Irish National Opera William Tell programme book 2022

ROSSINI 

WILLIAM 

TELL

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA 

PRINCIPAL FUNDER 

PARTNERS 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Thanks to Mary Heffernan, Stephen Tobin and Dee Rogers 

at OPW, Ronan O’Reilly, Cora Doyle and John Grant at Artane 

School of Music.

GIOACHINO ROSSINI 1792–1868 

GUILLAUME 

TELL 

WILLIAM TELL 

1829 

A CO-PRODUCTION WITH NOUVEL OPÉRA FRIBOURG 

OPERA IN FOUR ACTS 

Libretto by Etienne de Jouy, Hippolyte Louis-Florent Bis and others after Friedrich 

von Schiller’s 1804 play, Wilhelm Tell. 

First performance, Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique, Paris, 3 August 1829. 

First Irish performance, Theatre Royal, Dublin, 31 July 1875. 

SUNG IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES 

Elizabeth C Bartlet’s critical edition of William Tell used in these performances 

is published by Ricordi. © Casa Ricordi (Universal Music Publishing Group). By 

arrangement with G. Ricordi & Co. (London) Ltd. 

Running time 3 hours and 50 minutes including intervals of 20 minutes after Acts I 

and II, and a 5-minute pause after Act III. 

The performance on Saturday 12 November will be filmed for broadcast on OperaVision. 

PERFORMANCES 2022 

#INOWilliamTell 

Tuesday 8 November Gaiety Theatre Dublin 

Wednesday 9 November Gaiety Theatre Dublin 

Friday 11 November Gaiety Theatre Dublin 

Saturday 12 November Gaiety Theatre Dublin 

Sunday 13 November Gaiety Theatre Dublin 

03

THE IRRESISTIBLE PULL 

OF WILLIAM TELL 

FERGUS SHEIL 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 

For me, William Tell has been an obsession that just won’t go away. 

As a teenager I fell in love with the overture. Not the famous galop 

– although who doesn’t enjoy that? – but the exquisite opening, 

uniquely scored for five cellos supported by double basses and 

timpani. Time stood still when I heard that for the first time and I still 

have a vivid recollection of my response. I had never imagined music 

could be quite so beautiful. As the years went by I delved into the rest 

of the opera and couldn’t believe the riches that are hidden in the 

score. 

Not literally hidden, of course. But hidden in the sense that the 

rarity of stagings of the opera means that they are far from well 

known, in spite of the fact that the overture is one of the most 

instantly recognisable pieces of music. The opera has not had 

a production in Ireland since the 1870s, when it was performed 

twice, in the original French in 1875, and in the Italian version in 

1877. I have to confess that I have never been to a performance 

of the opera. So our opening night will be my first time to see the 

work performed live. 

There are no doubt reasons for William Tell’s neglect. It is Rossini’s 

final opera, written for the Paris Opéra in 1829. It stands apart 

from all 38 of his earlier operas. It is epic in scale and was written 

for an audience that adored and demanded spectacle. William 

Tell is certainly not short on spectacle. It comes in the form of 

extraordinarily demanding vocal roles as well as the most complex 

and intricate choral writing. There are also many moments of 

dance supported by dazzling orchestral writing. The opera is a 

workout for everybody. I always find myself particularly drawn to 

the chorus, which forms an ever-present backbone. The chorus 

are the people of Switzerland that our hero William Tell fights for. 

They are the entire raison d’être of the story and Rossini lavishes 

them with glorious music right the way through. 

04

You could almost say that the arguments against performing William Tell 

became in my mind the very reasons to do it. The scale and impossibility of 

it all appeals to me. I’m not just thinking of the enormity of the piece and the 

numbers of performers needed. There is also the epic nature of the story and 

the sheer magnitude of Rossini’s musical ambition. 

William Tell is fascinating for other reasons, too. Rossini was 37 when it was 

premiered in Paris in 1829, and although he lived for almost another 40 years 

he never wrote another opera. There has been much speculation about why 

this might be. I liked to think that it is because he had used every trick he 

knew, employed every device and expended every ounce of inspiration on this 

score, and was happy to go out with a valedictory blaze of C major triumph 

that simply couldn’t be transcended. (And although the two operas are very 

different, I’m reminded of Verdi’s final operatic moment – also a blaze of C 

major at the end of Falstaff). 

In planning William Tell for Irish audiences of the the 2020s, I’m aware of how 

far away we are from the experience of the audiences who heard the work 

when it was new. Our expectations, our aesthetics and our cultural palette are 

worlds apart, yet our tools to tell the story are exactly the same: singers sing, 

dancers dance and musicians play. Everyone has to dig exceptionally deep in 

a work that was written for a theatre in which lavish meant lavish, a work that 

seems always to be striving beyond the norms of the possible. It’s a fascinating 

challenge to present this of all works in a way that’s contemporary and relevant 

in 2022 while also remaining faithful to Rossini’s score. I’m enormously grateful 

to our director Julien Chavaz and our colleagues from Nouvel Opéra Fribourg in 

Switzerland who are enthusiastically sharing this exciting journey with us. 

I am both delighted and proud at the way that all artists on stage, in the pit and 

behind the scenes tonight have gone that extra mile for a once in a lifetime 

operatic experience. I thank them all for their dedication. 

Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for takeoff! 

05

HEROIC DEEDS 

& OPERATIC ACCLAIM 

DIEGO FASCIATI 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

The plot of William Tell is inspired by the heroic deeds and exploits of 

the eponymous hero as re-imagined by German dramatist Friedrich 

Schiller. But the opera is much more than the Swiss national 

foundation myth. This final opera by Rossini is a paean to nature and 

freedom. Rossini’s music gloriously evokes the majestic beauty of 

mountains, lakes, rivers and forests. I grew up in Switzerland and this 

meant frequent exposure to the story of William Tell. This included, 

rather embarrassingly, participating in vignettes depicting Tell and his 

son on the first of August – the presumed date when three regions 

swore an oath of allegiance (in the opera, this takes place at end of Act 

II). The special resonance William Tell has for me is not simply a matter 

of my being Swiss. It has a lot more to do with the intense lyrical beauty 

of this opera, which is incredibly potent. It’s bel canto on steroids. 

In some ways, William Tell epitomises who we are as a company: 

ambitious, daring and persevering. As we approach the end of our fifth 

year of opera making, there is much of which we can be proud. By year 

end, we will have presented 32 live opera productions in 29 different 

venues across Ireland as well as in two venues in London and one in 

Amsterdam. In addition we have presented a varied and wide-ranging 

programme of concerts, talks, masterclasses and workshops in schools 

and with youth and community groups. This year, we presented our 

first specially-commissioned youth opera in collaboration with Music 

Generation Meath and Music Generation Kildare. It was a great joy 

in David Coonan and Dylan Coburn’s Horse Ape Bird to watch 16 

young people perform side-by-side with professional singers and 

with the support of a professional production team. 

Another first for us this year, and as far as we are aware a first worldwide, 

was the completion of our community virtual reality opera, 

Finola Merivale’s Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách. Following 

two years of engagement through writing, music, and technology 

workshops, 114 members from communities in Inis Meáin and 

Tallaght contributed to the creation and shaping of this novel 

06

approach to opera. The result is a bilingual opera (English and Irish) experienced entirely through a 

VR headset. This project was the winner of the prestigious Fedora Digital Prize. 

Earlier this year, our co-production with the Royal Opera House of Vivaldi’s Bajazet earned two Olivier 

Awards nominations and won one, for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for Peter Whelan and the 

Irish Baroque Orchestra. Our 2020 production of Hansel and Gretel, a co-production with Theatre 

Lovett and the Abbey Theatre, won best opera at this year’s Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. 

None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle 

Ealaíon. We warmly thank our principal funder for their investment in opera. That investment allows 

us to serve the public by presenting operas throughout Ireland. And we have just received two 

International Opera Awards nominations. Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách is shortlisted in the 

Digital category. Our world premiere recording of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, 

released on the Signum label, is shortlisted in the Recording (Complete Opera) category. Nil Venditti, 

who conducted Puccini’s Tosca, Out of the Ordinary and the film version of Peter Maxwell Davies’s 

The Lighthouse for us, is shortlisted in the Rising Talent category. And Adele Thomas, who directed 

Bajazet, is nominated in the Director category. 

We are grateful to all our artists, musicians and technical personnel who continue to garner national 

and international acclaim for the high standards of their work while delivering unforgettable opera 

experiences. The Arts Council support also nurtures and strengthen the opera ecology in Ireland. 

