Handel
Bach
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Mozart

Soloists : Handel's Messiah

SYLVIA O'BRIEN : Soprano

Sylvia O'Brien

Equally at home in the classical and contemporary repertoire, Irish soprano Sylvia O'Brien has impressed audiences in opera, oratorio and chamber music. She is a regular guest with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Orchestra of St Cecilia, and has performed with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the German NDR and the Dutch Magogo Chamber Orchestra. Her vocal and musical skills make her an important singer of contemporary repertoire, having performed works by Tristan Keuris, Gerald Barry, Louis Andriessen, Brian Irvine, Morton Feldman, Manos Tsangaris, Seóirse Bodley, Ian Wilson, Kevin O'Connell, Reymond Deane and Luigi Nono.

Concerts include Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle conducted by Celso Antunes, Mozart's Exultate Jubilate, C Minor Mass and Requiem with the Orchestra of St.Cecilia, and Verdi's Requiem with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by David Milne. She has performed in Bach's St John Passion on tour with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Layton. She has also taken part in concerts in many venues in the Netherlands.

As a regular recitalist, she has performed a number of times with Seóirse Bodley, most recently in a new work written for her by Seóirse Bodley to a text by Seamus Heaney, at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. She has performed at the West Cork Music Festival, and at the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, among others. She performs regularly in recital with Russian pianist Hanna Shybayeva, and performed Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death at the Russian Embassy in the Hague in April 2012.

Sylvia O'Brien made her operatic debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with Opera Theatre Company in 2004. In 2005 she premiered the role of Gabriel in the concert premiere of Gerald Barry's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and in 2006 performed Morton Feldman's one-act opera Neither. She sang Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte under Kenneth Montgomery in Dublin and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with the Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society. She has also sung with English Touring Opera, Opera 2005, and Opera in the Open.

VICTORIA MASSEY : Mezzo-Soprano

Victoria Massey

Victoria Massey is one of Ireland's leading professional singers. Her career as a mezzo-soprano soloist in the field of opera and as concert singer has taken her to the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Italy; Sferisterio di Macerata, Italy; Chiemgau, Bavaria; Klosterneuburg, Austria; Mexico City; Irish theaters nationwide, and of course the National Concert Hall in Dublin on numerous occasions.

Victoria sings a wide range of repertoire spanning opera, operetta, concert repertoire of lieder, French song, English art songs, traditional Irish songs, jazz, crossover repertoire and tastefully selected pop tunes.

Victoria performs at numerous weddings, masses and corporate events. Given her large vocal range, Victoria offers an expansive repertoire list from low jazz songs to popular soprano aria favourites. She is known for her ability to really sing from the heart and to communicate with her audience through her expressive interpretation of songs.

ANDREW BOUSHELL : Tenor

Andrew Boushell

Andrew Boushell completed an opera performance diploma at the Operastudio Vlaanderen, Belgium supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. He is also a graduate of the Royal College Music, where his postgraduate studies were supported by the Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award, and is an honours graduate of the BMus course at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin. He continues his studies with Rosa Mannion. He has participated in masterclasses with Ann Murray, Sir Thomas Allen and Graham Johnson, and has given recitals in Ireland, the UK, Belgium and the United States.

Andrew's varied oratorio repertoire includes works by Puccini, Handel, Purcell, Gounod, Bruckner, Bach and Britten. Recent highlights have included Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle in Dublin, Webber's Divine Compassion and Bach's St John Passion in Kent, Handel's Messiah with the Staatskapelle Halle, at Handel-Halle in Germany, Haydn's Creation in Belfast and Ramirez's Misa Criolla for the I.E.C 2012 at the RDS in Dublin.

Operatic experience includes the role of The Young Collector in Opera Ireland's Irish premiere of Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, Older Brother in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the role of Ferrando in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte in a joint production between the DIT and Opera Ireland and a national tour of Ireland performing the title role in Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne as a member of Opera Theatre Company's Young Associate Artist Programme.

Other engagements have included the cover of Sellem in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress for British Youth Opera, King Oebalus in Mozart's Apollo et Hyacinthus for the Rose Opera Company and Testo in Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda at Operastudio Vlaanderen. Recently Andrew covered the role of First Elder in Handel's Susanna for Iford Arts Festival with the Early Opera Company conducted by Christian Curnyn, and performed the role of Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte for Rye Arts Festival. Recent engagements have included a recital in St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh, the role of Toby Higgins in Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for Opera Theatre Company and Bach's Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland in Belfast.

Andrew last sang with us in Elgar's The Apostles in May 2015.

JEFFREY LEDWIDGE : Bass

Jeffrey Ledwidge

Jeffrey Ledwidge began his career as a treble with the Palestrina Choir under the direction of Ite O'Donovan. He has studied with Dr Veronica Dunne and Philip O'Reilly and has attended master classes with Philip Langridge. He is now established as one of Ireland's premiere bass soloists, specialising in oratorio and contemporary works.

Jeffrey is renowned for his outstanding solo oratorio performances, including J.S. Bach's St John Passion and St Matthew Passion along with many of Bach's Cantatas; Handel's Messiah, Saul and Dixit Dominus; Mozart's Requiem, Solemn Vespers and many of his Masses; also Saint-Saens Oratorio de Noel, Charpentier's Te Deum, Haydn's Creation and Dvorak's Stabat Mater.

He has worked extensively with RTE as a soloist, both with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra. He has also enjoyed working with many of the major Irish Choral societies and orchestral ensembles.

On the operatic stage, Jeffrey has performed as soloist with Opera Ireland and Opera Theatre Company, including roles in Boris Godunov, La Traviata, The Silver Tassie, The Rake's Progress, La Boheme, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. 2009 saw him create the role of Conor O'Brien in the world premier of Fergus Johnstone's opera The Earl of Kildare.

More recent engagements include Bach's St Matthew Passion, St John Passion and Mass in B Minor; Handel's Alexander's Feast and Nisi Dominus, Beethoven's Symphony No 9; Haydn's Creation and Arvo Part's Passio, and both Dvorak's and Rossini's Stabat Mater. Also performances of twenty two of Bach's Cantatas with the Orchestra of St Cecilia in their 10th and concluding series of the complete Church Cantatas.

Jeffrey last sang with us in Elgar's The Apostles in May 2015.

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