Young Associate Artists 2012
Grace Bermingham Anna Brady Jennifer Davis
Fearghal Curtis Patrick Hyland Padraic Rowan
Grace Bermingham
Dublin born soprano Grace Bermingham studies with Virginia Kerr at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Having completed her BA degree in English and Music at NUI Maynooth, Grace received a First Class Honours in Vocal Performance and went onto complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. A multiple prizewinner at Feiseanna throughout Ireland, Grace’s professional experience includes both operatic and concert performances with Maynooth Chamber Choir, Resurgam, Good Works Opera, Lyric Opera and Opera Ireland. Her television appearances include BBC religious programme Songs of Praise and a recent performance on the RTÉ programme Capital D to promote her local community arts festival. Her concert work includes Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, St. Matthew Passion, Fauré’s Requiem and Haydn’s Nelson Mass. Grace was awarded a music bursary from the 2011 Dublin City Council Music Bursary Scheme.
Anna achieved her BA in Music Performance from the Royal Irish Academy of Music with a First Class Honours degree in June 2011. She is currently a part-time student in the RIAM studying with Suzanne Murphy.
Anna is a multiple Feis Ceoil Prizewinner winning many awards including the Plunket Greene Cup, the Nancy Calthorpe Cup, the German Government Cup, the Veronica Dunne Cup and the Soprano Cup.
Anna was Specially Commended in the Mozart International Singing Competition in 2009. She sang in the chorus of Opera Ireland in the operas Don Giovanni, Romeo et Juliet, I Capuleti ei Montecchi and sang the soprano solo as one of the apparitions in Macbeth. Roles include Annina La Traviata and Ida Die Fledermaus with Loughcrew Garden Opera, Yum Yum Mikado with the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society and La Ciesca Gianni Schicchi with the RIAM. In January 2011 Anna sang the soprano solo at the premiere of Kammerpop by Fiachra White.
Anna sang excerpts from Don Giovanni as Zerlina with Opera Theatre Company as part of European Opera Day, and in July 2011 sang the role of Lieschen in Bach's Coffee Cantata with Opera Theatre Company, and will be repeating the role in May 2012. Anna performed the title role in Semele with the RIAM in January 2012.
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Jennifer is currently studying for her Masters in Vocal Performance in DIT’s Conservatory of Music and Drama with Colette McGahon-Tosh and Aoife O’Sullivan. Jennifer graduated from University College Dublin with a BA Honours in English Literature in 2010, and was a member of the UCD Philharmonic Choir during her time there. It has only been in the last year that Jennifer has decided to pursue her singing career full-time.
Jennifer’s musical experience has included being a member of various choirs in both England and Ireland, most recently the newly established Gaudeamus Choir in Tipperary, as both a soloist and choir member. She has worked freelance as a professional singer for weddings, masses, concerts and recitals, as well as winning classes in the Feis Matiú in Cork. Roles include many musical theatre roles, including Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, Lily St. Regis in Annie, and Sharon in A Slice of Saturday Night in the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury, England. Jennifer has also performed in small theatre events and co-founded EPIC Youth Theatre in Cahir, Tipperary. Most recently Jennifer played the role of Yum-Yum in The Mikado for St. Mary’s Choral Society. Jennifer recently performed the Grieg song-cycle Haugtussa in a lecture recital as part of her Master’s programme with great success, and won the Dermot Troy Mozart prize in DIT’s in-house competition.
Fearghal has recently completed the BMus programme at the Conservatory of Music and Drama, DIT. He is continuing his studies at the Conservatory under the tutelage of Stephen Wallace. As a student at DIT, he has sang the role of Orpheus and Mercury in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, First Priest in The Magic Flute, Bill in A Hand of Bridge, Kasper in extracts from Amahl and the Night Visitors and Eisenstein/Falke (understudy) in extracts from Die Fledermaus. Fearghal has sung Chorus in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Theodora (Handel), as well as Mercury in Castor et Pollux (Rameau) and Pastore in L’Orfeo (Monteverdi) as part of the Yorke Trust opera summer programme. Opera credits also include First Priest/Chorus in The Magic Flute (Mozart), Guiseppe/Chorus in La Traviata (Verdi) and chorus in Carmen (Bizet) with Glasthule Opera, chorus in Roméo et Juliette (Gounod), Capuletti e Montecchi (Bellini) and Tosca (Verdi) with Opera Ireland, Ruiz in Il trovatore (Verdi) and Chorus in Madame Butterfly (Puccini) with Lyric Opera. Fearghal sang the tenor solo in The Armed Man (Karl Jenkins) with the Mullingar Choral Society and the tenor solo in Charpentier’s Messe de Minuet pour Noel and Mendelssohn’s Ave Maria with the Culwick Choral Society, at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. He has also sung on the recital platform as part of the Boyle Festival and in a series of concerts with the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Fearghal is also a founding member of Dublin Youth Opera Company. The student company tours self-written jukebox operas to raise awareness for Irish charities.
Patrick commenced his studies with Dr Veronica Dunne in 2006 at the Leinster School of Music before moving to the Royal Irish Academy of Music where he is currently studying for a Diploma in Music Performance and Teaching. In January 2012 Patrick sang Jupiter in the RIAM’S production of Handel’s Semele. In September 2011 Patrick performed in the National Concert Hall in Dublin with Soprano Marcella Walsh. In June 2011 he was invited to Áras an Uachtaráin to sing for President Mary McAleese. He is the winner of the William Young Cup for the 2011 Feis Ceoil and also came first with Soprano Marcella Walsh in the Operatic Duet Competition 2011. He is a recipient of the Sligo Feis Ceoil best male singer award 2010. In January 2011 he performed in the Royal Irish Academy’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio). In the summer of 2010 he was invited by the Lord Mayor to the Mansion House in Dublin where he was awarded a bursary by the Count John McCormack Society. In November 2009 he was a member of the chorus in Opera Ireland’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth in the Gaiety and, in October of the same year, participated in the chorus of Lyric Opera’s production of Carmen in the National Concert Hall. In the summer of 2009 he travelled to Montalto in Italy to undertake and opera studio course involving a tour of solo concerts and performances of Donizetti’s Don Pasqualé (Ernesto). Patrick is traveling to Glyndebourne Festival 2012 where he will be taking part in Puccini’s La Bohème.
Padraic Rowan is currently studying for a Masters in Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with Mary Brennan and Brenda Hurley (Repetiteur), having previously completed an undergraduate degree in International Relations at Dublin City University.
He is a multiple prizewinner at Feis Ceoil, with 2012 awards including the Mahler Award, Joseph O’Mara Memorial Cup (for male operatic singing) and Bradbury Cup. In 2011 he was awarded the Hubert McCullough Memorial Cup for most promising voice at Ballymena Festival of Music. Padraic was also selected as one of five finalists in both the 2011 and 2012 RIAM Irené Sandford Award for Singers.
In January 2012, Padraic played the role of Somnus in RIAM’s production of Handel’s Semele, with Opera Magazine stating: ‘We can expect to hear more from Padraic Rowan (hilarious as Somnus)’.
He has also participated in a number of Masterclasses, most recently with Sir Thomas Allen and Graham Johnson.
This autumn he will perform with the Wexford Festival Opera Chorus in all three main-stage productions of their 2012 season.