What you see on stage is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. INO also provides career development and 

employment opportunities for literally hundreds of artists and production personnel every year. 

We, of course, want to do more. Over the next few years, we want to reach more people in 

more places. We will continue to present a season of opera in Dublin but also in Cork and other 

cities. Our goal is to present opera in all counties annually. We also want to roll out an expanded 

education and outreach programme and to engage with more youth and community groups. This 

will require further investment. 

The Arts Council is not our only support. Our work is also buttressed by the support of our dedicated 

and enthusiastic INO members. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the company. I hope 

you share our sense of pride in the quality of our work and the accolades it has achieved. And I look 

forward to more people joining us as we forge a new future for opera in Ireland. 

07

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08

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Image: Soprano Claudia Boyle in the title role in Gerald Barry’s Alice’s 

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07

SYNOPSIS 

ACT I 

In Bürglen, on Lake Lucerne, the townspeople 

are happily preparing for their harvest 

festivities. The fisherman Ruodi sings about 

his sweetheart and William Tell ponders the 

political situation in the Old Swiss Confederacy, 

which is suffering under the Habsburg 

occupation. Tell’s wife and son, Hedwige and 

Jemmy, greet Melcthal, a respected elder in 

the community, who will bless the marriages 

of three young couples. His son Arnold cannot 

take part in the festivities, because he is in love 

with the Habsburg princess Mathilde, sister of 

the cruel governor Gesler. Arnold, a Swiss man 

who had previously fought for the Austrians 

in battle, has saved her from an avalanche 

and is now trying to reconcile his growing love 

for Mathilde and loyalty to his fatherland. Tell 

registers the young man’s dilemma and tries to 

convince him that the only true choice is to fight 

for the freedom of his country. As they hear the 

sound of Gesler and his hunting party in the 

woods, Arnold is won over by Tell’s revolutionary 

enthusiasm and the two men swear to rid their 

land of the occupier. Melcthal officiates at the 

marriage ceremony, which is soon followed by 

dancing and an archery contest, much to the 

joy of the villagers. Jemmy raises cheers as the 

champion archer, but Arnold leaves quietly to 

find Mathilde. The festivities are is disturbed 

when Leuthold arrives: he has killed an Austrian 

soldier who had attempted abducting his 

daughter, and Gesler’s troops are now pursuing 

him. He needs to get to the far side of the lake, 

but Ruodi won’t to take him there, because 

a storm is brewing. But Tell, who is skilled 

on water, takes on the challenge and steers 

Leuthold to safety through the storm. Rodolphe, 

the captain of Gesler’s guard, arrives too late 

and cannot capture Leuthold. He tries to get 

the villagers to name the rescuer, and threatens 

them with death. Melcthal’s proud boast 

that there are no traitors amongst the Swiss 

prompts Rodolphe to have him arrested. 

ACT II 

An Austrian hunting party is making their 

way through the forest; shepherds are heard 

singing about the sunset. Mathilde hides 

from the hunting party in the forest: she 

knows that Arnold has followed her and she 

relishes the solitude of dusk. She is happier 

here than in the the luxury of a palace. When 

Arnold appears he proclaims his love and 

Mathilde respond in kind. If he excels in battle 

for the Austrians, they could overcome their 

conflicting backgrounds and have a future 

together. They separate when Tell and Walter 

Furst approach, but not before agreeing to 

meet the following morning. Tell knows that 

Arnold was not on his own. He and Furst fear 

the prospect of Arnold rejoining the enemy. 

Tell makes a plea to Arnold’s patriotism. When 

they tell Arnold that Gesler has executed 

his father, Arnold is overcome by guilt and 

immediately decides to fight with the Swiss. 

All three of them swear an oath of vengeance. 

It will be either independence or death. They 

are joined by envoys from the neighbouring 

cantons of Unterwald, Schwitz and Uri. They 

are all set for an uprising and want vengeance 

for the murder of Arnold’s father. 

10

ACT III 

Mathilde and Arnold have met in the 

chapel, but they way things have turned 

out they understand they can no longer 

pursue their feelings for each other. Arnold 

swears vengeance on Gesler, and Mathilde 

chooses isolation, which will allow keep a 

place for Arnold in her heart. In Altdorf’s 

market square, Gesler compels the Swiss 

to celebrate the Austrians’ century-long 

occupation. The townsfolk are required to 

dance until they collapse, and Gesler then 

orders them to bow before his hat. Tell and 

his son Jemmy arrive but Tell won’t pay 

obeisance to the hat. When Rodolphe arrests 

them and recognizes Tell as the man who 

rescued Leuthold. Tell tries to have Jemmy 

protected by his mother, to ensure that the 

boy can still signal for the uprising to start. 

Gesler is infuriated by Tell and intervenes 

to order him to shoot an apple off his son’s 

head with a crossbow. If he does not do 

so, father and son will be killed. Tell falls 

to his knees, but Gesler won’t be swayed. 

Jemmy encourages his father: he is sure 

his marksmanship will triumph. After his 

successful shot at the apple, Gesler finds 

that Tell has a second arrow in his quiver. His 

fallback plan was to kill Gesler if he missed 

the apple and hit Jemmy. Furious, Gesler’s 

guards arrest them both. But Mathilde 

intervenes and takes custody of the boy in 

the name of the emperor. Gesler plans to 

take the archer to Küssnacht on the far shore 

of the lake, where he will be thrown into a 

dungeon with wild animals. Rodolphe warns 

his his boss of the dangerous conditions on 

the lake, but Gesler is heedless. The Swiss 

plead for mercy, and when it’s not granted 

they curse their oppressor. Tell is removed, 

leaving Gesler’s men to confront the rebels. 

ACT IV 

Arnold is plagued by doubt and returns to 

his father’s house to gather strength and say 

goodbye. There he is met by would be rebels, 

who he encourages to take arms, before 

setting out together to liberate Tell. A terrible 

storm erupts. The Swiss women try to calm 

Hedwige, who is distraught at the loss of her 

husband and son. Both mother and son are 

overjoyed when Mathilde reunites Jemmy 

and Hedwige. Leuthold explains that Tell was 

freed from his shackles so that he could steer 

Gesler’s boat through the storm. They rush 

to watch from the shore and see Tell leaping 

onto a rocky outcrop. Gesler somehow 

escapes from the boat. Jemmy moves the 

cache of weapons to a safe spot, and then 

sets fire to his family’s house – it’s the signal 

to start the rebellion. When he hands his 

father his crossbow, Tell shoots the Gesler. 

The rebels arrive with Arnold and Walter Furst 

at their head. Altdorf has been liberated. 

Arnold is surprised to see Mathilde. She has 

changed sides and joined the Swiss in their 

struggle for freedom.The storm subsides 

and the clouds fade away. The lake and 

the mountains are radiant. Switzerland has 

attained its freedom. 

11

DIRECTOR’S NOTE 

JULIEN CHAVAZ 

DIRECTOR 

ROSSINI’S WILLIAM TELL 

Rossini’s William Tell offers us a binary view of the world, one of simple 

village people and of evil invaders. On the one hand we have Tell’s 

serene mountain community, isolated from the world and in constant 

communion with nature. On the other we have Gessler and his soldiers, 

wicked oppressors with no redeeming qualities, who invade the Swiss 

homeland, threatening their families and their simplicity. Such black and 

white scenarios are the stuff of fairy tales. Our production is therefore set 

in a dream-like world, operating with its own rules and populated with 

wide-eyed and innocent characters. 

The natural world runs through the veins of this piece, from the majestic 

Swiss Alps which drive bands of famers into battle, to the shadowy secluded 

forests which inspire both love and terror in whoever passes through them. Nature is in the hearts and 

minds of the Swiss community, mirroring people’s passions, fears and their acts of courage. They 

are so at one that I have created a world in which the Swiss people take on the very forms of nature. 

Rossini captures the passions of the human soul like no one else. In William Tell, he explores what 

drives us to fight and resist – the Swiss people must fight for their freedom so that they can continue 

to laugh and to sing. There are a million notes in this score, and they all seem to resonate perfectly 

so as to make the performers dance on stage. Rossini must also be admired for his wit, his irony and 

his unique sense of self-mockery. He creates wonderful moments where, despite the violence and 

high stakes, he allows the characters to step aside and comment on the scenes that have just been 

presented, as if to remind us that he who can laugh at himself is invincible. 

