Irish National Opera MARS programme

INO SUPPORTERS 2025 BIOGRAPHIES BIOGRAPHIES BIOGRAPHIES
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S
CIRCLE
Mary Canning
INO GUARDIANS
Anonymous [1]
Jennifer Caldwell
William Earley
Ian & Jean Flitcroft
Howard Gatiss
Gernot Ruppelt
Davina Saint
INO PATRONS
Denis & Jane Corboy
Mareta & Conor Doyle
Noel Doyle & Brigid McManus
Karlin Lillington & Chris Horn
Michael D. Kunkel
Rory & Mary O’Donnell
Patricia O’Hara
Carl & Leonora O’Sullivan
John Schlesinger
& Margaret Rowe
INO CHAMPIONS
Anonymous [1]
Valerie Beatty & Dennis Jennings
Anne Fogarty
Maire & Maurice Foley
Gerard Howlin
M Hely Hutchinson
Kintsukuroi
Silvia & Jay Krehbiel
Catherine Kullmann
Stephen Loughman
Tony & Joan Manning
William Mansfield
Lyndon MacCann
& Claire Callanan
Petria McDonnell
Sara Moorhead
Máire O’Connor
& Simon O’Leary
John & Mary O’Conor
Joseph O’Dea
Tiernán Ó hAlmhain
Geraldine O’Sullivan
James & Marie Pike
Dermot & Sue Scott
Matthew Patrick Smyth
INO ADVOCATES
Anonymous [5]
Desmond Barry
Maureen de Forge
Roy & Aisling Foster
Michael Duggan
Mary Finlay Geoghegan
Julian Hubbard
Nuala Johnson
Paul Kennan & Louise Wilson
John & Michele Keogan
Genevieve Leloup & John Lowe
Stella Litchfield
R. John McBratney
Eithne MacMahon & Don Jordan
Ann Nolan & Paul Burns
Helen Nolan
Paul & Veronica O’Hara
Peadar O’Mórdha
Frances Ruane
Skellig Six18 Distillery
Judith & Philip Tew
INO ASSOCIATES
Anonymous [4]
John Armstrong
Karen Banks
Deirdre Collier
Phillipa Cottle
Fionnuala Croker
& Mark Tottenham
Cathy Dalton
Aisling De Lacy
Ciaran Diamond
Matthew Dillon
Veronica Donoghue
Pat Doyle
Noel Drumgoole
Stephen Fennelly
& Niamh O’Connell
Tom Gaynor
Niall Guinan
Mary Holohan
Mairead Hurley
Michael Lloyd
Dara MacMahon
& Garrett Fennell
Aibhlín McCrann
& Peter Finnegan
Katherine Meenan
Pat Moylan
Jane Moynihan
Dorrian O’Connor
Philip Regan
Susan Reidy
Jim Ryan
Catherine Santoro
Linda Scales
J & B Sheehy
Liam Shorten
Philip Tilling
Michael Tyrrell
Brian Walsh & Barry Doocey
Barry Walsh
In Memoriam Nadette King
Michael Wall & Simon Nugent
Charles R. Young
INO COMPANIONS
Anonymous [5]
Ann Barrett
Lisa Birthistle
Catherine Bunyan
Stephen Cahill
& Patrick O’Byrne
Valerie Cole
Maureen Collins
Geraldine Connolly
Dr Beatrice Doran
Josepha Doran
Gretta Flynn
Gabriel Hogan
Ita Kirwan
Bernadette Madden
Cróine Magan
Sandra Mathews
Andrew McCroskery
Niall McCutcheon
John & Mary Miller
Jean Moorhead
Siobhan O’Beirne
Viola & John O’Connor
Liam O’Daly
Mary & John O’Gorman
Mary O’Kennedy
Jackie & Ellen O’Mahony
Marion Palmer
Lucy Pratt
Hilary Pyle
Jeanette Read
John Rountree
Mary Spollen
Niall Williams
Maureen Willson
MEMBERSHIPS OVER €300 ARE ELIGIBLE FOR
THE CHARITABLE DONATION SCHEME.
JOIN US TODAY, AND LET’S MAKE HISTORY TOGETHER.
CONTACT: AOIFE DALY, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
E: aoife@irishnationalopera.ie T: +353 (0)85 260 3721
Viva Verdi
Viva Wagner
SINÉAD CAMPBELL WALLACE SOPRANO
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA
13 SEPTEMBER 2025
JENNIFER WALSHE
COMPOSER | CO-DIRECTOR
“The most original
compositional voice to
emerge from Ireland in the
past 20 years” (The Irish Times)
and “Wild girl of Darmstadt” (Frankfurter
Rundschau), composer and performer Jennifer
Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her music
has been commissioned, broadcast and
performed all over the world. She has been
the recipient of fellowships and prizes from
the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New
York, the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm,
the Internationales Musikinstitut, Darmstadt
and Akademie Schloss Solitude among others.
