The Civic, Tallaght, Conradh
na Gaeilge and Music Generation Offaly/Westmeath to have
the project ready for nationwide touring in 2022.
28

ABL AVIATION OPERA STUDIO
The professional development and employment of Irish artists are key to the success
of Irish National Opera itself, and the ABL Aviation Opera Studio is our artistic development
programme. It provides specially tailored training, professional mentoring and high-level
professional engagements for a group of individuals – singers, répétiteurs, conductors,
directors, composers – whose success will be key to the future development of
opera in Ireland.
IN FOCUS
Our pre-performance In Focus talks aim to provide background to the works in our major
productions. They delve into all aspects of opera, from the histories of specific works, the
development of the characters and the issues facing performers and composers – where
possible with the actual performers and composers themselves.
INSPIRING MUSIC STUDENTS
We 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 and
theatrical 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.
29

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 SC
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
FX & 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
30

Boris Godunov
Mussorgsky
9th Oct 2021
Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Blanchard/Lemmons
23rd Oct 2021
Eurydice
Aucoin/Ruhl
4th Dec 2021
Cinderella
Massenet
1st Jan 2022
Rigoletto
Verdi
29th Jan 2022
Ariadne auf Naxos
Strauss
12th Mar 2022
Don Carlos
Verdi
26th Mar 2022
Turandot
Puccini
7th May 2022
Lucia di Lammermoor
Donizetti
21th May 2022
Hamlet
Dean/Jocelyn
4th Jun 2022
Met Opera 2021-22
THE WORLD’S GREATEST OPERA
LIVE BY SATELLITE TO YOUR LOCAL VENUE
Tickets on Sale 8th September 2021
www.classicalartsireland.com

BARRY
ALICE’S
ADVENTURES
UNDER
GROUND
FILM STREAMING
FROM 5 NOVEMBER 2021
BEETHOVEN
FIDELIO
DUBLIN
GAIETY THEATRE
7, 9, 10, 12, 13
NOVEMBER 2021
MAXWELL DAVIES
THE
LIGHTHOUSE
NATIONWIDE TOUR
20 NOVEMBER –
11 DECEMBER 2021

2021–2022 SEASON
BOOKING & INFORMATION ON irishnationalopera.ie
VIVALDI
BAJAZET
NATIONWIDE TOUR
15 – 29 JANUARY 2022
BIZET
CARMEN
DUBLIN
BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE
7, 9, 11, 12 MARCH 2022
DONIZETTI
MARIA
STUARDA
DUBLIN
GAIETY THEATRE
5, 7, 9 & 11 JUNE 2022
CORK
CORK OPERA HOUSE
15 & 16 JUNE 2022
WEXFORD
NATIONAL OPERA HOUSE
19 JUNE 2022

INO TEAM
James Bingham
Studio & Outreach Producer
Sorcha Carroll
Marketing Manager
Aoife Daly
Development Manager
Diego Fasciati
Executive Director
Sarah Halpin
Digital Communications
Manager
Cate Kelliher
Business & Finance Manager
Audrey Keogan
Development Assistant
Anne Kyle
Stage Manager
Claire Lowney
Marketing Executive
Patricia Malpas
Project Administrator
Muireann Ní Dhubhghaill
Artistic Administrator
Gavin O’Sullivan
Head of Production
Fergus Sheil
Artistic Director
Paula Tierney
Company Stage Manager
Board of Directors
Gaby Smyth (Chair)
Jennifer Caldwell
Tara Erraught
Gerard Howlin
Gary Joyce
Stella Litchfield
Sara Moorhead
Joseph Murphy
Ann Nolan
Yvonne Shields
Michael Wall
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
34

C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
RTÉ supports more than
120 arts events nationwide
every year.

irishnationalopera.ie