In the midst of this tempestuous and frenetic world, there is a voice of youth, the voice of 

Jemmy. On a stage dominated by pugnacious men, it is a voice that seems magical, because it is 

embodied by a soprano. In this testosterone-fuelled atmosphere, the voice of the child is a strong 

poetic act. The metaphor of the apple is that of the child’s innocence and trust in his father. While 

William Tell carries the fate of his family and his country on his shoulders, his son in his innocence 

defies the oppressors with nothing but his love and trust. It is through the eyes of his son that 

William Tell becomes a human figure. 

The storm eventually subsides but the inner fire continues to boil. It is an unforgettable, life-changing 

musical journey. 

12

THE BIRTH OF THE 

MODERN HIGH C 

Who’s your favourite tenor? Luciano 

Pavarotti? Jonas Kaufmann? Enrico Caruso? 

Or someone else from the long list of great 

singers who made recordings over the last 

125 years or so? Whoever it is, we can say 

with reasonable confidence that Rossini 

would not have shared your taste. Why? 

Because the way tenors sing today is 

intimately related to a style of singing that 

became popular through a particular singer 

in a particular performance. It was in a work 

by Rossini, and Rossini’s opinion on the new 

style is known. It was not favourable. 

The singer who launched the style – the heroic, fullvoiced 

high C that is so treasured today – was Gilbert 

Duprez (1806–96). The occasion was a production of 

Rossini’s William Tell at the Paris Opéra in 1837. Duprez 

was no stranger to the opera. He had taken the title role 

in the first performance of the work’s Italian version, 

Guglielmo Tell, in Lucca in 1831. That’s where, for the 

first time, he sang his unorthodox high C in an opera, a 

high C sung with the full chest voice, rather than with 

the thinner, purer-sounding falsetto, which had been 

the practice in opera before him. 

The composer Hector Berlioz, who had worked with 

Duprez as early as 1828, was a huge fan. He wrote 

a 2000-word-plus review of the 1837 production of 

13

William Tell and, if Berlioz is to be believed, it 

could easily have been a difficult night for Duprez. 

As Berlioz explained, “The great majority of the 

audience was...armed in advance with a harsh 

prejudgment obvious from the conversations we 

overheard all around us in the lobby and in the 

boxes. The new singer, people said, was cold and 

bloodless, with no understanding of dramatic 

art, and extremely ugly to boot. Once the curtain 

was up, it took only a few moments to prove 

these early condemnations utterly wrong. To put 

it plainly, Duprez was a huge success. It was the 

greatest triumph of the sort that I had ever seen 

at the Opéra.” 

Berlioz provides a potted biography of Duprez, 

from his successes as a boy, his non-vocal studies 

when his voice broke, to his re-emergence with 

“a flexible, high tenor voice, sweet and engaging 

in timbre, but utterly lacking in energy”. He even 

tells a story of how he himself played timpani in 

the orchestra pit one evening, in order to hear 

Duprez in what would later become a great 

John McCormack favourite, “Il mio tesoro”, from 

Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The musicians, according 

to Berlioz, applauded more enthusiastically than 

the audience. 

But Duprez’s voice and even his intonation then 

began to deteriorate. Two years passed before 

Berlioz encountered the singer again, now in 

Florence, where his reputation was high and his 

voice completely changed, this time for the better. 

14

“It had become full, strong, penetrating,” wrote Berlioz, 

“with admirable intonation; it was as perfectly suited to the 

expression of deep passions as to that of the gentlest feelings. 

It had also gained in purity, freshness, and artless charm.” 

Berlioz said that these qualities had “become even more 

pronounced with time, and today they constitute a talent of 

the first order, whose effect, even on a public originally quite 

indifferent, is irresistible.” 

The review reports on triumphant moment after triumphant 

moment. Berlioz dealt with the tenor’s stage presence, too. 

“Duprez,” he wrote, “shows no trace of certain habits I had feared 

he might bring back from Italy; he never steps out of character, 

not even while singing. He stands where the dramatic action tells 

him to, and not always out front, like the Italians. He has none of 

our French preconceptions about the stance of the actor with 

respect to the public and has not the slightest hesitation to turn 

his back to the audience when necessary.” 

And what did Rossini think of the sound of Duprez’s new-style 

of high C? He disliked it on principle, just as he disliked vibrato, 

which he calls tremolio, the Italian for flickering or trembling. 

“I always found it disagreeable,” he wrote, “when they obliged 

me to have my music performed by singers who, following the 

progress fashionable today, think they have to illustrate every 

note with a sort of convulsive tremolio in their voice (it seems 

more like an attack of epilepsy), or those who work up a sweat 

producing the painful chest-voice high C, or even, God forbid, the 

chest-voice high C#, which I would never ever have dreamed of!” 

He hated it so much that he famously likened it to “the squawk 

of a capon with its throat cut”. So much for composers’ 

intentions in musical performances! 

MICHAEL DERVAN 

15

BEING JUL 

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE 

FIRST OPERA YOU WENT TO? 

I was five years old, and I went to see 

L’histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) 

by Stravinsky. Actually it’s something I 

remember very vividly. I remember the 

show, and the Devil – he had a car, and I 

was looking at it like a child. It was daunting, 

this Devil getting into this very old-fashioned 

car. I have pictures in my head. But what I 

almost remember more about my first opera 

experience is that the next day, in school, I 

told my teacher that I’d been to an opera the 

night before. It launched a discussion...“oh 

my god, you’re so young.” 

And at that specific moment I realised that 

the opportunity I had the night before was 

something very precious and very special. 

This was my first experience of going to a 

show that involves music. Two years later, 

at Opéra de Lausanne, I saw Rossini’s La 

Cenerentola. I remember the set, with trees 

and snow and stuff. I had the opportunity 

to see at a very young age not children’s 

opera, but adults’ opera. My parents would 

book so many tickets, but then at the end 

of the day one would have an unexpected 

meeting, or my brother or sister would be 

sick, or something. And I would always have 

the opportunity to go with either my mother 

or my father. I would never get tickets to 

16

IEN CHAVAZ... 

children’s things. Always to adult things. 

It gave me the sense that opera is like a 

second mother language. Nobody told me 

anything. Nobody sat me down and tried 

to explain opera to me. I learned it like you 

learn a language, like something you’re just 

immersed into. 

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE 

FIRST OPERA YOU DIRECTED? 

I was entranced. Because when you direct 

an opera you are creating an experience 

that is very difficult to explain. It’s a very 

strange job. You stand in front of people 

singing out loud, singing beautiful things 

you don’t want to mess with. This is why I 

think sometimes theatre directors, when 

they stage an opera, don’t know how to 

get on with this. You have the Queen of the 

Night in front of you, and you’re like, “Oh 

my god, I don’t want to ruin all this.” What 

can I do with that person? 

My direction style comes a lot from putting 

the words, putting the music into the 

bodies of the singers. For me, an opera 

director needs to focus 90 per cent of 

his time on directing people, and how we 

make this perfect triangle that works in 

opera between music, text and body. And 

sometimes in productions one of those 

components is missing. When you direct 

an opera you have to concretely be in 

front of the singers, and to kind of dance 

in front of them, to show how the music 

makes your heart beat. This is something 

especially daunting with Rossini’s music, 

where everything goes so beautifully and 

it’s cooking inside. 

Like a conductor, I think a director is 

also somebody who has to transport the 

emotion in every sense with music, and to 

try and connect that with the singers. In 

that first moment when you face singers 

and you realise how singers look at you, 

feeling the music, you try to do something 

with that... it’s a beautiful feeling and a 

feeling of almost being like in a trance. 

WHAT WAS THE BEST OPERA-RELATED 

ADVICE YOU EVER GOT? 

I was the assistant for five or six years with 

Laurent Pelly. He probably never advised 

me. But we talked so much and I realised 

with him how much the first and utmost 

things about doing a good show is the 

relationship you establish with singers. 

I couldn’t be one of those directors who 

come with a dramaturgical plan and 

with the moving set, and then explains to 

people and expects them to reproduce it. 

17

With Laurent Pelly I learnt a lot about the 

dialogue with people, about what you want 

to offer, and then also how to take what 

people offer to you. I think with this very 

closed-off relationship to singers and also 

to chorus – because chorus is a big part of 

opera and there’s nothing worse than opera 

where the chorus is not staged, or they feel 

absent, or not directed, or not involved in a 

show. The best advice has been to focus on 

this dialogue with the singers. 

 

WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING 

MISCONCEPTION ABOUT OPERA? 

That everything has to make sense. For me 

there’s always...this is a general problem 

with art, but it is especially so with opera. 

