Cosí fan tutte programme book 2023

EMMA MORWOOD
MEZZO-SOPRANO
DESPINA 24, 26, 27 EVENING MAY
Born in Belfast, Emma Morwood
studied at the University of
Edinburgh, the Royal Northern
College of Music, where she was
a major award winner, and she
currently studies with Karen
Cargill. She has sung with many of Europe’s finest
orchestras and conductors. Concert highlights
include Handel’s Messiah with the Irish Chamber
Orchestra at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and
with Edinburgh Royal Choral Union (ERCU) at the
Usher Hall, Edinburgh; Berg’s Sieben frühe lieder at
the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow; Barber’s Knoxville:
Summer of 1915; Schoenberg’s String Quartet No.
2 with the Edinburgh Quartet; and Verdi’s Requiem
(ERCU). She sang the lead role of Iris Robinson in
Conor Mitchell’s Abomination: a DUP Opera at the
Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 2022. Other roles include
Musetta in Northern Ireland Opera’s (NIO) critically
acclaimed production of Puccini’s La bohème; Ulster
Touring Opera’s inaugural concert series A Night at
the Opera; Costanza in Vivaldi’s Griselda with Irish
National Opera; Amore and Minerva in Monteverdi’s
The Return of Ulysses with Opera Collective Ireland.
She also appears in the award-winning NIO film Old
Friends and Other Days. Future performances include
Haydn’s Creation with the Ulster Orchestra and Alien
in the world premiere of Anna Pidgorna’s A New World
with Red Note Ensemble. As well as being a qualified
paraglider pilot, Emma has two children, Lucas and
Orla, and in her spare time enjoys climbing, wild
swimming and yoga. She is grateful for the continued
support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and
National Lottery.
JOHN MOLLOY
BASS
DON ALFONSO 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 AFTERNOON, 29, 31 MAY, 2 JUNE
John Molloy is one of Ireland’s
leading basses and hails from Birr.
He studied at the DIT Conservatory
of Music and Drama, the Royal
Northern College of Music in
Manchester and the National
Opera Studio in London. He made his INO debut in
2018 as Antonio in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro
and in March 2021 performed Colline in Puccini’s
La bohème. Roles he has undertaken for Opera
Theatre Company include Sparafucile in Verdi’s
Rigoletto, Trinity Moses in Weill’s Mahagonny, the
title role in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Zuniga
in Bizet’s Carmen and he also appeared in Stephen
Deazley’s children’s opera BUG OFF!!! Other roles
include Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Scottish
Opera), Guccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Royal
Opera House, London), Masetto in Mozart’s Don
Giovanni (English National Opera), Arthur in Peter
Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse and the title role in
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Nationale Reisopera,
Netherlands), Le Commandeur in Thomas’s La cour
de Célimène (Wexford Festival Opera), Angelotti in
Puccini’s Tosca, Luka in Walton’s The Bear, Banco in
Verdi’s Macbeth and Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir
d’amore (OTC and Northern Ireland Opera), Raimondo
in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera Holland
Park), Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Sarastro in
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Bonze in Puccini’s Madama
Butterfly (Lyric Opera Productions), Snug in Britten’s
A Midsummer Nights Dream (Opera Ireland) and
Henry Kissinger in John Adams’s Nixon in China (Wide
Open Opera). International concert repertoire includes
Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Verdi’s Requiem,
Mendelssohn’s St Paul, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s
Messiah and Stravinsky’s Renard.
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