Her opera Libris Solar was commissioned and
produced by Irish National Opera in 2020 as
part of 20 Shots of Opera. Many of Walshe’s
recent projects focus on the planet Mars, using
it as a lens to think through the most pressing
issues of our time. Notable projects from this
series include MARS I, for Klangforum Wien,
and Some Notes on Martian Sonic Aesthetics,
2034-51 for Ensemble Modern, culminating
in MARS (2025) for Irish National Opera.
Walshe has worked with AI for over a decade,
and her book 13 Ways of Looking at AI, Art &
Music was published by Unsound in 2025. A
Late Anthology of Early Music Vol. 1: Ancient
to Renaissance, her third solo album, was
released on Tetbind in 2020. The album uses AI
to rework canonical works from early Western
music history. A Late Anthology was chosen
as an album of the year in The Irish Times, The
Wire and The Quietus. In the Merry Month of
May, Walshe’s duo album with Tony Conrad,
was released in 2024. Walshe is Professor of
Composition at the University of Oxford.
MARK O’CONNELL
LIBRETTO
Mark O’Connell is the author
of A Thread of Violence, Notes
from an Apocalypse, and To Be
a Machine. To Be a Machine
was awarded the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize,
the 2019 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and
was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for
Non-Fiction. A Thread of Violence was named
Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2023
Irish Book Awards and was shortlisted for the
Writer’s Prize. He is a regular contributor to
The New York Review of Books, and his work
has appeared in The New Yorker, The New
York Times Magazine, and The Guardian, and
he writes a weekly column for The Irish Times.
He is currently the Rooney Writer Fellow at the
Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin.
ELAINE KELLY
CONDUCTOR
Formerly Resident Conductor
and Chorus Director of
Irish National Opera, Elaine
Kelly conducted works by
Donnacha Dennehy, David Cooney, Amanda
Feery, Evangelia Rigaki and Emma O’Halloran.
She conducted nine new works in INO’s
internationally praised 20 Shots of Opera in
2020, and nationwide tour of Peter Maxwell
Davies’s The Lighthouse in 2021 and Mozart’s
Così fan tutte and Gounod’s Faust in 2023.
She has worked as assistant conductor with
Opéra National de Bordeaux and Nouvel Opéra
Fribourg. She has appeared with the National
Symphony Orchestra Ireland, RTÉ Concert
Orchestra, Cork Concert Orchestra, Cork Opera
House Concert Orchestra, conducted the
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and was Music
Director of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra
and the University of Limerick Orchestra. Most
recently, Kelly conducted Rossini’s Il barbiere di
Siviglia at this year’s Longborough Festival Opera.
Elaine Kelly was the first Irish conductor to be
nominated for a GRAMMY Award when she was
nominated for ‘Best Choral Performance’ for
Benedict Sheehan’s Akathist in 2024.
TOM CREED
CO-DIRECTOR
Tom directed Emma
O’Halloran’s Trade and Mary
Motorhead (also at Prototype
Festival, New York, and LA
Opera), Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, Vivaldi’s
Griselda and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann
for Irish National Opera, as well as Jennifer
Walshe’s Libris Solar as part of 20 Shots of Opera.
A specialist in developing and directing new
opera, he has also directed the world premieres
of Michael Gallen’s Elsewhere (Abbey Theatre
and Irish tour), Donnacha Dennehy’s The Hunger
(Abbey Theatre and BAM, New York), Annelies
van Parys’s Private View (winner of the inaugural
FEDORA Opera Prize), and Jürgen Simpson’s
air india [redacted] (Turning Point Ensemble,
Vancouver). He was previously Festival Director
of Cork Midsummer Festival, Theatre and Dance
Curator of Kilkenny Arts Festival, and Associate
Director of Rough Magic. He is a member of the
Expert Advisory Committee of Culture Ireland,
chair of GAZE Film Festival, and a board
member of Performing Arts Forum.
AEDÍN COSGROVE
SET & LIGHTING DESIGN
Aedín is a scenographer who
has worked extensively in
Ireland and internationally.
Previous work with Jennifer
Walshe includes Time Time Time for Sonic Acts
22, Ireland a Dataset and Personhood with
the Oslo Sinfonetta and Andreas Borregaard.