Sometimes we forget that we are also here 

for the power of music, and the power of 

letting ourselves go into an experience that 

involves our senses. And that even though 

we build up on stories that make sense, and 

we kind of relate to stuff, sometimes there 

is stuff that just emerges out of music, out 

of beautiful compositions, that just doesn’t 

make sense at all, if you were to try to explain 

it. But still it is a beautiful transformation of 

the human soul, and a beautiful elevation 

of us all. Sometimes I get frustrated about 

this desire people can have for everything 

to make sense. No. Sometimes it’s just 

beautiful, and if you don’t find an explanation 

for it, it means that music is stronger than 

its own creators. That for me is a beautiful 

thing to say about humanity. Humanity 

sometimes creates stuff that is stronger 

than the people who have created it. 

 

WHAT MOMENT DO YOU MOST LOOK 

FORWARD TO WHEN YOU GO TO A 

PERFORMANCE OF WILLIAM TELL? 

That’s a very difficult question. The Finale 

of Act III is a typical Rossinian finale. 

Rossini is a master at telling the story, 

and then putting on the pause button and 

making five minutes of commentary about 

what’s happened. So the finale of Act I of 

Il barbiere di Siviglia it’s this – the story 

pauses, and we all need to stop, to be in a 

freeze state, and then to go all crazy and 

to comment about what happened to us. 

And at the end of Act III in William Tell, 

where the story is at its most complex, all 

the characters are on stage, Gessler going 

crazy, William Tell being arrested, Mathilde 

trying to save Jemmy, everybody’s let’s 

say at the high point of their dramaturgical 

journey...then Rossini makes this beautiful 

gesture to stop the story, and to make four 

minutes of crazy music where everything 

intersects and corresponds, and creates 

a beautiful chaotic crescendo. That’s 

probably the moment I would most be 

looking forward to. 

18

WHICH OPERA THAT YOU’VE DIRECTED 

HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST? 

Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès. This is 

really a piece that I read a lot about. I did my 

research. I listened to it. I was hardworking 

on conceptualising the stuff, on trying to 

make it work, on understanding why a 

young man of 24 wrote such a complex and 

yet brilliant piece. And then, when I started 

the first day of rehearsal, I realised it’s not 

really about the story. It’s not really about 

the Judge. Everything takes place in the 

head of the Duchess, and you can’t escape 

from that point of view. You have to make 

everything work around her. So you might 

have all the best consideration for all the 

others. But you have to put everything in 

the head of the Duchess. When I realised 

that, and I decided that the three other 

characters would be more the little devil 

and the little angel trying to get the best 

out of the Duchess, then everything made 

sense. But I needed to be in the material, 

in the rehearsal process in order to realise 

that. Yes. Powder Her Face was a very 

surprising opera. 

IF YOU WEREN’T A DIRECTOR, WHAT 

MIGHT YOU HAVE BECOME? 

I would work on a construction site. This 

was my student job. I was a painter and 

a plasterer. And I loved that very much. I 

would wake up very early in the morning 

to do something with my hands that looks 

different at six-o-clock in the evening to 

six-o-clock in the morning. Like when 

you are directing an opera, it feels very 

motivational, really relaxing and gives me 

motivation. I would do something with my 

hands where there’s a beginning and an 

end. I think I would work in construction. 

IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL DERVAN 

19

CAST IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE 

Ruodi Andrew Gavin Tenor 

a fisherman 

Guillaume Tell Brett Polegato 8, 9, 11 & 13 NOV Baritone 

a Swiss patriot Gyula Nagy 12 NOV Baritone 

Jemmy Amy Ní Fhearraigh Soprano 

son of William Tell 

Hedwige Imelda Drumm Mezzo-soprano 

wife of William Tell 

Arnold Melcthal Jesús León 8, 11 & 13 NOV Tenor 

a Swiss patriot Konu Kim 9 & 12 NOV Tenor 

Melcthal Lukas Jakobski Bass 

father of Arnold 

Leuthold Gyula Nagy 8, 9, 11 & 13 NOV Baritone 

a shepherd Owen Gilhooly-Miles 12 NOV Baritone 

Rodolphe Patrick Hyland Tenor 

commander of Gesler’s archers 

Hunter Matthew Mannion Baritone 

Mathilde Máire Flavin 8, 12 & 13 NOV Soprano 

princess of the House of Habsburg, sister of Gesler Rachel Croash 9 & 11 NOV Soprano 

