Dublin-born soprano Sandra Oman was the 2004 recipient of the Margaret Burke Sheridan Memorial Award for excellence in the field of opera. She has performed extensively in opera and concert in Ireland, UK, USA, Italy, Germany, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Poland and has interpreted over 40 operatic roles on stage. In concert, she has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra and has sung as soprano soloist with virtually all of Ireland's major choral societies. She has two Number One Albums on iTunes to her credit, LIBERTY and NOËL, which she launched at sell-out concerts at the National Concert Hall, Dublin
Soprano
Sandra Oman
Raphaela has trained as a mezzo soprano, obtaining a record breaking First Class Honours Degree from the Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin and a Post Graduate Distinction from the Flanders Opera Studio, Belgium. Her singing career has seen her perform across the UK and Europe, where to date she has performed roles such as: ‘Bradamante’ in Alcina, ‘Ottavia’ in L’incoronazione di Poppea, ‘Marcelina’ in The Marriage of Figaro, ‘Genevieve’ in Pelleas et Melisande, ‘Idamante’ in Idomeneo, ‘Glasha’ & ‘Varvara’ in Katya Kabanova, ‘Buttercup’ in HMS Pinafore, ‘Euridice’ in L’anima del Filosofo, ‘Olga’ in Eugene Onegin and ‘Mrs Lovett’ in Sweeney Todd. At home, some of Raphaela’s recent performances include; ‘Carmen’ in Carmen, ‘Cherubino’ in The Marriage of Figaro, ‘Orfeo’ in Orfeo ed Euridice, ‘Tessa’ in The Gondoliers, ‘Bianca’ in The Rape of Lucretia and ‘Penelope’ in Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses. A constant in the field of concert and oratorio, Raphaela’s most noted performances are with the RTE National Symphony & Concert Orchestra, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and the leading Choral Societies of Ireland and the UK regularly performing works such as Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Handel’s Messiah and the Verdi Requiem.
Mezzo
Raphaela Mangan
David Lynn hails from Ballina, Co. Mayo in the West of Ireland, and has studied at the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama, privately with Robert Dean, and at the Alexander Gibson Opera School, Glasgow. He was a Northern Ireland Opera Young Artist 2015/16 and has sung with Wide Open Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Theatre Company and Opera North. Roles include Ferrando Cosi Fan Tutte, Fenton Falstaff Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Quint The Turn of the Screw, Alfredo La Traviata and Pang Turandot. He has most recently been an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera, appearing in Capriccio (3rd Diener), Falstaff and Magic Flute, covering the role of Fenton in Falstaff.
Tenor
David Lynn
David Howes is a Bass-Baritone from Limerick where he studied with Olive Cowpar. He then moved on to the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where he completed the Bachelor of Music degree with 1st class honours. David now studies with Robert Dean and is a graduate of the distinguished Young Artist Programme with Northern Ireland Opera. With NI Opera David prepared the role of Tarquinius in Rape of Lucretia and performed Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte.
David is a multiple competition winner both in Limerick and Dublin. In the Féis Ceoil, he has won the Cuisine de France John McCormack Bursary, the Baritone solo, and the Count John McCormack Memorial Cup, to name but a few.
Highlights in oratorio include: Baritone solo in Puccini’s Messa Di Gloria (Limerick Choral Union) and the Bass solos in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Co-Orch Dublin), Vaughan-Williams’ First Nowell (Culwick Choral Society), Requiems by Saint-Saens, Brahms (Dun Laoghaire Choral Society), Mozart (with the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and Ulster Orchestra), Stanford and Faure, Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C, Great Minor Mass, Haydn's Nelson Mass and The Creation (Chorus Ireland), and Handel's Messiah (Dun Laoghaire Choral Society), Dettingen Te Deum (Limerick Choral Union) and Dixit Dominus with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
In opera, David has performed the roles of Jack and Flynn in the world premier of Andrew Synott’s Dubliners (A co-production between Opera Theatre Company & Wexford Festival Opera), Title role in Hans Krasa’s Brundibar (Killaloe Chamber Music Festival), Rose Tree in John O Brien’s Opera Nightingale and The Rose, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto (OTC), Buff in Der Schauspieldirektor (Irish National Opera), Prince Yamadori in Madame Butterfly (Lyric Opera, Dublin), Figaro in le nozze di Figaro (Zerere Arts Festival), Peintre and 2nd Philosophe in Charpentier’s Louise (Buxton Opera Festival), Il Cosacco in Risurrezione by Franco Alfano, Sciarrone in Tosca, and 2nd Archer in le pre aux clerc (WFO). Other roles include: Noye in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, French Soldier 1 in the European Premiere of Silent Night (WFO), Quince in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Yorke Trust, Norfolk), Marchese d'Obigny in La traviata and 'Seargent' in la boheme (Lyric Opera), and John Styx in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.
David has covered Figaro in Irish National Opera’s Inaugural production of le nozze di Figaro, the Title Role and Masetto in Don Giovanni (Northern Ireland Opera) conducted by Nicholas Chalmers and directed by Oliver Mears (recently appointed Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House, London), and Bohus in Dvorak’s Jacobin (Buxton Festival Opera) conducted by Stephen Barlow. In recent years, he has also had the privilege of taking part in masterclasses with musicians of international renown including: Sir Simon Keenlyside, Sir Thomas Allen, Gidon Saks, Patricia Bardon, Ann Murray, Malcolm Martineau, Katherine Harris, Susan Bullock, Ian Burnside, and Graham Johnson.
Future engagements include: Performing Mozart’s Requiem and Great C minor Mass with the Limerick Choral Union in April 2019 and a recital in June 2019 in Farmleigh House.
Bass