Recent opera includes Handel’s Giulio Cesare
Blackwater Valley Opera Festival (2023). Theatre
credits include Good Sex for Dead Centre, To the
Lighthouse, Everyman Cork, Medea and Our New
Girl at the Gate Theatre, Saló at the Peacock, The
Temple at Melbourne Malthouse Theatre; All that
Fall and Playing the Dane for Pan Pan. Guests of
the Nation, Sacrifice at Easter, and Faraway for
Corcadorca; Der Sturm, Schone Neue Welt and
NONONO at Theatre Bonn; A Midsummer Night’s
Dream at Abbey Theatre; The Seagull and Other
Birds at Chengdu Theatre, China. Aedín won an
Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best Set for
Good Sex (2022) and Playing the Dane (2010),
Best Lighting for All That Fall and Man of Valour
(2011) and with Paul Keogan for Faraway (2017).
CATHERINE FAY
COSTUME DESIGN
Catherine is an award-winning
Costume Designer for theatre,
dance and opera. Her previous
designs for Irish National
Opera include Strauss’s Die Fledermaus,
Strauss’s Elektra and Gluck’s Orfeo ed
Euridice. Recent credits include The Crucible
(West End/National Theatre), Emma, Grania,
The Quare Fellow, Somewhere Out There You,
Translations, Portia Coughlan, iGirl, 14 Voices
from the Bloodied Field and Our Few and Evil
Days (Abbey Theatre), Piaf, Romeo and Juliet
and The Threepenny Opera (Irish Times Irish
Theatre Award nomination) (Gate Theatre),
The Plough and the Stars (Abbey Theatre/Lyric
Hammersmith), The United States vs. Ulysses
(Once Off Productions/ Pavilion), GATMAN!
(Cork Everyman), Monteverdi’s The Return
of Ulysses, Britten’s Owen Wingrave and
Handel’s Semele (Opera Collective Ireland),
Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Opera Theatre
Company), The Importance of Nothing (Pan
Theatre Company), Owen Wingrave (Opera
Bastille, Paris), Girl Song and Dogs (United
Fall, Winner Best Production and Best Design
for ABSOLUT Fringe Festival).
CONAN McIVOR
VIDEO DESIGN
Conan is an undisciplinary
artist who tells stories across
and in-between Cinema,
Theatre, Immersive, and Visual
Art. Opera credits include video design for
Brian Irvine and John McIlduff’s Scorched
Earth Trilogy for Dumbworld and Irish National
Opera, as well as Dumbworld’s Fatal System
Error, A New Topography of Love, All the Things
We Are, Two Angels Play I Spy, and Drive by
Shooting, and Conor Mitchell’s Abomination:
A DUP Opera. In 2022, Conan was nominated
for Best Video Design at The Irish Times Irish
Theatre Awards, received the Visual Artists
Ireland Experience Award with Vivienne
Dick, was the British Council’s Filmmaker-in-
Residence at Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris,
and received an Arts Council Ireland Theatre
Bursary to expand his practice as a Theatre
Director. His sell-out production Waiting For
The Offo at The New Theatre Dublin marked his
50th design credit and first directing credit for
the stage. Conan is currently a student on the
M.F.A. Theatre Directing programme at The Lir,
Trinity College Dublin.
ÚNA MONAGHAN
SOUND DESIGNER
Úna Monaghan is a harper,
composer, researcher
and sound artist working
internationally. She
collaborates, improvises and performs with
poets, visual artists, computers, writers,
musicians, and others. Úna also works as a
sound engineer specialising in Irish traditional
music, and experimental, live electronic,
and multichannel music worldwide. She has
released two albums of her compositions,
most recently Aonaracht, for solo traditional
musicians and electronics. Úna received
the inaugural Liam O’Flynn Award from
the Arts Council Ireland and the National
Concert Hall Dublin, and held the Rosamund
Harding Research Fellowship in Music at
Newnham College, Cambridge from 2016-
2019. She is a lecturer in Sound and Music
at Queen’s University Belfast, where her
research examines the intersections between
Irish traditional music, experimental music
practices, improvisation and interactive
technologies.