Walter Furst Lukas Jakobski Bass 

a Swiss patriot 

Gesler David Ireland Bass-baritone 

Austrian governor of the cantons of Schwyz and Uri 

Dancers 

Laura Garcìa Aguilera 

Stephanie Dufresne 

Jeanne Gumy 

Sophia Preidel 

20

CREATIVE TEAM 

Conductor 

Director 

Set Designer 

Associate Set Designer 

Costume Designer 

Lighting Designer 

Choreographer 

Chorus Director 

Assistant Directors 

Répétiteurs 

Fergus Sheil 

Julien Chavaz 

Jamie Vartan 

Lou Dunne 

Severine Besson 

Sinéad Wallace 

Nicole Morel 

Elaine Kelly 

Alixe Durand-Saint-Guillain, Chris Kelly 

Aoife O’Sullivan, Yvonne Collier 

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA CHORUS 

Sopranos 

Lorna Breen 

Jessica Hackett* 

Emma Hils 

Tara Lacken 

Hailey-Rose Lynch 

Maria Matthews 

Niamh St John* 

Niamh Sheehy 

Mezzo-sopranos 

Anna Carney 

Áine Cassidy 

Eilís Dexter* 

Leanne Fitzgerald* 

Madeline Judge* 

Sarah Kilcoyne* 

Iris–Fiona Nikolaou 

Heather Sammon* 

* denotes members of the core company chorus 

Tenors 

Evan Byrne 

Ciaran Crangle* 

David Corr 

Ben Escorcio* 

Andrew Masterson* 

Keith Matthews 

James McCreanor 

Patrick McGinley 

Hugo O’Donnell 

William Pearson* 

Tommy Redmond 

Jacek Wislocki 

Vladimir Sima 

Seán Tester 

Basses 

Adam Cahill 

Desmond Capliss 

David Conroy 

Lewis Dillon* 

Robert Duff 

Boyu Liu 

Matthew Mannion* 

David Mulhall 

Kevin Neville* 

Gerry Noonan 

Lorcan O’Byrne 

David Scott* 

21

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA 

First Violins 

Ioana Petcu-Colan LEADER 

David O’Doherty 

Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke 

Anita Vedres 

Christopher Quaid 

Brendan Garde 

Erin Hennessey 

Matthew Wylie 

Second Violins 

Larissa O’Grady 

Cillian Ó Breacháin 

Christine Kenny 

Sarah Perricone 

Abigail Portillo Pantoja 

Conor Masterson 

Violas 

David BaMaung 

Gawain Usher 

Giammaria Tesei 

Andrew Sheeran 

Cellos 

David Edmonds 

Yseult Cooper-Stockdale 

Peggy Nolan 

Killian White 

Norah O’Leary 

Matilde Lotti 

Double basses 

Malachy Robinson 

Paul Stephens 

Harps 

Rhian Hanson 

Síofra Ní Dhubhghaill 

Flutes 

Lina Andonovska 

Susan Doyle 

Piccolo 

Susan Doyle 

Oboes 

Aoife McCambridge 

Jenny Magee 

Cor anglais 

Jenny Magee 

Clarinets 

Conor Sheil 

Suzanne Brennan 

Bassoons 

Sinéad Frost 

Clíona Warren 

Horns 

Hannah Miller 

Peter Mullen 

Liam Duffy 

Javier Fernandez 

Trumpets 

Colm Byrne 

Pamela Stainer 

Trombones 

Matt Harrison 

Colm O’Hara 

Josh Cargill 

Timpani 

Richard O’Donnell 

Percussion 

Caitríona Frost 

Brian Dungan 

Kevin Corcoran 

22

PRODUCTION TEAM 

Production Managers 

Michael Lonergan 

Eamonn Fox 

Company Stage Manager 

Paula Tierney 

Stage Manager 

Anne Kyle 

Assistant Stage Managers 

Ilona McCormack 

Aidan Doheny 

Ross Smith Lir placement 

Technical Crew 

Abraham Allen 

Peter Boyle 

Richard Curwood 

Eoin Hannaway 

Danny Hones 

Joey Maguire 

Fergus McDonagh 

Chief LX 

Donal McNinch 

LX programmer 

Eoin McNinch 

Lighting Technicians 

Simon Burke 

Dave Carpenter 

Aidan Moylan 

Wigs & Makeup Supervisor 

Carole Dunne 

Wigs & Makeup Assistants 

Sarah Byrne 

Tee Elliot 

Kim Ryan 

IADT Wig & Makup Interns 

Sorcha Carrigan 

Shona Duffy 

Jane Gartlan 

Callum O’Higgins 

Saoirse O’hUadhaigh 

Kym O’Neill 

Rebecca Wise 

Costume Supervisor 

Sinead Lawlor 

Costume Makers 

Denise Assas 

Aoife Eustace Doyle 

Anne O’Mahony 

Costumers 

Toni Bailey 

Breege Fahy 

Paul Meade 

Úna Quinlan 

Tailor 

Gillian Carew 

Dye and Breakdown Artists 

Molly Brown 

Cathy Connell 

Brigid Morrison 

Elaine McFarland 

Oona McFarland 

Naoise McFarland Fitzgibbon 

Costume Assistants 

Clara Cohen 

Ciara Coleman Geaney 

Chrissy Hanks 

Úna Quinlan 

Dressers 

Toni Bailey 

Michaela Conley 

Sculptor 

Andrew Clancy 

Scenic Artists 

Sandra Butler 

Sue Crawford 

Surtitle Operator 

Maeve Sheil 

Lighting Providers 

QLX 

PSI 

Contract Crew 

ESI 

Set Construction 

TPS 

Graphic Design 

Alphabet Soup 

Programme edited by 

Michael Dervan 

Photography 

Michael Cooper 

Patrick Redmond 

Ste Murray 

Rehearsal Video 

Mark Cantan 

Promotional Video 

Gansee 

Mark Cantan 

Transport 

Trevor Price 

23

ROSSINI 

WILLIAM TELL 

DUBLIN 

8, 9, 11, 12, 13 NOVEMBER 2022 

GAIETY THEATRE 

2022—2023 

SEASON 

Booking and information on 

irishnationalopera.ie 

STRAUSS 

DER ROSENKAVALIER 

DUBLIN 

5, 7, 9, 11 MARCH 2023 

BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE

DONIZETTI 

DON PASQUALE 

NATIONWIDE TOUR 

26 NOVEMBER 2022 – 11 FEBUARY 2023 

IRVINE & NETIA 

LEAST LIKE THE OTHER 

SEARCHING FOR ROSEMARY KENNEDY 

LONDON 

15, 17, 18, 19 JANUARY 2023 

LINBURY THEATRE, ROYAL OPERA HOUSE 

MASSENET 

WERTHER 

NATIONWIDE 

TOUR 

22 APRIL – 14 MAY 2023 

MOZART 

COSÌ FAN TUTTE 


19 MAY – 2 JUNE 2023

BIOGRAPHIES 

FERGUS SHEIL 

CONDUCTOR 

JULIEN CHAVAZ 

DIRECTOR 

Fergus is the founding artistic 

director of Irish National Opera. 

He has conducted a wide-ranging 

repertoire of 48 different 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 and Beethoven’s Fidelio (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 Irish-language opera, Eithne (Opera 

Theatre Company), which was subsequently recorded 

and issued on CD by RTÉ lyric fm. He has 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. Since 2011 

he has been responsible for the production of 

over sixty different operas, which have been seen 

around Ireland and in London, Edinburgh, New York, 

Amsterdam and Luxembourg. 

A native of Bern, director Julien 

Chavaz is known particularly for his 

work in contemporary opera and 

music theatre. In 2018 his Théâtre 

de l’Athénée (Paris) production 

of Shostakovich’s Moscow, 

Cheryomushki was shortlisted as best show of the 

year by Le Monde. He is general and artistic director 

of Theater Magdeburg and was artistic director of 

NOF – Nouvel Opéra Fribourg from 2018–22. His 

previous productions include Péter Eötvös’s The 

Golden Dragon (Grand Théâtre de Genève), Gounod’s 

Roméo et Juliette (Opera Zuid), Mozart’s Così fan 

tutte (Opéra de Lausanne), Thomas Adès’s Powder 

her face and Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being 

Earnest (Théâtre de l’Athénée), Rossini’s Il barbiere 

di Siviglia (NOF), Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Het 

Nationale Theater, The Hague, De Kleine Komedie, 

Amsterdam, Opéra de Massy), Marius Felix Lange’s 

Snow White (Swiss premiere), Johann Strauss II’s Die 

Fledermaus and Stravinsky’s Mavra. He directed a 

fully-staged version of Buxtehude’s cycle of cantatas, 

Membra Jesu nostri, in the music theatre production 

Teenage Bodies. His chamber opera Sholololo! was 

shortlisted at Festival Belluard Bollwerk International. 

Other projects have been presented at Arcola 

Theater (London), Opera Bolzano, Rotterdamse 

Schouwburg, Stadsschouwburg (Utrecht), Tête à 

Tête Festival (London), Theater Rigiblick (Zurich) or 

Fri-Son (Fribourg). Future projects include Gerald 

Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground with Theater 

Magdeburg and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with 

Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy. He makes his 

INO debut directing William Tell. 

26

JAMIE VARTAN 

SET DESIGNER 

SINÉAD WALLACE 

LIGHTING DESIGNER 

Jamie Vartan studied Fine Art at 

Brighton Polytechnic & Theatre 

Design at Central St Martins. His 

designs for opera include Donnacha 

Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The 

First Child, The Second Violinist and 

The Last Hotel (Landmark Productions/Irish National 

Opera); Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Humperdinck’s 

Hansel and Gretel (INO); Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia 

(Wide Open Opera); Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, 

Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades (La Scala); Verdi’s 

La traviata (Malmö); Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin 

(Opéra national du Rhin); Anthony Bolton’s The Life & 

Death of Alexander Litvinenko, Puccini’s La bohème 

(Grange Park Opera); Bizet’s Carmen (Lisbon); 

Ariadne auf Naxos (Salzburg); Jake Heggie’s Dead 

Man Walking (Oldenburg); Delius’s A Village Romeo 

and Juliet (Wexford Festival Opera, winner best set 

design, Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards); Puccini’s 

Manon Lescaut (Bilbao and Valencia); Verdi’s Falstaff 

(Grange Park Opera, Oman & Parma). Film design 

includes The Last Hotel (Sky Arts). Designs for 

theatre include The Lonesome West (Gaiety Theatre); 

Medicine, Woyzeck in Winter, Arlington, Ballyturk 

and Misterman (Landmark Productions/Galway 

International Arts Festival); Happy Days (Olympia/ 

Landmark Productions); Grief is the Thing with 

Feathers (Complicité/Wayward Productions/Landmark 

Productions/Galway International Arts Festival); 

Bondagers (Edinburgh Lyceum); Ravens:Spassky v 

Fischer (Hampstead Theatre); Knives in Hens (Perth); 

Have Your Circumstances Changed? (Artangel); The 

Lost Child Trilogy (David Glass Ensemble). 

Sinéad is a graduate of Trinity 

College Dublin where she studied 

Drama and Theatre Studies. She 

received the Irish Times Irish 

Theatre Award for best lighting on 

three occasions between 2007 and 

2010. Her recent lighting designs include Vivaldi’s 

Bajazet, Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse and 

Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like The Other 

(Irish National Opera), iGirl (Abbey Theatre), Mabel’s 

Magnificent Flying Machine and In Middletown (Gate 

Theatre). Other theatre, dance and opera credits 

include The Fall of the Second Republic (Abbey Theatre/ 

Corn Exchange), The Patient Gloria (PanPan/Abbey 

Theatre), The Country Girls, Anna Karenina, Oedipus, 

By the Bog of Cats, Christ Deliver Us!, La Dispute, The 

Seafarer and Saved (Abbey Theatre), The Haircut 

(The Ark), Danse Morob (The Emergency Room), 

Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Wide Open Opera), 

Verdi’s Rigoletto (Opera Theatre Company), The 

Seagull, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing and Happy Days 

(Corn Exchange), A Tender Thing (Siren Productions), 

Wrongheaded [original production], Body and 

Forgetting, Fast Portraits, 12 Minute Dances (Liz Roche 

Company), Don Carlos (Rough Magic) and Miss Julie 

(Landmark Productions). Sinéad is resident Lighting 

Designer at The Lir Academy where she leads the 

Lighting Design module on the Masters in Stage Design. 

