Jonathan Blake is a promising young bass in his fourth and final year of his BMus in vocal performance with the RIAM, under the vocal security of Lynda Lee and the musical guidance of Andrew Synnott.

Previous Engagements with RIAM: Fiori, the gardener in La vera costanza by Joseph Haydn, Don Alfonso and Gugliemo in scenes from Così fan tutte by Mozart. Sang in the Philharmonic choir for Vaughn Williams’ “Sea Symphony” with the National Symphony Orchestra. RIAM CHORALE performing works by Florence Price, Johannes Brahms and Bela Bartok.

Musical Roles: Emile in Rodgers and Hammerstein South Pacific, Volunteer in Michael Collins the musical by Bryan Flynn, chorus in West Side Story, Sweeney Todd and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Forthcoming Engagements: As he completes his last semester of college, Jonathan is preparing for his upcoming and final year exams and projects. With his experience and passion, he is looking forward to where his musical journey will take him.

Alba Clarke Gosalvez, mezzo-soprano, is in first year of the MMus in Performance studying with Owen Gillhooly-Miles and Dearbhla Collins.

Operatic Roles: Esprit in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (scenes) Ensemble in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Dean Burry’s Il giudizio di Pigmalione for Opera McGill, and Ensemble in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas for Yale Opera.

Prizes and Scholarships: 2025 Recipient of the Black Water Valley Festival I RIAM John Pollard Bursary, Martha Schiller Award (McGill University) and Margaret Kalil Memorial Award (McGill University).

Tracy Chin Lin , soprano, is in fourth year of the BMus in Performance studying with Dr Sylvia O’Brien and Dearbhla Collins.

Previous Roles for RIAM: the Doctor from La vera costanza (2024) and Eibhlín Blackwell from Spirits Unsurrendered (2023).

Operatic Roles: Marcellina (Lyric Opera Studio Weimar 2025) and Barbarina (Saluzzo Opera Academy 2023) from Le nozze di Figaro Sand Man and Dew Fairy (Vienna Opera Academy 2023) from Hänsel und Gretel

Notable Engagements: Soloist for Asian Music Festival 2024 in RIAM’s Asian Music Festival.

Prizes and Scholarships: Highly Commended in Feis Ceoil’s German Government Cup (2025).

Forthcoming Engagements: Mediterranean Opera Studio Festival 2026 - Susanna from Le nozze di Figaro.

Aobha Corroon, mezzo-soprano, is currently in her third year of undergraduate vocal performance studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she studies with Lynda Lee and répétiteur Andrew Synnott.

She previously trained for six years under the Schola Cantorum scholarship programme in Westmeath.

Awards and Prizes: First prize in the Oratorio Competition at Arklow Feis (2025), first prize in the Contralto Competition and the Margaret Burke-Sheridan Cup at Feis Ceoil, Dublin (2025). Very Highly Commended in the Lieder Competition and Ladies Solo at Arklow Feis (2025), and in the Mezzo-Soprano Competition at Feis Ceoil (2024). Finalist in the Irené Sandford Competition at RIAM, placing fourth in 2024 and third in 2025.

Forthcoming Engagements: This evening, Aobha performs the roles of Maman and La Tasse Chinoise in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Francesca Fioravanti, soprano, is in first year of the Recital Artist Diploma in Vocal Performance with Dr. Sylvia O’Brien.

Operatic Roles: Morgana in Handel’s Alcina for the Handel Opera Academy, Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at New York University, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (cover) and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (cover) for the Vienna Summer Music Festival.

Notable Engagements: OperaDelaware Chorus Member (2024-2025). St. Ann’s Choir - member since September 2025.

Prizes and Scholarships: Second Prize: Professional Voice for the Birmingham International Music Competition (2024), Bronze Prize: Professional Category for European Virtuoso Music Awards (2024), Third Prize Winner: Category 4 for Radda Rise International Vocal Competition (2024).

Kamile Fokaité, soprano, is in first year of the MMus in Performance Studying with Virginia Kerr and Dearbhla Collins.  

Operatic Roles: Rosina in Mozart’s La finta semplice and Martha in Flotow’s Martha in opera project at Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy.  

Prizes and Scholarships: International A. Scarlatti competition 3rd place (2022), Irené Sandford competition 2nd place (2025).   

Nagaer Ha, bass-baritone is in second year of the MMus in Vocal Performance studying with Dr. Imelda Drumm. Previous studies include a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Performance, 2023, Hunan Normal University.

Operatic Roles: Villotto in Haydn’s La vera costanza for RIAM.