BRYAN BURROUGHS
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
Bryan is an award-winning
actor, winning the Irish Times
Irish Theatre Award Best
Supporting Actor, STAGE
Award for Acting Excellence (Edinburgh
Fringe), and Best Male Performance (Dublin
Fringe Festival), alongside nominations for
Best Ensemble at the Irish Times Irish Theatre
Awards. As a director, his credits include The
Whispering Chair (Livin’ Dred); Fight Night,
and The Games People Play (Rise Productions
– Best Actor & Bewleys Little Gem Award,
Dublin Fringe Festival; and Best New Play, Irish
Times Irish Theatre Awards). Fight Night was
also performed in New York at the First Irish
Festival 2025. Work as a movement director
includes Conspirare & Craig Hella Johnson’s
Considering Matthew Shepard (National
Concert Hall); DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE, Inside
The GPO (Fishamble Theatre); Beauty Queen
of Leenane (Druid Theatre); Alone It Stands
(Yew Tree Theatre); Stones In His Pockets, Pat
Moylan, Tarry Flynn, The Skriker (Lir Academy);
Hamlet, Macbeth (Second Age Theatre); Fool
For Love, and The Wake (Abbey Theatre).
AOIFE MORAN
RÉPÉTITEUR
Aoife is a collaborative pianist
and répétiteur from Dublin.
For Irish National Opera, Aoife
worked on Wagner’s The
Flying Dutchman, Mark O’Halloran and Emma
O’Halloran’s Trade / Mary Motorhead, and
Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade. In addition, she has also
worked on Stanford’s The Critic, Donizetti’s
Zoraida di Granata, and Rossini’s L’Italiana in
Algeri (Wexford Festival Opera); Luke Byrne
and Shirley Keane’s The Ballybruff Trilogy
(Opera Workshop); Rossini’s La Cenerentola
(Longhope Opera); Gustav Holst’s Sāvitri,
Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Kurt
Weill’s Der Zar lässt sich photographieren,
Judith Weir’s Miss Fortune, and Gian Carlo
Menotti’s The Telephone (Guildhall School),
and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love
(British Youth Opera). She was a member
of the ‘Factory’ programme at Wexford
Festival Opera 2023. She completed a Junior
Fellowship as a repetiteur at Guildhall School
of Music and Drama and is also a graduate of
TU Dublin Conservatoire. She currently works
as a vocal coach at the University of York.
NINA GUO
SALLY SOPRANO
Nina Guo is a soprano
based in Berlin. She is a vocal
collaborator for all things
contemporary: music, art, radio.
She has sung with groups such as Ensemble
Modern (Frankfurt), London Sinfonietta, ICTUS
(Brussels) and for festivals including MusikFest
Berlin, Boston’s Tanglewood, and CTM Festival
(Berlin). Upcoming performances include
Gérard Grisey’s Quatre Chants at Southbank
Centre (London) and music by Robert Ashley
at Ultima Festival (Oslo). Nina also works
with visual artists, including Petrit Halilaj,
Agnieszka Polska, and Leonie Brandner,
bringing a high level of vocal artistry to
interdisciplinary works. Nina is the creator,
head writer, and voice of The Entertainment on
Cashmere Radio, a radio show that combines
comedy with contemporary/experimental music.
Each hour-long episode features a musical
guest and is performed live in front of a studio
audience. Nina does all the voices. Her biggest
vocal competitor is her cat, Destroyer.
JADE PHOENIX
VALENTINA SOPRANO
Jade made her Irish National
Opera debut as Nora in
Evangelia Rigaki’s Old Ghosts
in 2023, and also appeared
that season in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier
as First Noble Orphan. Most recently she
sang the role of Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die
Fledermaus tour with INO. A graduate of the
Royal Irish Academy of Music, in 2020 Jade
won the Flax Trust Music Bursary in Belfast,
and in 2021 she won both the Veronica Dunne
International Singing Competition Bursary and
the Danone Ireland Young Outstanding Female
Artist Award, and participated in the Rossini
Opera Festival Academy in Pesaro. Jade also
won the ESB Feis Ceoil Dramatic Cup in 2022.
Highlight roles include Iris in Handel’s Semele
(Opera Collective Ireland), Ariele in Halévy’s
La tempesta, and Rosetta in Marco Tutino’s
La Ciociara (Wexford Festival Opera). Jade
will sing Fox/Crested Hen in Leoš Janáček’s
The Cunning Little Vixen for INO’s national
tour in 2026.
SARAH RICHMOND
JUDITH MEZZO-SOPRANO
Mezzo-soprano Sarah
Richmond sang the role
of Argene in Vivaldi’s
L’Olimpiade for Irish National
Opera, and also appeared in Éna Brennan’s
Rupture (20 Shots of Opera) and Mozart’s
The Magic Flute with INO. Other roles include
Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Komponist
in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos,
Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and
Helen in Conor Mitchell’s The Headless
Soldier. Further roles include Third Woman in
Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero
(Longborough Festival Opera), Zia principessa
in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Random Opera),
and Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
(Lyric Opera Productions). Sarah has
performed in recital with Florent Mourier
for the Royal Ballet and Opera, London. She
enjoys a close relationship with The Ulster
Orchestra, with whom she has performed
Respighi’s Il Tramonto, Falla’s El amor brujo,
Elgar’s Sea Pictures, J.S. Bach’s Mass in B
Minor, and BBC Invitation Concerts.