27

SEVERINE BESSON 

COSTUME DESIGNER 

NICOLE MOREL 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

After obtaining her certificate at the 

Ecole de Couture in Lausanne, she 

left to continue her training at the 

Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts 

et Techniques du Théâtre in Lyon 

where she studied contemporary 

and historical costume, then in Berlin, after which 

her post-graduate qualifications opened the doors 

of the Stuttgart State Opera and the Zurich Opera 

House as an assistant. She has owned a costume 

workshop in Geneva since 2005. For the theatre, she 

collaborates with Marielle Pinsard, Massimo Furlan 

(Eurovision de la chanson philosophique), Aurélien 

Patouillard (Pachinko, Farwest), Marion Duval 

(Claptrap, Cécile, Avant la retraite) or Marco Berrettini 

(feel I 3, I feel4). She also designed the costumes for 

Massimo Furlan’s production of Liza Lim’s Tree of 

Codes at the Oper Köln. Since 2015, she has designed 

the costumes for numerous productions by Julien 

Chavaz – Shostakovich’s Moscow Paradis, Ouvertüre, 

Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest, 

Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Thomas Adès’s 

Powder Her Face, Péter Eötvös’s The Golden Dragon. 

She makes her INO debut with William Tell. 

Nicole Morel is a Swiss dancer, 

choreographer and artistic director 

of the company Antipode based 

in Fribourg. She completed her 

education at the Hamburg Ballet 

School before joining the Compañia 

Nacional de Danza 2, in Madrid under the direction 

of Nacho Duato and Tony Fabre. She then danced 

at the Ballettmainz with Martin Schläpfer before 

following him to the Ballett am Rhein in Düsseldorf 

and Duisburg for five years. Her repertoire includes 

works by George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, 

Mats Ek, Kurt Joos, Jiri Kylian, Jerome Robbins 

and Twyla Tharp among others. In search of other 

dance and artistic landscapes, she founded her own 

company in 2014. Since then, several pieces have 

been co-produced by Equilibre-Nuithonie, Fribourg, 

among others. In partnership with the theatre and 

Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, she benefits from 

the YAA! – Young Associated Artist 2019–2022. 

Antipode’s creations are shown in Switzerland and 

abroad, including the 13th Internationale Tanztage 

in Oldenburg, the Quadrennial in Prague and the 

Dark Mofo Festival in Hobart, Australia. In parallel 

to her personal work, she has been exploring the 

territories of opera and musical theatre through five 

collaborations with the stage director Julien Chavaz. 

She makes her INO debut with William Tell. 

28

ELAINE KELLY 

CHORUS DIRECTOR 

AOIFE O’SULLIVAN 

RÉPÉTITEUR 

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 INO’s ABL Aviation 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 

Elaine 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. 

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. 

29

YVONNE COLLIER 

RÉPÉTITEUR 

Yvonne is a graduate of the 

Birmingham Conservatoire where 

she received her MA in piano 

performance. She specialises in 

accompaniment work and especially 

loves working with choirs and 

groups. She has worked with Irish Youth Choir, Irish 

Youth Training Choir, Gaiety School of Acting, Carlow 

Choral Society, Wexford Festival Singers and Wicklow 

Male Voice Choir. She was also the accompanist for 

Wexford-based choir Vocare who were invited to take 

part in a performance of Carol Barnett’s Bluegrass 

Mass in Carnegie Hall, New York, in 2013. Television 

performances include The Late Late Show, The Late 

Late Toy Show, Nationwide, Féilte and RTÉ School Choir 

of the Year Competition, and she was the accompanist 

for the Presentation School, Kilkenny, on their Britain’s 

Got Talent success. Opera work includes projects with 

Irish National Opera, Wide Open Opera, NI Opera and 

Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. Community opera 

projects include Brian Irvine’s Shelter Me from the Rain 

and Elaine Agnew’s Paper Boat, which was premiered 

last April by Music for Galway. Another career highlight 

was working as piano tutor to Irish actress Saoirse 

Ronan on Neil Jordan’s film Byzantium, which resulted 

in Yvonne being featured on both local and national 

newspapers in Ireland and the UK and also as a guest 

on the John Murray Radio Show. Her current project 

is the launch of her new accompanying website www. 

pianosoundz.com where tracks can be downloaded to 

sing or play along to in preparation for exams, concerts 

or simple enjoyment. She makes her INO debut with 

William Tell. 

BRETT POLEGATO 

BARITONE 

GUILLAUME TELL 8, 9, 11 & 13 NOV 

One of today’s most sought-after 

lyric baritones on the international 

stage, Canadian-Italian Brett 

Polegato has earned the highest 

praise from audiences and critics 

for his artistic sensibility. His career 

has encompassed over fifty operatic roles at the 

world’s most prestigious venues including La Scala, 

Opéra national de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric 

Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Teatro 

Real, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, and Carnegie 

Hall, New York. Recent operatic highlights include 

his debuts at the Metropolitan Opera (Brétigny in 

Massenet’s Manon) and Wexford Festival Opera (Dr 

Talbot in the European premiere of William Bolcom’s 

Dinner at Eight); Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlo, the title 

role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Marcello in 

Puccini’s La bohème (Grange Park Opera); Kurwenal 

in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (Teatro dell’Opera 

di Roma, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, and 

Opéra National de Bordeaux); his role debut as 

Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal (Festival de Lanaudière) 

and Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Irish 

National Opera). 

30

GYULA NAGY 

BARITONE 

GUILLAUME TELL 12 NOV LEUTHOLD 8, 9, 11 & 13 NOV 

Gyula Nagy is a Hungarian baritone 

based in Wicklow. Save for the 

Covid-19 lockdown, he would have 

made his INO debut as Moralès 

in Bizet’s Carmen in March 2020. 

Recent Irish performances include 

Karen Power’s Touch for INO’s critically acclaimed 20 

Shots of Opera, Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio for Lyric 

Opera Productions and the title role in Monteverdi’s 

The Return of Ulysses for Opera Collective Ireland. 

Recent international appearances include Schaunard 

in Puccini’s La bohème for the Royal Opera, London, 

and the role of the Gipsy in Mussorgsky’s The Fair 

at Sorochyntsi for Komische Oper Berlin. He is an 

alumnus of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme 

at the Royal Opera House, 2016–18. His Royal 

Opera roles include Escamillo in Peter Brook’s La 

Tragédie de Carmen, Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen, 

Fiorello in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Filotete 

in Handel’s Oreste, Konrad Nachtigal in Wagner’s 

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Baron Douphol in 

Verdi’s La traviata, as well as Paul in Philip Glass’s Les 

enfants terribles for the Royal Ballet. Most recently 

he appeared as Escamillo in Carmen for Opera North 

and made his role debut in the title role of Verdi’s 

Rigoletto at the Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid. 

Future plans include Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama 

Butterfly for The Royal Opera, Lescaut in Puccini’s 

Manon Lescaut for Dorset Opera Festival and Urok in 

Paderewski’s Manru for Opéra national de Lorraine. 

He makes his INO stage debut in William Tell. 

JESÚS LEÓN 

TENOR 

ARNOLD MELCTHAL 8, 11 & 13 NOV 

Mexican tenor Jesús León was a 

student of the UCLA Opera Studio, 

the Solti Accademia di Bel Canto, 

the Boston University Opera 

Institute and the Domingo-Thornton 

Young Artist Program at Los Angeles 

Opera. In Italy he trained under the guidance of 

the legendary soprano Mirella Freni. His repertoire 

includes works by Bellini, Donizetti, Puccini, Rossini, 

Verdi, Mozart, Bizet, Gounod and Offenbach. On the 

most important stages worldwide he has sung roles 

such as Pâris in Offenbach’s La belle Hélène (Théatre 

du Chatelet, Paris), Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de 

perles (Florence Opera and Korea National Opera), 

Romeo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (Opéra de Nice, 

Graz Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Royal Opera House 

Muscat), Elvino in Bellini’s La sonnambula (Stuttgart 

State Opera, Teatro Massimo Bellini, Catania, Teatro 

Comunale Pavarotti-Freni), Il Duca di Mantova in 

Verdi’s Rigoletto (Opéra de Nice, Lyric Opera San 

Francisco), Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata (Minnesota 

Opera, Scottish Opera, Opéra de Dijon). Recent 

highlights include Romeo in Roméo et Juliette at the 

Opéra Comique in Paris, Elvino in La sonnambula and 

Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Deutsche 

Oper Berlin, Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at 

the Ópera de Bellas Artes de México and Ismaele in 

Verdi’s Nabucco at the Opéra de Nice and the Opéra 

de Toulon. He has appeared in concert with the Royal 

Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Verdi in Milan and 

the Orquestra Sinfonica de Mineria, in London at the 

Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Wigmore Hall, and at 

Birmingham Symphony Hall. He makes his INO debut 

in William Tell. 

