Finalists announced for Northern Ireland Opera's 11th Glenarm Festival of Voice

The finalists for Northern Ireland Opera's Glenarm Festival of Voice

With one vocal competition in Cardiff over (and congratulations to Claire Barnett Jones for her success), there is news of Northern Ireland Opera's 11th Glenarm Festival of Voice the finale of which is on 29 August 2021. For the competition, singers from applicants across Ireland are chosen after submitting a recording and they spend four days working with top opera and song professionals including former Director of the National Opera Studio, Kathryn Harries, Simon Lepper, and Ingrid Surgenor. 

The six finalists this year are Caroline Behan (soprano), Amy Conneely (mezzo-soprano), Cerys MacAllister (soprano), Matthew Mannion (bass- baritone) Ellen Mawhinney (soprano), and Katie Richardson McCrea (mezzo-soprano). and they will compete for the Deborah Voigt Opera Prize and the Audience Prize in a series of live performances on 29 August including solos, ensembles and Irish song in front of an audience and the judging panel. And the performances will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Ulster’s Classical Connections.

Each year the festival appoints a Peter Rankin Piano Intern who will work with the singers during the festival and perform with them in the Irish Song section of the Competition Finale.  This year's intern is Brendan Kennedy who recently graduated from RIAM.

Further details from the Northern Ireland Opera website.