Wexford Festival Opera announces the singers and pianists taking part in the Wexford Factory 2024

Over the decades Wexford Festival Opera has seen many extraordinary artists perform there early on in their careers, who have gone on to become leading performers on the world stage.

In 2020 Rosetta Cucchi announced details of a new initiative – the Wexford Factory – a professional academy for young Irish and Irish-based singers, in its second iteration it was expanded to include repetiteurs as well.

The Factory programme is designed to mentor young singers through masterclasses led by internationally recognised artists and professionals. The artists also have the chance to perform in the festival.

PwC are continuing their overall sponsorship of Wexford Factory for the next two years. The programme is also supported by The Arnhold Foundation and its repetiteur and stage professional branches by The Community Foundation Ireland.

Today the artists who will take part in the 2024/2025 Wexford Factory were announced as:

The factory artists will take part in this year’s festival in several ways including a production of Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo and pop ups throughout the town during the festival. The professional development programme will culminate in two special Wexford Factory concerts in the O’Reilly Theatre; the first on 29th September, followed by another performance during the Festival itself on 21st October. More details to be announced.

Wexford Factory is an international collaboration, with TUD (Technological University Dublin), RIAM (Royal Irish Academy of Music) and the Rossini Opera Festival “Alberto Zedda” Academy, Pesaro.

About WFO 2024: Booking is now open for the 2024 Wexford Festival Opera, running from 18 October until 2 November 2024. Artistic director Rosetta Cucchi’s 2024 programme is built around the intriguing theme of ‘Theatre within Theatre,’ offering a glimpse into the world behind the curtain. Showcasing 70 events over 16 days the programme includes three main stage operas – Le maschere by Pietro Mascagni, The Critic by Charles Villiers Stanford and Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali by Gaetano Donizetti. The programme also includes two Pocket Operas – including a newly commissioned opera by Colm Tóibín and Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love an immersive community opera, 13 lunchtime recitals, a choral recital with New Dublin Voices, the annual gala concert of festival favourites and an evening with the RTE Concert Orchestra. Talks include another ‘Impossible Interview’ and the annual Dr. Tom Walsh (more details to be announced).

The Wexford Factory 2024 artists: 

Laura Ahearne

Laura is a graduate of the Royal College of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She was the Joseph Clover Scholar at RCM, and awarded the Brackaville Bursary by Irish Heritage. She has performed in venues and festivals across Ireland and the UK including Wigmore Hall, the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, and the Irish Embassy in London.

Ioana Constantin-Pipelea

Romanian-Irish soprano Ioana Constantin Pipelea has previously performed with Wexford Festival Opera the roles of Fenitchka (Risurezzione – Alfano), Michelina ( Il Bravo- Mercadante), Norina (Don Paquale- Donizetti- 1 performance). Other operatic roles performed by Ioana are: Pamina (The Magic Flute- Mozart), Vixen (The Cunning Little Vixen- Janacek), Cupid (Semele – Handel), Emmie (Britten’s Albert Herring), Clorinda (Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda). Ioana has performed as soloist at the National Concert Hall Dublin in Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Hibernian Orchestra, RTÈ Lyric FM live broadcast concert with the National Symphony Orchestra and Mozart’s Exultate, jubilate with RIAM Chamber Orchestra; at Ulster Hall Belfast as soloist in BBC Radio Ulster live broadcast concert with Ulster Orchestra. Ioana is 2nd Prize winner at Corsica Lirica International Singing Competition. The soprano will make her debut this year as Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart at the Romanian National Opera Cluj.