31

KONU KIM 

TENOR 

ARNOLD MELCTHAL 9 & 12 NOV 

The winner of Plácido Domingo’s 

Operalia competition, tenor 

Konu Kim, made his debut with 

Glyndebourne Tour this season 

as Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan 

tutte. He makes his US debut at 

San Diego Opera in the same role, at San Francisco 

Opera as Bao Yu in Bright Sheng’s Dream of the 

Red Chamber, and performs Rossini’s Petite messe 

solennelle at the National Concert Hall in Dublin 

for Wexford Festival Opera. Future engagements 

include returns to the Royal Opera House, Donizetti 

Festival in Bergamo and others. His 2021–22 season 

engagements include his debut with Donizetti Festival 

as Leone in L’Ange de Nisida, Almaviva in Rossini’s 

Il barbiere di Siviglia with Nouvel Opera Fribourg, 

Edoardo in Verdi’s Un giorno di regno with Garsington 

Opera and Elvino in Bellini’s La sonnambula with 

Müpa Budapest Palace of the Arts. Kim studied at 

Kyung Hee University in Seoul, the Korean National 

Opera Academy, and in Germany. His awards include 

first prizes at the Concours musical international de 

Montréal, the Seoul International Music Competition, 

the Marmande International Singing Competition, 

France, the GB Rubini, Marcello Giordani and 

Riccardo Zandonai international singing competitions 

in Italy, and the International Stanisław Moniuszko 

Vocal Competition in Poland. He makes his INO debut 

in William Tell. 

MÁIRE FLAVIN 

SOPRANO 

MATHILDE 8, 12 & 13 NOV 

With an engaging presence and 

delightful charisma Dublin-born 

soprano Máire Flavin represented 

Ireland at BBC Cardiff Singer of 

the World where she was a finalist 

in the Song Prize. Recent operatic 

highlights include Chrysothemis in Strauss’s Elektra 

(Irish National Opera), and Hannah in Donnacha 

Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The Second Violinist 

(Landmark Productions/Irish National Opera); Donna 

Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Opera Theatre 

Company); Contessa d’Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze 

di Figaro (Salzburger Landestheater, Opera North); 

Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, Anna Sørensen in the 

British premiere of Kevin Puts’s Silent Night; the title 

role in Handel’s Alcina, Hanna Glawari in Lehár’s 

The Merry Widow, and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan 

tutte (Opera North); Dido in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas 

(Théâtre des Champs Elysées); Bianca in Andrew 

Synnott’s La cucina (Wexford Festival Opera); Mimì 

in Puccini’s La bohème (Cork Opera House, Opera 

Theatre Company); and Elena in a new production 

of Rossini’s La donna del lago (Buxton International 

Festival). She has also performed lead roles with 

Scottish Opera, Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, Northern 

Ireland Opera, Opera Collective Ireland and Welsh 

National Opera. On the concert platform she has 

appeared in concert with the RTÉ National Symphony 

Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTÉ 

Concert Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, the 

Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, and the Deutsche 

Philharmonie Merck. 

32

RACHEL CROASH 

SOPRANO 

MATHILDE 9 & 11 NOV 

Dublin soprano Rachel Croash is 

an alumna of the Irish National 

Opera Studio. Roles for INO include 

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 bohème, Mabel in Gilbert & 

Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and Valencienne in 

Lehár’s The Merry Widow (Lyric Opera Productions), 

Mimí in La bohème, 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. 

AMY NÍ FHEARRAIGH 

SOPRANO 

JEMMY 

Irish soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh 

is an alumna of the Irish National 

Opera Studio 2018–19 and is 

currently based in Hannover, 

Germany. She is under the tutelage 

of Dutch soprano Hanneke de Wit. 

Her opera roles include Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Maria 

Stuarda, Davnet in the world premiere of Michael 

Gallen’s Elsewhere and Gretel in Humperdinck’s 

Hansel and Gretel, in productions which have received 

best opera nominations in the 2020–21 Irish Times 

Irish Theatre Awards, Rosemary in Brian Irvine and 

Netia Jones’s Least Like the Other, Papagena in 

Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Barbarina in Mozart’s 

Le nozze di Figaro (all Irish National Opera), Mrs Julian 

in Britten’s Owen Wingrave (Opera Collective Ireland), 

Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen (Lyric Opera Productions), 

Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Dublin 

Opera Studio), the title role in Handel’s Susanna and 

Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea 

(DIT Opera Ensemble), and Lucinde in Gluck’s Armide 

(The Yorke Trust). She has also covered roles for INO 

– Pamina in The Magic Flute, Susanna in Le nozze di 

Figaro, and Hannah in Donnacha Dennehy and Enda 

Walsh’s The Second Violinist. 

33

IMELDA DRUMM 

MEZZO-SOPRANO 

HEDWIGE 

Imelda Drumm enjoys a successful 

international singing career. For 

over 30 years she has forged strong 

relationships with Glyndebourne 

Festival and Welsh National Opera 

in the UK and here in Ireland with 

Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company, Wide Open 

Opera, Lyric Opera Productions and Irish National 

Opera as well as the RTÉ National Symphony 

Orchestra and RTÉ Concert Orchestra. She has 

won many national and international awards. These 

include the UK Esso and Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks 

Glyndebourne Awards. She sang the role of Hansel 

in the 1999 Oliver Award winning production of 

Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel at WNO. Her 

recordings include Hansel and Gretel for Channel 4 

TV, Janáček’s Jenůfa under Charles Mackerras, and 

Verdi’s Falstaff with Bryn Terfel for S4C. In 2017 she 

took the role of Nuala in a concert performance of 

Robert O’Dwyer’s Irish-language opera Eithne with 

the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra under Fergus 

Sheil, a CD of which was released on the RTÉ lyric 

fm label. She is a founder member of Opera UK and 

SingersResound UK, organisations whose mission 

it is to improve communication between industry 

stakeholders. Imelda is staff lecturer in vocal studies 

at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She takes a 

keen interest in vocal pedagogy and health, and her 

doctoral research investigated the action of female 

reproductive hormones on classical singers; it is 

available in TARA the research repository at Trinity 

College. She made her INO debut as Amneris in 

Verdi’s Aida in 2018 and sang Klytämenestra in 

Strauss’s Elektra in 2021. 

LUKAS JAKOBSKI 

BASS 

ARNOLD MELCTHAL/WALTER FURST 

Polish bass Lukas Jakobski studied 

at the Royal College of Music, 

and was a member of the Jette 

Parker Young Artist Programme 

at the Royal Opera House, Covent 

Garden, where his roles included 

Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca, and Pietro in Verdi’s 

Simon Boccanegra, and Il re in Verdi’s Aida. He has 

returned to Covent Garden to sing Greek Captain in 

Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Don Profondo in Rossini’s Il 

viaggio a Reims, Pistol in Verdi’s Falstaff and, most 

recently, Dr Grenvil in Verdi’s La traviata. Elsewhere, 

he has performed with Classical Opera, Glyndebourne 

Tour, Grange Park Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Dutch 

National Opera, Nederlandse Reisopera, Palau de les 

Arts Reina Sofía, Polish National Opera and Theater 

an der Wien. Concert engagements have included 

performances with the Academy of Ancient Music, 

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London 

Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Irish Baroque 

Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonietta and Turku Philharmonic 

Orchestra. His engagements in the 2021–22 season 

included Hobson in Britten’s Peter Grimes at Theater 

an der Wien and stage debut at Polish National Opera 

as Montio in Jarecki’s Barbara Radziwiłłówna. He made 

his INO debut in Mozart’s The Magic Flute in 2019. 

34

DAVID IRELAND 

BASS-BARITONE 

GESLER 

David Ireland studied at both the 

Guildhall School of Music and 

Drama and the National Opera 

Studio in London before becoming 

a Harewood Young Artist at 

English National Opera. Recent 

performances have included the title role in Mozart’s 

Le nozze di Figaro (Welsh National Opera), Colline in 

Puccini’s La bohème (Opéra d’Avignon and English 

National Opera), Quince in Britten’s A Midsummer 

Night’s Dream (Opéra de Lille), Il gran sacerdote in 

Verdi’s Nabucco (Opéra national de Montpellier), 

Kuligin in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová (Opéra national 

de Lorraine), plus Dr Bartolo in Rossini’s The Barber of 

Seville, Third Priest in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Mask 

of Orpheus, Sacristan in Puccini’s Tosca and Speaker 

and Second Armed Man/Priest in Mozart’s The Magic 

Flute (all for English National Opera). He has also 

sung a critically-acclaimed Leporello in Mozart’s Don 

Giovanni (Garsington Opera), Brander in Berlioz’s 

La Damnation de Faust (Three Choirs Festival), and 

made his Paris debut also as Leporello in Mozart’s 

Don Giovanni (Théâtre des Champs Elysées), plus 

his BBC Proms debut, as soloist in Vaughan Williams’ 

Serenade to Music with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC 

Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He makes his INO 

debut in William Tell. 