DOREEN CURRAN
SVETLANA MEZZO-SOPRANO
Derry-born mezzo-soprano
Doreen Curran made her
debut with Irish National
Opera as Suzuki in Puccini’s
Madama Butterfly, and has also performed
for INO in Evangelia Rigaki’s The Gift (20
Shots of Opera) and Old Ghosts, Richard
Strauss’s Elektra and Salome, and Brian
Irvine’s The Scorched Earth Trilogy. Other
opera roles include the title role in Handel’s
Radamisto (NI Opera), Ottavia in Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea (English National
Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Aldeburgh
and Buxton Festivals), Cherubino in Mozart’s
Le nozze di Figaro (Garsington Opera and
Savoy Opera), Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan
tutte (Opera Holland Park), Kate in Gilbert &
Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Cherubino
in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (English National
Opera), Mother in Humperdinck’s Hansel and
Gretel, Mrs Noye in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde,
Mary in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, Lady
Macbeth’s Lady in Waiting in Verdi’s Macbeth
(NI Opera), and Third Secretary in John
Adams’s Nixon in China (Wide Open Opera).
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
ORCHESTRA
The Irish National Opera Orchestra performs
in most of INO’s productions and is made
up of leading Irish freelance musicians.
Members of the orchestra have a broad range
of experience playing operatic, symphonic,
chamber and new music repertoire. The
orchestra’s work includes Richard Strauss’s
Elektra in 2021, Der Rosenkavalier in 2023
(“delivers all the swelling romanticism and
range of tone and colour you could ask
for,” Irish Examiner) and Salome in 2024
(“a thumping triumph” Irish Examiner). It is
equally at home in music by Donizetti and
Rossini (“wonderful energy and musical
vision,” Bachtrack in 2022 on Rossini’s William
Tell) and Puccini (“the INO Orchestra handled
the sweeping moods in masterly fashion,”
Business Post in 2023 on La bohème). The
orchestra also performs chamber reductions
for touring productions, including Donizetti’s
Don Pasquale (2022) and Massenet’s Werther
(2023). The orchestra’s contemporary
repertoire has included Thomas Adès’s
Powder Her Face (2018), Peter Maxwell
Davies’s The Lighthouse (2021), and Brian
Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like The
Other, Searching for Rosemary Kennedy, in
which it made its international debut at the
Royal Opera House in London in 2023. The
orchestra can be heard on the INO recording
of Puccini’s La bohème on Signum Classics.
JENNIFER WALSHE & MARK O’CONNELL
MARS
25 JUL LEISURELAND, GIAF GALWAY
26 JUL LEISURELAND, GIAF GALWAY
27 JUL LEISURELAND, GIAF GALWAY
7 AUG ABBEY THEATRE DUBLIN
8 AUG ABBEY THEATRE DUBLIN
9 AUG ABBEY THEATRE DUBLIN
STRAUSS
ELEKTRA
OUTDOOR SCREENING
12 AUG KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL KILKENNY
13 AUG KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL KILKENNY
VERDI | WAGNER
VIVA VERDI
VIVA WAGNER
CONCERT PERFORMANCE
13 SEP NATIONAL CONCERT HALL DUBLIN
PUCCINI
MADAMA
BUTTERFLY
2 NOV BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
4 NOV BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
6 NOV BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
8 NOV BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
SMETANA
THE BARTERED
BRIDE
22 NOV AXIS ARTS CENTRE DUBLIN
25 NOV MULLINGAR ARTS CENTRE WESTMEATH
27 NOV GARAGE THEATRE MONAGHAN
29 NOV BIRR ARTS CENTRE OFFALY
2 DEC THE GLENS THEATRE LEITRIM
4 DEC BALLINA ARTS CENTRE MAYO
6 DEC RAMOR THEATRE CAVAN
Irish National Opera
2025 - 2026 SEASON
JANÁČEK
THE CUNNING
LITTLE VIXEN
31 JAN SIAMSA TÍRE TRALEE
5 FEB EVERYMAN THEATRE CORK
7 FEB LIME TREE THEATRE LIMERICK
10 FEB TOWN HALL THEATRE GALWAY
12 FEB HAWKSWELL SLIGO
14 FEB AN GRIANÁN LETTERKENNY
17 FEB SOLSTICE ARTS CENTRE NAVAN
19 FEB PAVILION THEATRE DÚN LAOGHAIRE
21 FEB PAVILION THEATRE DÚN LAOGHAIRE
22 FEB PAVILION THEATRE DÚN LAOGHAIRE
DVOŘÁK
RUSALKA
22 MAR BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
24 MAR BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
26 MAR BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
28 MAR BORD GÁIS ENERGY THEATRE DUBLIN
BELLINI
NORMA
24 MAY GAIETY THEATRE DUBLIN
27 MAY GAIETY THEATRE DUBLIN
30 MAY GAIETY THEATRE DUBLIN
3 JUN NATIONAL OPERA HOUSE WEXFORD
6 JUN CORK OPERA HOUSE CORK
FOR BOOKING AND
MORE INFORMATION SEE
irishnationalopera.ie
COMMISSIONED BY IRISH NATIONAL OPERA, MUZIEKGEBOUW AMSTERDAM, KLANGFORUM WIEN AND OPÉRA DE LILLE.