Prizes and Scholarships: Gold Prize- London Young Musician 2023, Prize winner at the Russian and Pushkin Poetry Festival, 3rd prize at the 3rd Mongolian-Chinese Bilingual Recitation Competition.

Éadaoin Hassett, soprano, is in her second year of the MMus in Vocal Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she studies with Virginia Kerr, Andrew Synnott and Dearbhla Collins. She is the current winner of the Irené Sandford Award for Singers at RIAM, Northern Ireland Opera’s Young Opera Voice of the Year, and the recipient of the Deborah Voigt Opera Prize at the 2025 Glenarm Festival of Voice.

Previous Roles for RIAM: La Baronessa Irene (La vera costanza, 2025), Maguelonne (Cendrillon, 2024), and Sighle Humphries in the world premiere of Stephen McNeff’s Spirits Unsurrendered (2023).

Operatic Roles: Éadaoin made her professional operatic debut in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, a collaboration between London Handel Players, Sligo Baroque Festival and Croatian Baroque Orchestra, performed at the Korkyra Baroque Festival and Sligo Baroque Music Festival (2024). She later joined the Irish National Opera Chorus for Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (2025) and most recently portrayed Eileen O’Doherty in a concert performance of Alberto Caruso’s Lady Gregory in America (2025).

Notable Engagements: Solo appearances include Handel’s Messiah, Kim Arnesen’s Magnificat, Haydn’s Little Organ Mass, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass.

Forthcoming Engagements: Collaborative Song Project with the Juilliard School (2026); Northern Ireland Opera Summer Recital Series and Glenarm Festival of Voice (2026).

Hedwig Hauskeller, soprano, is in first year of the MMus in Performance, studying with Dr. Imelda Drumm and Dearbhla Collins.

Previous Operatic Roles: Gingerbread Child in Hänsel und Gretel, The Cork Opera House (2025).

Previous Musical Theatre Roles: ‘Johanna’ in Sweeney Todd, Mitchelstown Musical Society, 2024. ‘Lurch’ in The Addams Family, MTU 2023. ‘Mrs. Pressman’ in Our House, MTU, 2024.

Other Notable Engagements: Soloist in Ovation!, AIMS 60th Anniversary concert, 2025. Dancer/ actor in Rabbit Hole and Fractured Soul (music videos for the artist Nick Phoenix), 2023.

Prizes and Scholarships: Winner of the Dee Moloney Carter Bursary, 2025.

Callum Jeacle, tenor, is a Recital Artist Diploma student studying with Kathleen Tynan and Dearbhla Collins.

Operatic Roles: La Thèiere Wedgewood, Le Petit Viellard (Arithmetic) and La Rainette in Ravel: L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Notable Engagements: Conductor of The Trinity College Singers (2023/24 & 2025/26), Chamber Choir Ireland Studio (2023/24), Mozart Requiem with Chamber Choir Ireland and the Irish Chamber Orchestra in Dublin and Berlin (2024), World Youth Choir (2025), Sestina Next Generation Artist (2025).

Prizes and Scholarships: 1st Prize in Mixed Voice category of the City of Derry Choir Festival (Conductor, 2023 & 2025), John McCormack Cup Winner (2025), Most Promising Singer in the 2025 Irené Sandford Award for Singers.

Forthcoming Engagements: Concert tour in Porto with The Trinity College Singers (March 2025), Bach Cantata BWV 182 with Sestina Music in Belfast (April 2025).

Eva Kavanagh, soprano, is in her fourth year of the BMus in Vocal Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she studies with Professor Kathleen Tynan and is coached by Dearbhla Collins.

Previous Roles for RIAM: Rosina (title role) in Haydn’s La vera costanza; Fiordiligi in scenes from Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

Operatic Roles: Chorus in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and The Tinker and the Fairy (Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, 2025).

Notable Engagements: Soloist performances at the residences of the Austrian and German Ambassadors to Ireland; the John Field Room, National Concert Hall; RTÉ Lyric FM; and Appuntamenti con la Lirica, Barga, Italy. She has been selected for the Winterlied Academy (Germany), the Daniel Ferro Vocal Programme (Tuscany), and masterclasses with Anna Devin, Robin Tritschler, Jorge Chaminé, and Jaume Aragall (Montserrat Caballé Foundation).

Prizes and Scholarships: First recipient of the Bríd Phelan Emerging Talent Award (Blackwater Valley Opera Festival); Canto al Serchio Award (Birr Festival of Music, 2024); multiple Feis Ceoil prizes including the Plunket Greene, Young Cup, Thomas Moore, Marchant Cup, and Junior Vocal Recital competitions; winner of the 2024 Irené Sandford Singing Competition and Best Performance of German Lied; John McCormack Bursary recipient.