OWEN GILHOOLY-MILES 

BARITONE 

LEUTHOLD 

Owen Gilhooly-Miles is a graduate 

of the Royal College of Music and 

National Opera Studio in London. 

He made his Royal Opera House 

debut singing the Fauré Requiem 

for The Royal Ballet and in 2007 

represented Ireland at BBC Cardiff Singer of the 

World. He is also a Professor of Singing at the Royal 

Irish Academy of Music. In opera he has performed 

with Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company, 

English Touring Opera, Lyric Opera Productions, 

Scottish Opera, Opera North, Buxton International 

Festival, The Opera Group and Musikwerkstatt Wien. 

Additionally, he has appeared in many productions 

for Wexford Festival Opera and the Lismore Opera 

Festival. In 2014 he made his debut for The Royal 

Opera singing the role of Robert in the world première 

of Luke Bedford’s Through his Teeth. In concert 

he has appeared with the RTÉ National Symphony 

Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Irish Baroque 

Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, 

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony 

Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic 

Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He 

has performed at the BBC Prom in Gilbert & Sullivan’s 

HMS Pinafore and Janáček’s Osud with the BBC 

Symphony Orchestra, with whom he also performed 

in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom. He makes 

his INO debut in William Tell. 

35

ANU, Landmark Productions and MoLI 

1 BOOK. 1 YEAR. 18 ARTISTIC EXPERIMENTS 

ULYSSES 2.2 

EPISODE 18 

OLD GHOSTS 

EVANGELIA RIGAKI, MARINA CARR, 

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA & ANU 

OLD GHOSTS IMAGINES JAMES JOYCE IN CONVERSATION WITH NORA 

BARNACLE, HOMER AND PENELOPE HERSELF AS POSSIBLE INSPIRATIONS FOR 

THE CHARACTER OF MOLLY BLOOM AND THE FINAL CHAPTER OF ULYSSES 

MoLI - Museum of Literature Ireland 

February 2th - 5th, 2023 

Tickets €20 - €25, On Sale 14th November 

ulysses22.ie / #ulysses22

ANDREW GAVIN 

TENOR 

RUODI 

Andrew completed his Masters in 

Music Performance at the Royal 

Irish Academy of Music in 2016, 

achieving First Class Honours under 

the tuition of Mary Brennan. He 

is also graduate of the National 

University of Ireland, Maynooth, where he attained 

First Class Honours in English Literature. He also 

holds an M. Phil in Children’s Literature from Trinity 

College, Dublin. In 2016 he was awarded the PwC/ 

Wexford Festival Opera Emerging Young Artist Bursary 

and is a former member of INO’s ABL Aviation Opera 

Studio. He is currently undertaking his doctoral 

studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and 

Trinity College Dublin. Operatic highlights include 

Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Fenton in 

Verdi’s Falstaff, Jupiter in Handel’s Semele, Pedrillo 

in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tamino 

and Monostatos in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Arbace 

in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Acis and Damon in Handel’s 

Acis and Galatea, Mr McCarthy in the world premiere 

of Andrew Synnott’s The 47th Saturday, Junger 

Diener in Strauss’s Elektra, Don Curzio in Mozart’s 

The Marriage of Figaro, M. Vogelsang in Mozart’s Der 

Schauspieldirektor, Telemachus in Monteverdi’s The 

Return of Ulysses, Ormindo in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, 

Andrés, Cochenille, Pitichinaccio and Franz in 

Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, and the roles of 

Bob Doran, Mr Alleyne and O’Halloran in the world 

premiere of Andrew Synnott’s Dubliners. 

PATRICK HYLAND 

TENOR 

RODOLPHE 

Award-winning Irish tenor Patrick 

Hyland is a regular on the concert 

and operatic stage performing 

globally in venues including 

Glyndebourne, the Royal Albert 

Hall, BAM New York, National Opera 

House, Wexford, the National Concert Hall, Dublin. 

Having studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music 

under Veronica Dunne he has received widespread 

critical acclaim from leading global opera magazines 

Opera News, Opera Today and Opera, with the Irish 

Independent hailing his debut performance with the 

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra as “exceptional”. 

As a finalist at the Veronica Dunne International 

Singing Competition 2016 he was awarded the 

Dermot Troy Prize for the best Irish singer. He has 

performed lunchtime concerts with both the RTÉ 

National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert 

Orchestra. Operatic roles include Erik Oxenstjerna in 

Foroni’s Cristina, regina di Svezia (Wexford Festival 

Opera); Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, 

Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Silvio/Pasquin 

in Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle (Wexford Festival Opera 

ShortWorks); Romboïdal in Offenbach’s L’ile de 

Tulipatan (Northern Ireland Opera), El Remendado in 

Bizet’s Carmen (RTÉ Concert Orchestra), Camille in 

Lehár’s The Merry Widow (Lyric Opera Productions 

and Cork Opera House) and Jaquino in Beethoven’s 

Fidelio (Lyric Opera Productions). Oratorio 

performances include Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, 

Haydn’s The Creation and Stabat Mater and Handel’s 

Messiah. He makes his INO debut in William Tell. 

37

38 

Image: Irish National Opera Chorus 

in rehearsal for William Tell. 

Photograph: Ste Murray

MATTHEW MANNION 

BARITONE 

HUNTER 

Matthew Mannion is a recent 

graduate of the Royal Irish Academy 

of Music where he received his 

MMus in Performance, studying with 

Owen Gilhooly-Miles and Dearbhla 

Collins. Recently he performed 

as Victorian 4 in Will Todd’s Alice’s Adventures in 

Wonderland (Opera Collective Ireland), was a finalist 

in the Glenarm Festival of Voice Competition, and also 

performed the role of Melisso in Handel’s Alcina with 

the Saluzzo Opera Academy. He was selected as a 

guest artist as part of the Rising Stars 2021 concert 

at University Concert Hall, Limerick. He has sung the 

roles of Giove in Cavalli’s La Calisto (RIAM 2020) and 

was a guest artist in the Festival of Voice with Tara 

Erraught (Drogheda Classical Music). In 2018–19 he 

created the role of Owen in Tom Lane’s The Stalls at 

Cork Opera House, sang First Priest in Mozart’s The 

Magic Flute (Irish National Opera), Surgeon in the 

Irish premiere of Stephen McNeff’s Banished (RIAM), 

created the role of Liam in Tom Lane’s BackStage 

(Cork Midsummer Festival) and sang the title role in 

the Irish premiere of Judith Weir’s Scipio’s Dream 

(RIAM). His other roles include Samuel in Gilbert 

& Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (Lyric Opera 

Productions), Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte 

(Flat Pack Music), Marchese in Verdi’s La traviata, 

Morales in Bizet’s Carmen (Lyric Opera Productions), 

the Imperial Commissioner in Puccini’s Madama 

Butterfly (Lyric Opera Productions/Bowdon Festival), 

Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Opera Britain), 

and Bartolo in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (DIT 

Conservatory of Music and Drama). 

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 the INO’s first two years, the company has 

offered 200 chorus contracts to over 80 individual singers. 

39

PRESENTS 

Kelli O’Hara, Joyce DiDonato and Renée Fleming in Kevin Puts’ The Hours on Saturday 10 December 

FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE 

www.irishnationalopera.ie 

–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. 

KEVIN PUTS / LIBRETTO BY GREG PIERCE 

The Hours 

DEC 10 

GIORDANO 

Fedora 

JAN 14 

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 

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

DONIZETTI 

DON PASQUALE 


26 NOVEMBER 2022 – 11 FEBRUARY 2023 

LETTERKENNY | NAVAN | GALWAY | ENNIS | DUNDALK 

KILKENNY | DÚN LAOGHAIRE | BRAY | WATERFORD 

CORK | LIMERICK | TRALEE 

irishnationalopera.ie

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

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 


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 

44

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 

45

INO TEAM 

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 

Muireann Ní Dhubhghaill 

Artistic Administrator 

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 

Gary Joyce 


Sara Moorhead 

Ann Nolan 

Yvonne Shields 

Bruce Stanley 

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

Irish National Opera William Tell programme book 2022

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