JENNIFER WALSHE & MARK O’CONNELL
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH OPÉRA DE LILLE
7 - 9 AUGUST 2025
ABBEY THEATRE
DUBLIN
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA MARS IRISH NATIONAL OPERA MARS
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA

ABOUT IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
ABOUT THE ABBEY THEATRE
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA PRESENTS
PRODUCTION CREDITS
PRODUCTION CREDITS
COMPOSER’S NOTE
Irish National Opera (INO) is Ireland’s largest opera company, delivering vibrant,
ground-breaking opera of exceptional quality with wide national reach. INO is
committed to making opera accessible and engaging for all, regularly staging largescale
productions in Dublin, Cork and Wexford, and touring to venues of all sizes
across Ireland and internationally. The company showcases world-class Irish opera
singers alongside guest artists from around the globe.
INO’s 2020 commissioning of 20 Shots of Opera, 20 short operas for film received
extensive international acclaim. The Wall Street Journal described the project as “an
exhilarating jaunt through up-to-the-minute lyric creativity.” In 2022, the company’s
production of Vivaldi’s Bajazet, co-produced with the Royal Opera House, won an
Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. INO returned to the Royal
Opera House in 2023 with Least Like The Other and in 2024 with L’Olimpiade. Both
productions were nominated for an Olivier award.
The company’s recent production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore enjoyed both popular
and critical acclaim and received five 5-star reviews.
INO received the inaugural Fedora Next Stage Grant, supported by Kearney, to
develop the Isolde App. Its first virtual reality opera, Out of the Ordinary/As an
nGnách, created with students and communities from rural and urban Ireland, won
the €50,000 Fedora Digital Prize and was presented in Kilkenny, Dublin, Paris,
Prague and New York. With a long-term commitment to the development of a
strong, sustainable opera ecology in Ireland, INO finds, nurtures and develops talent
across all areas of their work. Through innovative programming and community
engagement, INO works with people of all ages and backgrounds and creates
transformational social impact to support the next generation of outstanding talent
that is representative of modern-day Ireland.
Irish National Opera is funded by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and
receives support for international tours from Culture Ireland.
FOR IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
PAULINE ASHWOOD
HEAD OF PLANNING
JANAINA CALDEIRA
BOOKKEEPER
SORCHA CARROLL
COMMUNICATIONS
MANAGER
AOIFE DALY
DIRECTOR OF
DEVELOPMENT
DIEGO FASCIATI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
LEA FÖRSTERLING
DIGITAL
COMMUNICATIONS
EXECUTIVE
CIARÁN GALLAGHER
MARKETING EXECUTIVE
SARAH HALPIN
DIGITAL PRODUCER
CATE KELLIHER
BUSINESS & FINANCE
MANAGER
ANNE KYLE
STAGE MANAGER
PADDY JO MALPAS
STUDIO & OUTREACH
EXECUTIVE
GAVIN O’SULLIVAN
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
RENATA RÎMBU
DEVELOPMENT
ADMINISTRATOR
MUIREANN SHEAHAN
ORCHESTRA & CHORUS
MANAGER
FERGUS SHEIL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
DAVID SMITH
ACCOUNTANT PART TIME
PAULA TIERNEY
COMPANY STAGE
MANAGER
RJ WALTERS-DORCHAK
ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATOR
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
JENNIFER CALDWELL CHAIR
HOWARD GATISS
GERARD HOWLIN
DENNIS JENNINGS
PAULA MURRIHY
DAVINA SAINT
IMELDA SHINE
BRUCE STANLEY
JONATHAN FRIEND
ARTISTIC ADVISOR
As Ireland’s national theatre, the Abbey Theatre’s ambition is to enrich the cultural
lives of everyone with a curiosity for and interest in Irish theatre, stories, artists and
culture. Courage and imagination are at the heart of our storytelling, while inclusivity,
diversity and equality are at the core of our thinking. Led by Co-Directors Caitríona
McLaughlin (Artistic Director) and Mark O’Brien (Executive Director), the Abbey
Theatre celebrates both the rich canon of Irish dramatic writing and the potential of
future generations of Irish theatre artists.