Frasier Hickland

Pianist Frasier Hickland is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music, London, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He is a Wexford Festival Opera, Northern Ireland Opera and Leeds Lieder Young Artist, and has been featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Ulster and RTE Lyric FM. He has also performed in many prestigious venues in Europe and America, including Wigmore Hall, London, the Oxford International Song Festival, the Willard InterContinental, Washington DC, the Yacht Club de Monaco, Monte-Carlo, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Competition successes include winning the John Kerr Award for English Song, the Irish Heritage Competition, the Brooks-van der Pump English Song Competition, and also being a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Répétiteur work includes Verdi’s La Traviata/Macbeth, Puccini’s La Bohème/Tosca, Offenbach’s Daphnis et Chloé/L’île de Tulipatan, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors and Music Director for Philip Glass’ The Juniper Tree.

David Kennedy

Throughout his upbringing in the countryside of rural Galway, baritone David Kennedy has always had a curiosity about the natural world. David is in his final year of his Bachelor’s Degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music under the tuition of Owen Gilhooly-Miles. David is the first Irish scholar of the LiedAkademie with the Heidelberger Frühling, a lieder programme under the artistic direction of international baritone Thomas Hampson. Recently he is grateful to have performed beside Susan Manoff in the Pierre-Boulez Saal, Berlin. Opera roles for David include Dr. Falke in ‘Die Fledermaus’, Berlin Opera Academy (2022). He has performed in notable venues such as; Pierre Boulez-Saal, National Concert Hall, Hugh Lane Gallery, Áras an Uachtaráin. David has received masterclasses from notable persons; Simon Keenlyside, Ann Murray, Hartmut Höll, Graham Johnson, Tara Erraught. David is excited to join the factory this year to continue his pursuit of learning.

Giorgi Lomiseli

Giorgi Lomiseli is a Georgian opera singer who received his Master’s degree from the Tbilisi State Conservatoire in 2015. While there, he gained valuable stage experience through the conservatory’s productions. He further honed his craft at the prestigious Teatro Alla Scala Academy, where he performed in over 40 productions alongside renowned artists like Leo Nucci and Ambrogio Maestri.

Since 2016, Lomiseli has been a soloist at the Tbilisi State Opera Theatre. He has won prizes in a variety of competitions, including the Lado Ataneli International Competition of Vocalists (first prize) in Georgia and the Opera Crown international competition (third place), both held in Georgia.

Rory William Lynch

A Dublin native and tenor, Rory is a member of Chamber Choir Ireland and the choir of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He is undertaking a Masters in Vocal Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with Dr Imelda Drumm and was awarded Blackwater Valley Opera’s ‘Next Generation’ bursary to support his studies. His stage debut was at Wexford Festival Opera 2023 as Danilo in Camille Erlanger’s L’Aube Rouge and he will return to the festival in 2024 as a member of the Wexford Factory. In 2024, he will perform his first principal role as Mr Owen in RIAM Opera’s production of Dominic Argento’s Postcard from Morocco. He has performed Oratorio of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Saint-Saens with Culwick Choral Society, Dublin Goethe Choir, Dublin County Choir and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. A professional choral singer, Rory also works regularly with leading Irish vocal ensembles, including Chamber Choir Ireland.

Matteo Mancini

Matteo Mancini’s participation in the Wexford Factory is an exchange with Accademia Zedda Rossini Opera Festival.

Anna-Helena MacLachlan 

Anna-Helena MacLachlan is a mezzo-soprano from Westmeath. She is currently enrolled at Royal Academy Opera, studying with Susan Waters and Ingrid Surgenor. Previously, she completed her BMus Vocal Performance degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, graduating with first-class honours. Anna-Helena was recently announced as one of this year’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Bursary recipients. Previously, she was also a recipient of the Veronica Dunne Bursary for Young Irish Singers. Last year, she was winner of the Young Opera Voice competition at Navan Festival, and prize winner in both the Glenarm Festival of Voice and Birr Festival of Music. Previous opera roles include Nerone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Melissa (La Liberazione di Ruggiero), and Mrs.Herring (Albert Herring). Last season at Wexford, Anna-Helena performed the title role of Isabella in Wexford Factory’s production of L’Italiana in Algeri. She is delighted to return to the Factory for a second year.

Alexander Marev

The Polish-Bulgarian Tenor Alexander Marev began his vocal training at a very young age with the Bulgarian tenor Kaludi Kaludov. Later he was admitted to the vocal department of the renowned Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel to study with Jose van Dam. Parallel to this training in Belgium, Alexander Marev graduated from the vocal department of the Elsner Music School in Warsaw. He also studied at the Royal Brussels Conservatory in the class of Valerie Guillorit. Alexander has won numerous national singing competitions and was a member of the MM Academy, the young talent program of the Opera La Monnaie in Brussels. There and at the Royal Opera of Wallonia in Liège, Alexandre already debuted many roles like Lovec/Rusalka, Cajus/Falstaff, Pang/Turandot, Matteo Borsa/Rigoletto, Duc de Tulipatan/L’Ile de Tulipatan, Albazar/Il Turco in Italia, Poisson/Adriana Lecouvreur, or Knappe /Parsifal under the baton of Alain Altinoglu.

Laura McLaughlin

Laura McLaughlin, originally from Tipperary, has played piano since she was eight years old. She graduated with First Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree from MTU Cork School of Music. Laura is currently in her first year of the Performance Masters in MTU Cork School of Music with Michael Joyce and Michael McHale as her teachers. Her degree is specialising in piano accompaniment and has accompanied many groups and students. She plays the violin and recently performed in the IAYO Festival Orchestra and the Esker Festival Orchestra. Laura has received a masterclass from Barry Douglas and accompanied a masterclass with Brendan Collins. She also teaches and is interested in music pedagogies. Laura won ‘Best Dissertation 2022’ for researching into music aptitude in childhood. This year Laura studied four hand piano works and she had the opportunity to perform Declan Townshend’s four hand piece ‘Etretat’ for an awards ceremony held in 2023.

Maria Matthews

Maria Matthews is an Irish soprano and honours graduate of the TU Dublin Conservatoire of Music and Drama. She also holds a Master of Music from the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Maria performs regularly with Irish National Opera as chorus member, most recently in their productions of Gounod’s Faust and Puccini’s La bohème. In opera scenes Maria has portrayed roles including: Mimi (La bohème), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes). Maria took part in the 2021 “Raise Our Voices” and the 2023 “Celebrating the Voice” concert series, both curated by Irish Mezzo Soprano Tara Erraught. In 2021 she was the winner of the Birr Lyons Vocal Bursary in conjunction with the Trench Award, and in 2023 Maria was a Camerata Ireland Young Artist and a Voice Fellow at Opernfest Prague where she had the opportunity to sing with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in Smetana Hall.

Declan Murphy

Wexford-born Declan Murphy began playing piano at the age of seven under tuition of Donagh Wylde. He has just completed his BMus degree under Dr. Gabriela Mayer and Michael McHale in the Cork School of Music earning a first-class honours. Declan has played at numerous concerts including the New Ross Piano Festival in 2016 and was invited back to play in 2017. Most recent performances include the closing concert of the International Masters Course in the National Concert Hall and his MTU Cork School of Music public final recital. Declan Murphy has performed a wide range of pieces all throughout his musical life, particularly in the Cork School of Music where he has broadened his musical skill playing solo, chamber, and even orchestral works. He has achieved top grades in his performance exams, the most recent of these being the public final recital and final organ exam.

