Naomi O'Connell, Mezzo-soprano

Biography

Hailed by the New York Times as "a radiant mezzo-soprano", Naomi O'Connell recently appeared as Ottavia in the Juilliard Opera production of L'incoronazione di Poppea.  Brought up in Co. Clare, Ireland, Ms. O'Connell holds a Masters in Music Degree from The Juilliard School and is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma in Opera Studies program with voice teacher Dr. Robert White.  The Irish Arts Council generously supports her studies and she has been awarded the Maurice R. Boyd Scholarship for Vocal Studies and the Makiko Narumi Prize for outstanding mezzo-soprano by The Juilliard School.  .

Recent performances include an appearance with the New York Festival of Song in their  Roadtrip concert at Alice Tully Hall, where critics hailed her performance as "evocative, appealing and expressive."  In January, Ms. O'Connell performed at The Juilliard FOCUS! Festival, singing a song cycle by contemporary Polish composer Stanislaw Moryto, which will be podcast worldwide by Q2 of WQXR.  She made her Lincoln Center debut last March in the Juilliard Honors Recital at Alice Tully Hall.

Ms. O'Connell began her vocal training at the age of thirteen in Co. Clare with voice teacher Archie Simpson, director of the dynamic Lismorahaun Singers choral group.  She performed frequently with the choir throughout the west of Ireland and is the featured soloist on their album Spiorad, released in 2002.  At the age of sixteen, she released a solo album entitled Christmas with Naomi.  The same year, with sponsorship from the Lismorahaun Singers, Ms. O'Connell was enabled to study with renowned voice teacher Mary Brennan in Dublin.  She studied with Mrs. Brennan for over six years, including three years at the DIT Conservatory of Music, completing her Honors BA Degree in Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2008.

During her years of study in Dublin, Ms. O'Connell worked closely with both her teacher Mrs. Brennan and repetiteur Mairead Hurley.  From 2003 - 2007, she won eleven first-place prizes in the Siemens  Feis Ceoil, including the Margaret Burke-Sheridan Cup for Best Female Voice in 2004 and the over-all Gervase Elwes Award and Raymond Kearns Bursary in 2006.  She performed in venues throughout Ireland and Europe including the European Parliament (Strasbourg), St. Giles Cathedral (Edinburgh), First Presbyterian Church (Belfast), University Concert Hall (Limerick), St. Patrick's Cathedral (Dublin), Áras an Uachtaráin and the National Concert Hall.  Her recordings have been broadcasted on RTE television, RTE Radio One, Clare FM and Lyric FM. 
 
In 2007, Ms. O'Connell was awarded three prizes in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, including the Hugo Wolf prize for Best Performance of a German Lied and the Most Promising Young Singer Award.  Later in the same year, she was the winner of the inaugural €10,000 John McCormack Vocal Bursary; a recording of Mahler's Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from the competition peformance can be found in the media gallery.  In January 2008, she won the Irené Sandford Memorial Competition and Bursary, hosted by the Royal Irish Academy of Music. 

During her last year of study in Dublin, Ms. O'Connell was signed as an Opera Theatre Company Young Associate Artist.  In this time, she completed a part-time drama course at the Gaiety School of Acting, worked in opera outreach programs in schools throughout Ireland and perfomed in masterclasses with Roger Vignoles, Anne Murray, Richard Hetherington (Covent Garden) and Brenda Hurley (International Opera Center of Amsterdam).  Following her acceptance to The Juilliard School in April 2008, Ms. O'Connell performed on The Late Late Show, RTE Television, singing Macushla, a song made famous by Irish tenor John McCormack.

In June 2008, Ms. O'Connell was awarded first place in the Operetta Competition at the Hans Gabor International Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna, as well as prizes awarded by the opera houses of Düsseldorf, Klagenfurt and La Scala, Milan. 

Ms. O'Connell's operatic roles include Ravel's L'enfant (Chautauqua, USA, 2009), Dido (Norfolk, UK, 2007), Cherubino (Montalto, Italy, 2006), Handel's  Ariodante (Cover role, Juilliard, 2009) and #3 in Conrad Susa's chamber opera Transformations (Juilliard, 2010).  Her operetta roles include Gilbert & Sullivan's Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) in 2002 and Tessa (The Gondoliers) in 2006.  Concert repertoire performed includes Bernstein's  Arias and Barcarolles, Mahler's Rückert Lieder, Mozart's Requiem & Mass in C Minor, Brahms' Viola Songs Op.91, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and Elgar's The Music Makers.  Ms. O'Connell has performed in masterclasses with artists such as Dame Gwyneth Jones, Sir Thomas Allen, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles and Ann Murray.

This summer, Ms. O'Connell will be joining the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and the Steans Musical Institute at Ravinia, Chicago.  Upcoming operatic engagements include the title role in Offenbach's  La Périchole with Garsington Opera in June/July 2012.