Forthcoming Engagements: Selected by Iain Burnside to represent RIAM in his international Song Project at The Juilliard School, New York (2026).

Boyu Liu, baritone, is in his second year of the MMus in Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he studies with Virginia Kerr and Andrew Synnott.

Previous Roles for RIAM: Man with a Cornet Case in Argento’s A Postcard from Morocco.

Operatic Roles: Chorus member with Irish National Opera in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell (2022–23) and Verdi’s Rigoletto(2024–25); Chorus member with Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in Verdi’s Macbeth (2023–24).

Prizes and Awards: Winner of the Vincent O’Brien Cup (Feis Ceoil, 2023); Winner of the Lieder Competition (Wicklow Feis, 2023); Winner of the Baritone Solo Competition (Feis Ceoil, 2024).

Caitlin Minnock, soprano, is currently in her third year of the Bachelor of Music Performance degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she studies with Kathleen Tynan and répétiteur Dearbhla Collins.

Awards and Prizes: Fourth place in the Irené Sandford Competition at RIAM and recipient of the Diane Carey Prize for Best Performance of a French Mélodie (November 2025). Most Promising Female Performer and bursary winner at the Irené Sandford Competition (2024). Second place in the Young Cup and third place in the Soprano Solo competition at Feis Ceoil (2025).

Training and Programmes: Participant in the 31st annual Daniel Ferro Vocal Program in Tuscany, Italy (July 2025), working with internationally renowned vocal coaches. Selected to represent Ireland in an international choral programme at the Liszt Academy, Budapest (July 2025).

Abel Nicolae, baritone, is currently in his third year of the BMus (Erasmus) programme at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Previous Roles for Conservatorio de Valencia: Prudenzio in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, Falke in Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, and Nardo in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera.

Operatic Roles: Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Il Conte in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, and Valentin in Gounod’s Faust.

Notable Engagements: Poulenc Song Recital at the Valencia Opera House (January 2025), Soloist in Fauré’s Requiem with Coro de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (December 2025), Soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with Trinity Choral Society (November 2025).

Prizes and Scholarships: Winter Academy 2026, Leipzig. Erasmus scholar at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (2025–2026).

Forthcoming Engagements: Schaunard in La bohème with the CSMV Operatic Ensemble (January 2025), Tchaikovsky recital at the Valencia Opera House (February 2025), Soloist in Fauré’s Requiem with Sociedad Coral de Onda, Valencia (March 2025), Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Trinity Choral Society, Dublin (March 2025), and Dapertutto in Les contes d’Hoffmann with the CSMV Operatic Ensemble (April 2026).

Amélie O’Kelly, soprano, is an Irish soprano in her third year of the Bachelor in Vocal Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music / Trinity College Dublin, where she studies with Professor Virginia Kerr and répétiteur Dearbhla Collins.

Amélie was awarded a scholarship to study at Mascarade Opera’s Sacred Music Choral Course in Florence under Mark Spyropoulos (June 2025) and undertook further vocal training at the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program in Chianti, Tuscany (July 2025). She has participated in masterclasses with Dame Emma Kirkby, Ira Siff, Florence Katz, and Susana Cordón.

Operatic Roles: Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), and Serpina (La serva padrona).

Previous Engagements: RIAM Opera Snapshots (2024–26); Sighle Bowen in Stephen McNeff’s Spirits Unsurrendered (Kilmainham Gaol, 2023); Choral Scholar at Trinity College Dublin Chapel Choir (2024); Sestina Music Next Generation Young Artist Mentoring Programme (2024–25).

Prizes and Awards: First Prize, Kennedy Cup (Wicklow Feis, 2025); Silver Medal for Lieder (2025); Moore’s Melody Cup (Arklow Feis, 2024); Prembrey Cup (Wesley Music Festival, 2022).

Amélie has performed widely throughout Ireland, including appearances at the Stanford 100 Music Festival, St Canice’s Cathedral Kilkenny, and the Museum of Literature Ireland.

Rachel Reid, Mezzo-Soprano , is in Year 3 of the BMus in Performance studying with Kathleen Tynan and Dearbhla Collins.

Notable Engagements- Marie Ní Shuibhlaigh in Lady Gregory in America in concert, Lady Gregory Hotel, Gort (2025),

Johanna in Sweeney Todd with the National Symphony Orchestra and Irish Youth Musical Theatre, National Concert Hall (2025),

Prizes - Irené Sandford finalist and Winner of the Grainne Dunne Prize (2025), Winner of the Mezzo-Soprano cup in Dublin Feis Ceoil (2025).

Fangyi Shuai, mezzo-soprano, is a postgraduate vocal student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she is currently undertaking vocal performance studies. She previously completed a degree in Musicology at Jinggangshan University, China, where she trained with Suxiang Qiu, Head of the Voice Department.

Fangyi has received additional vocal and diction training with Professor Jing Zhao (Zhejiang Conservatory of Music), Jonathan Beyer (Manhattan School of Music), and diction coaches Jocelyn Dueck (Carnegie Mellon University) and Joel Harder (Manhattan School of Music). 

Prizes and Awards: Fangyi is a multiple prize winner, including the “Pearl River · Kaisersburg Scholarship” Vocal Competition (2023) and the “Singing to the Sky” Bel Canto Competition (2022). She has also received provincial awards in the Jiangxi University Student Art Exhibitions.

Alongside her solo work, Fangyi has significant choral experience, including award-winning work as a conductor, and has performed widely in concerts, festivals, and academic events throughout China.

Chiara Trejo Infante, soprano, is in third year of the BMus in Performance studying with Dr Sylvia O'Brien and Annalisa Monticelli.

Previous Roles for RIAM: ensemble, Stephen McNeff's Spirits Unsurrendered. 

Notable Engagements: Lux Brumalis– Irish project-based chamber choir, member since 2023. | Boydell Singers Conductor since 2024 – Awarded the Conductor’s Prize at the All-Ireland Choral Intervarsities in Cork (2025). | De mi tierra: Art Song Recitals – performed in Mexico (2023-2025). 

Prizes and Scholarships – Newpark Festival 2025. Awarded Highly Commended in Lied, Baroque and Aria Competitions. | TecVision Original Song Contest 2023. Awarded 1st place. | 1848 RIAM Scholar (2023-2025).

Forthcoming Engagements – 28th February 2026, St Ann's Church – RIAM Chorale's Revealing the Messiah.| 8th March 2026, Whyte Recital Hall – Lux Brumalis performing for EMPOWER: Women Changing Music. | April 2026, Trinity Chapel – Boydell Singers and the Trinity Alumnotes Choir Spring Concert.

Jitka Wagnerová, soprano is in third year of the BMus in Performance studying with Lynda Lee and Andrew Synnott.

Notable Engagements: Baroque summer course (2025) with the Cambridge Early Music, Laurence Cummings.

Prizes and Scholarships: First prize for Polish song in the Irene Sandford competition (2023).

Originally from the village of Clonmellon, Sinéad's imaginative landscape was forged amongst the mists and myths of Westmeath, and she is proud to be one of at least three Westmeath natives involved in this production.

Sinéad was bitten by the bug as an intern at Wexford Festival more years ago than she cares to remember, and her passion for opera has only increased with the passage of time. She was delighted to return to Wexford in 2022 as director of the tremendously silly The Spectre Knight by Alfred Cellier.

Most recently, she was privileged to direct the world premiere of Uprising by Jonathan Dove and April de Angelis for Glyndebourne, where previously she has directed The Glyndebourne Opera Cup (2018, 2020), two BBC Proms (2016, 2018), and revivals of L'elisir d'amore (2019, 2023) and Il barbiere di Siviglia (2017, 2019) (both original productions by Annabel Arden). Sinéad is thrilled to be continuing her long-standing collaboration with RIAM and IADT, having previously directed La Calisto (2020) and the double-bill of Alcina and The Sofa (2023). Upcoming commitments include a new production of Orlando for Longborough Festival Opera (2026).

Andrew Synnott is a composer and conductor based in Dublin. He has conducted operas for Irish National Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre Company and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. 

He is a former artistic director and conductor of Crash Ensemble, a group he co-founded in 1997. He has conducted many orchestras and choirs, including Chamber Choir Ireland, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra. In January 2015 he conducted the premiere of his first opera, Breakdown, in the NCH in Dublin. His second opera, Dubliners, was premiered at Wexford Festival Opera in 2017 and was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award in the Best Opera category. 

His opera, La cucina, commissioned by Wexford Festival Opera in 2019 became the first by a living Irish composer to be performed on the main stage at the festival. He has had two further operas staged at the Wexford Festival as part of his tenure as Composer in Residence—What Happened To Lucrece (filmed and broadcast digitally as part of the 2020 festival) and The Fortyseventh Saturdaystaged at the 2021 festival. Recent performances of his work include Waiting for Elvira for piano and orchestra premiered at the New Music Dublin Festival in May by the RTECO with Michael McHale on piano, I follow I follow.. for string quartet and flute, 3 Songs for Gertie premiered in December in Paris and Asylum for symphony orchestra and chorus, written for the opening of the new concert hall in TU Dublin also in December. Andrew is a vocal coach at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and is chorus master at Wexford Festival Opera.