Ireland has a rich history of theatre and playwriting and extraordinary actors,
designers and directors. Artists are at the heart of our organisation, with Marina
Carr and Conor McPherson as Senior Associate Playwrights and Caroline Byrne as
Associate Director.
Our stories teach us what it is to belong, what it is to be excluded and to exclude.
Artistically our programme is built on twin impulses, and around two questions: “who
we were, and who are we now?” We interrogate our classical canon with an urgency
about what makes it speak to this moment. On our stages we find and champion new
voices and new ways of seeing, our purpose – to identify combinations of characters
we are yet to meet, having conversations we are yet to hear.
The Abbey Theatre is funded by The Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon.
FOR THE ABBEY THEATRE
JEN COPPINGER
PRODUCER
DANNY ERSKINE
COMPANY MANAGER
ANDY KEOGH
PRODUCTION MANAGER
DANNY ERSKINE
COMPANY STAGE
MANAGER
AOIFE McCOLLUM
ASSISTANT PRODUCER
JUSTIN MURPHY
TECHNICAL
PRODUCTION
CO-ORDINATOR
DONNA GERAGHTY
HEAD OF COSTUME
KEVIN MCFADDEN
HEAD OF LIGHTING
& SOUND
SIMON BOURKE
PRODUCTION
ELECTRICIAN
ADRIAN MOYLAN
LIGHTING TECHNICIAN
MORGAN DUNNE
PRODUCTION SOUND
ENGINEER
DEREK CONAGHY
SOUND OPERATOR
PHIL HUGHES
PAT RUSSELL
PAT DILLON
SHANE KENNY
DAVE MCCHRYSTAL
JOHNNY FINNEGAN
DAREN MAGNIER
JILL HUGHES
STAGE TECHNICIANS
JOHN TIERNEY
MARKETING
STEPHEN MOLONE
MIA O’REILLY
PUBLICITY
EVA LOUISE
DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
CAITRÍONA MCLAUGHLIN
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/
CO-DIRECTOR
MARK O’BRIEN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/
CO-DIRECTOR
JENNIFER WALSHE & MARK O’CONNELL
MARS
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH OPÉRA DE LILLE
Four astronauts and an AI software interface are cooped up
in the cabin of a space-craft for nine months on a mission to
Mars. As they journey across the vast abyss of space, tensions
rise, relationships are tested, seasons of Real Housewives
are watched and re-watched. Arriving on the red planet, they
confront isolation, sinister ideologies, the prospect of alien
life, and a vibe-shift toward corporate authoritarianism.
MARS is an opera about space colonisation, reactionary
futurism, pronatalism, the madness of hustle culture, and
the unsettling futures encroaching on our present.
CREATIVE TEAM
COMPOSER
LIBRETTO
CONDUCTOR
CO-DIRECTORS
SET & LIGHTING DESIGNER
COSTUME DESIGNER
VIDEO DESIGNER
SOUND DESIGNER
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
RÉPÉTIEUR
CAST
JENNIFER WALSHE
MARK O’CONNELL
ELAINE KELLY
TOM CREED & JENNIFER WALSHE
AEDÍN COSGROVE
CATHERINE FAY
CONAN McIVOR
ÚNA MONAGHAN
BRYAN BURROUGHS
AOIFE MORAN
SALLY NINA GUO SOPRANO
VALENTINA JADE PHOENIX SOPRANO
JUDITH
SARAH RICHMOND MEZZO-SOPRANO
SVETLANA DOREEN CURRAN MEZZO-SOPRANO
AN OPERA IN 2 ACTS, WITH ONE INTERVAL.
FIRST PERFORMED LEISURELAND, GALWAY INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL 25 JULY 2025.
COMMISSIONED BY IRISH NATIONAL OPERA, MUZIEKGEBOUW AMSTERDAM, KLANGFORUM
WIEN AND OPÉRA DE LILLE.