Kathleen nic Dhiarmada

As a member of the Irish National Opera Young Artist Studio for their 22/23 season, Kathleen covered the roles of Norina in Don Pasquale and Fiordiligi in Cosí fan tutte. While studying at Royal Academy Opera under the tutelage of Kate Paterson, Raymond Connell and Ingrid Surgenor, Kathleen performed the roles of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other roles include Sour Dolcina in Suor Angelica (Wexford Festival Opera), Musetta in La bohème (Hampstead Garden Opera), Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea and Morgana in Alcina (Ensemble OrQuesta). As an Alvarez Young Artist at Garsington Opera, Kathleen performed the role of Fiordiligi for their annual OperaFirst performance. Kathleen worked at Glyndebourne this summer where she was a Jerwood Young Artist, covering Papagena in Die Zauberflöte and singing in the chorus. Kathleen was generously supported by the Carr-Gregory trust during her studies at Royal Academy Opera and is currently supported by the Irish Arts Council Agility Award. In March 2023 Kathleen won the Dramatic Cup at the Dublin Feis Ceoil which enabled her to travel to New York to study with James Smidt (Haus of Shmizzay) and Rachelle Jonck, both of whom she still works with.

Paolo Nevi 

Paolo Nevi is an Italian tenor and a member of the Academy of Teatro alla Scala. He completed his musical training at the Conservatory of Parma. Nevi has performed numerous roles including Paolino in Matrimonio segreto, Nemorino in Elisir d’Amore, Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Belfiore in Il Viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival and has participated in various concerts at La Scala, Parma Lirica and Teatro Lirico of Trieste. During the 2024/25 season, he will perform as Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa. Paolo has attended masterclasses with esteemed artists including Marcelo Alvarez, Luciana D’Intino, Luca Salsi, Johnathan Webb, A. Dratwicki and Danny Lemmo. Vocal instructors include Luciana D’Intino, Roberto Coviello and Nemi Bertagni. He has collaborated with conductors Michele Spotti, Lorenzo Viotti, Pietro Mianiti and Sergio Gasparella, and worked with directors Bartlett Sher, Ulrich Peter, Pierluigi Piccoli, and Marina Bianchi.

Paolo has received numerous accolades, including the Best Under 25 Prize at the Clip di Portofino, the Prato Iva Pacetti Prize, the Fondazione Pavarotti Prize, the Young Male Talent Prize at the Etta and Paolo Limiti Competition, and the Orchestra Rossini Prize at the Giovani in Crescendo Competition.

Doireann O’Carroll

Doireann O’Carroll completed her Masters at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in June 2022. She has taken part in many exciting projects including the Iain Burnside project Open Your Eyes and Tell Me What You See and the Dublin Song Series with Dearbhla Collins at the Hugh Lane Gallery in 2022. She was awarded the Peter Rankin internship at the Northern Ireland Opera Festival of Voice in 2022 and 2023 working closely with Simon Lepper and Ingrid Surgenor. In October 2022, Doireann was the répétiteur for Luke Byrne’s opera Bloody Murder with Opera Workshop Limerick. Doireann won the

Milne Cup and the Contemporary Music competition at Feis Ceoil 2023. She was a répétiteur at the Vienna Opera Academy in summer of 2023 where she performed in two concerts at the Mozarthaus in Vienna. Doireann was the répétiteur for Stephen McNeff’s world premiere of Spirits Unsurrendered under the baton of David Brophy which was performed at Kilmainham Gaol in November 2023. Doireann has performed in concerts with the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and will perform in various concerts at the festival in June 2024. She is studying with Dearbhla Collins at RIAM.

Samuel White

Praised by Opera News for his “gleaming heroic tenor and a hint of physical danger,” Samuel White shows promise in the dramatic repertory. Sam has covered the roles of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Tulsa Opera and Count Loris Ipanov in Fedora with Teatro Grattacielo. His other performance credits include Matthew Gurney in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline, Aeneas in Dido & Aeneas, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus. He has completed training in such institutions as The Aspen Opera Center, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera in the Ozarks, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, The Florida State University, and The Manhattan School of Music. This past summer Samuel covered The Prince in Rusalka at The Santa Fe Opera Center and he has just recently covered the role of Licinio in Teatro Grattacielo’s production of La Vestale celebrating 100 years of Maria Callas. Samuel is an apprentice artist with the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco this summer, and he will be singing the role of Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at Wexford Festival Opera in the Fall of 2024.