David Adams studied organ and harpsichord in Dublin, Freiburg and Amsterdam, winning prizes at international competitions in Speyer, Lüneburg, Bruges and Dublin. Since his début recital at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, at the age of 16, he has performed throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe, and is a regular guest at major international festivals. 

He is much in demand as an ensemble player in the fields of Early and contemporary music and has premiered many new works, including works by Gerald Barry, John Buckley, Raymond Deane, Donnacha Dennehy, Gráinne Mulvey, Jonathan Nangle, Kevin O’Connell, Kevin Volans, Jennifer Walsh, Sebastian Adams and numerous compositions written specially for him. In addition to solo CDs recorded on the organs of Trinity College Dublin and the National Concert Hall in Dublin, he has recorded for Naxos, Black Box and Wergo. Recently he recorded CDs of eighteenth-century Irish music (with Bill Dowdall) and works by Benjamin Dwyer (with Moya Homburger and Barry Guy).

David has taught at conservatories in Freiburg, Berlin and The Hague, and now lectures in organ and harpsichord at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, where he is also Head of the Early Music Dept. As part of his work in RIAM he has directed over 20 opera productions since 2007. In 2007, also, he was awarded a PhD from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam for his work on Max Reger and Karl Straube.

Kathleen Tynan is Head of Vocal Studies and Opera at RIAM, where her role includes developing new vocal degrees, the programming and creative production of operas for RIAM Opera and the development of song recital programmes with international collaborators.

Kathleen has produced more than 30 operas for RIAM since 2007, showcasing the emerging vocal talents of a generation of Irish singers. In addition, since 2011 she has developed collaborative partnerships with stage design, visual communications and technical theatre degree programmes at IADT, Dún Laoghaire and The Lir Academy. The resulting productions have been presented in theatres and in site-specific locations throughout Dublin.

She has programmed an eclectic repertoire of operas, including the Irish premières of lesser-known operas, baroque operas, operas by women composers, specially commissioned operas and chamber operas (Opera Briefs) alongside more standard repertoire. A key element of her programming is to provide meaningful and appropriate roles for developing voices on both the undergraduate and post-graduate degrees at RIAM.

The challenges of presenting live performance during the Covid pandemic inspired her to produce her first opera for film, DreamCatchr (Kevin O’Connell / Lily Akerman), for an all-female cast, in collaboration with the National Film School at IADT. DreamCatchr received its première at the Dublin International Film Festival in 2024 and at the Messina Opera Film Festival in December 2025.

Kathleen has worked closely with the award-winning broadcaster and song accompanist Iain Burnside to develop collaborative song recital projects for RIAM in collaboration with the Julliard School, New York and The Guildhall School, London. She is particularly proud of the RIAM song project, Open Your Eyes And Tell Me What You See, curated by Iain Burnside as an artistic response to the climate crisis, which toured by ferry and train from Dublin to London, Paris and Salzburg with musicians from RIAM, the Paris Conservatoire, Guildhall School and Salzburg Mozarteum in November 2022.

In June 2023 Kathleen Tynan curated a concert and a series of pop-up performances by women composers in response to LAVINIA FONTANA: TRAILBLAZER RULE BREAKER for the National Gallery of Ireland, having previously curated a song recital programme in response to the Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light exhibition for RIAM in partnership with NGI. In July 2023 she represented the AEC (Association of European Conservatoires) in Strasbourg as a panellist at ‘Professional Seminars for Gender Equality in the Music Sector in Europe’ and in March 2025 she was a panellist at EMPOWER: Women Changing Music in Dublin.

Matt Burke is a lighting designer for theatre and dance. 

Recent designs include “Ironbound” by Martyna Majok at The Abbey Theatre Peacock Stage at Dublin Theatre Festival 2023, Once Off Productions & Galway International Arts Festival “Unspeakable Conversations” by Christian O'Reilly at GIAF 2024, and Mufutau Yusuf’s contemporary dance duo “IMPASSE”, touring throughout 2024. He has worked extensively with The National Irish Language Theatre, An Taibhdhearc, at the Galway International Arts Festival from 2013 to 2018.

In 2019 he graduated with an MFA in Lighting design from The Lir Academy, Trinity College Dublin. Matt has also worked with RIAM previously and did the Lighting Design for Haydn’s La vera costanza (2025) and Karen Power’s When Forests Sing (2025)

He has been awarded the Arts Council Agility Award twice - in 2021 to support research and developing artistic process, and in 2023 with mentorship from eminent UK lighting designer Paule Constable.

(Headshot by Martin Maguire)