PRODUCTION MANAGER
MICHAEL LONERGAN
COMPANY STAGE MANAGER
PAULA TIERNEY
STAGE MANAGER
ANNE KYLE
TECHNICAL CREW
ABRAHAM ALLEN
JOEY MAGUIRE
MARTIN WALLACE
CHIEF LX
DONAL McNINCH
LX PROGRAMMER
NATE LENNON
SOUND MIXER
ÚNA MONAGHAN
SOUND SYSTEM ENGINEER
KEVIN McGING
SOUND/QLAB OPERATOR
ILONA McCORMICK
SET CONSTRUCTION
SCENEDOCK
PROPS MAKERS
ANDREW CLANCY
MICHAEL KELLY
SCENIC PRINTING
BIG IMAGE
WIGS, HAIR & MAKEUP SUPERVISOR
CAROLE DUNNE
COSTUME SUPERVISOR
SINÉAD LAWLOR
BREAKDOWN & DYE ARTISTS
OONA McFARLAND
RORY McFARLAND BOLGER
COSTUME CUTTER & MAKERS
DENISE ASSAS TYNAN
CAROLINE BUTLER
COSTUME MAKER
VERONIKA ROMANOVA
COSTUME TECHNICIAN
PAULINE McCAUL
COSTUME ASSISTANT
SHELBY CULLEN
UNIFORM PATCH EMBROIDERY
IRISH CRESTS
SURTITLE OPERATOR
MAEVE SHEIL
LIGHTING PROVIDER
QLX
AUDIO PROVIDER
MOSCO
SSS
VIDEO PROVIDER
AVIPLUS
VIDEO FOOTAGE
SPACE IMAGES COURTESY
OF NASA
CGI SEQUENCE BY RAGNAR
ÁRNI ÓLAFSSON
PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY
PATRICK REDMOND
REHEARSAL PHOTOGRAPHY
STE MURRAY
PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS
CHARLIE JOE DOHERTY
GRAPHIC DESIGN
DETAIL
ALPHABET SOUP
ARCHIVE VIDEO
GANSEE FILMS
TRANSPORT
TREVOR PRICE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mark Knoop, Emily Moore and Ragnar Árni Ólaffson, NASA, Melbourne Electronic
Sound Studios, The University of Iowa, European Space Agency, Heliophysics
Audified: Resonances in Physics (HARP) project and Jghoffman418. Archival footage
supplied by Internet Archive (at archive.org) in association with Prelinger Archives.
Image: Nina Guo (Sally) in the INO Production of MARS. July 2025
Photography: Pat Redmond
INO ORCHESTRA
VIOLIN
LARISSA O’GRADY
VIOLA
JOANNA MATTREY
CELLO
DAVID EDMONDS
DOUBLE BASS
ROGER McCANN
FLUTE/BASS FLUTE
LINA ANDONOVSKA
SAXOPHONES
NICK ROTH
TRUMPET
ERICK CASTILLO MORA
TROMBONE
PAUL STONE
KEYBOARD/SYNTHESIZER
MÁIRE CARROLL
PERCUSSION
BRIAN DUNGAN
PERCUSSION
CAITRÍONA FROST
I recently read an interview with the astronaut Chris Hadfield where he noted that he
has been an astronaut for over 20 years, but has spent only a precious six months
in space. I’d like to think this opera has something in common with Hadfield’s
experience. A mere two hours long, it’s nonetheless the result of years of thinking
about Mars, a fascination which began for me as a child looking at photos of the red
planet in a copy of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Along the way my research led me to the
sounds of NASA’s Perseverance rover trundling over the regolith of Mars, recordings
of whistlers, plasma waves and cosmic background radiation, sonifications of light
curves of exoplanets millions of miles away. I spent weeks trying to figure out how
to use musical instruments to simulate the sonic environment inside a spacesuit,
how many balloons to tie to a double bass bow to simulate Martian gravity, which
is 38% that of Earth’s. I downloaded lists of the synth-heavy music astronauts
uploaded to the International Space Station (a lot of Mike Oldfield and Vangelis),
read mission transcripts from the Gemini and Apollo missions, discussed how a
trumpet might degrade over time in a Martian habitat on the Space Exploration Stack
Exchange. I held a Martian meteorite in my hands at the Oxford University Museum
of Natural History, read countless sci-fi books, left livestreams of spacewalks
playing on a screen in the corner of my studio as I worked. I considered a life where
communication with loved ones back home can only ever be through text messages
and voicemails. The fact that on the night of the premiere of the opera in Galway, a
message leaving Earth will take 14 minutes and 54 seconds to reach Mars.
JENNIFER WALSHE
Images: Nina Guo (Sally), Doreen Curran (Svetlana),
Jade Phoenix (Valentina) and Sarah Richmond (Judith)
in the INO Production of MARS. July 2025
Photography: Pat Redmond
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ABBEY THEATRE MARS IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
MARS
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA