Irish National Opera & Sergio Alapont
Biography Irish National Opera & Sergio Alapont
Celine Byrne
is a Lyric Soprano who made her operatic début as Mimi in La Bohéme in 2010 and in the seasons that followed she has performed extensively throughout Europe, as well as in the United States, China, Russia and Mexico. She has sung with world renowned tenors José Carreras, Placido Domingo, Roberto Alagna and Andrea Bocelli and has sung for such dignitaries as HRH Queen Elizabeth, President Barack Obama, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. Her compelling and thrilling performances have won her the universal acclaim of audiences and critics across the opera world.
Celine, a native of Naas, Co. Kildare began her singing career as part of Naas Musical society singing such roles as Eliza Doolittle (My Fair Lady), Magnolia (Show Boat) and Anna Glavari in the Merry Widow for which she won the national AIMS Award for Best Singer and Best Overall Performance. She obtained her Music Degree from DIT followed by a Masters from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Celine has received many awards and prizes for her singing and in 2007 Celine was awarded First Prize and Gold Medal at the International Maria Callas Grand Prix, Athens. She has appeared on many TV shows both in Ireland and abroad including her acclaimed performance in Centenary for RTÉ.
Her velvety, elegant voice has marked her out for stunning performances with her operatic roles as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly with the Moscow State Opera, Floria Tosca in Tosca with Opera Østfold in association with Norway National Opera and Die Marschallin in Der Rosenkavlier in Germany and Micaela in Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to name but a few. In 2018, Celine performed for Pope Francis at the Festival of Families in Croke Park and she also sung at President Michael D Higgin's inauguration.
Anna Devin
Irish soprano Anna Devin is widely admired for her “impeccable Baroque style” (Bachtrack), “vocal control…artistry and musico-dramatic intelligence,” (Opera News). An alumna of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artist programme, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the National Opera Studio, Ms Devin is ‘an ideal interpreter of Handel’s ‘sex-kitten’ roles’ (Opera Magazine) and has gained recognition across the world for her work in the Baroque and Classical repertoire.
Season 2019-20 will see Anna Devin perform Almirena in Rinaldo with Glyndebourne on tour and Michal in Saul in Paris Théâtre du Châtelet, as well as Iphis in Jephta at the Komische Oper Berlin.
Invited by conductor Laurence Cummings she will sing in Handel’s Gloria in Excelsis Deo with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She will also make her debut with La Scintilla, singing Zelenka’s arias at the Zurich Opernhaus as well as concerts with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Fazil Say.
The 2018/19 season marked Ms Devin’s Opernhaus Zurich debut as Rosane La Verita in cimento, followed by her return to Teatro Real, Madrid to perform the title role in La Calisto and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte for Irish National Opera. Her concert appearances included Mahler 4 with the St Petersburg Philharmonic, Handel’s Messiah with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and at the Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the RTE Concert Orchestra in Halle, Mendelssohn’s ‘Lobgesang’ Symphony with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Esther with Irish Baroque Orchestra and Handel’s Athalia at the London Handel Festival. She will also make her recital debut at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival with Joseph Middleton.
Recent operatic successes have included her 2017/18 debuts at Madrid’s Teatro Real as Celia Lucio Silla and the Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe as the title role in Semele; Tusnelda Arminio at the International Handel Festival in Göttingen; Michal Saul at the 2018 Glyndebourne Festival and Cleopatra Giulio Cesare for the Early Opera Company, in which her Cleopatra was described by Hugh Canning as: ‘one of the finest London has heard’ (Opera Magazine). She has sung Galatea Acis and Galatea for Mozartwoche Salzburg; Nannetta Falstaff and Lauretta Gianni Schicci for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro for Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Tour and Scottish Opera; Sophie in Werther and Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Scottish Opera; la bergère Louis XV/La chauve-souris L'enfant et les sortilèges for La Scala, Milan; Poppea Agrippina for Opera Collective, Ireland; and Clotilde, Faramondo for Brisbane Baroque, which earned her the Best Supporting Singer in an Opera at the 2015 Helpmann Awards, Australia. Other roles have included Governess Turn of the Screw, Countess Adele Le Comte Ory, Marie Fille du Regiment, Morgana Alcina, Gretel Hänsel und Gretel and Ilia Idomeneo.
A frequent concert performer throughout Europe and the USA, Ms Devin’s repertoire encompasses a vast range of sacred and secular works and she has appeared at the London Handel, Göttingen Handel, Lausanne Bach, Brighton Early Music and Belfast festivals, the BBC Proms and Carnegie Hall. She has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic, Hallé, RTÉ NSO, Ulster and Minnesota orchestras and Houston, Charlotte and Seattle symphonies, among others. Recent season highlights, Mozart Concert Arias with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Harry Bicket; and a concert tour performing Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with frequent collaborator Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Other conductors she has worked with include Sir William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Ottavio Dantone, Ivor Bolton, Sir Colin Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Sir Antonio Pappano.
Anna Devin’s recordings include Arminio and Faramondo for Accent from the International Händel Festspiele Gottingen; Mozart in London, Il re Pastore and Mitridate, Re di Ponto with Classical Opera for Signum Classics; and ‘Arias for Benucci’ with Arcangelo for Hyperion. She was also an Associate Artist with Classical Opera, with whom she records and performs regularly.
In addition to her work on stage, Ms Devin is proud to be an Ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association. She has also been open with the public through the media and events about growing up with dyslexia, saying: “Being different is not a bad thing. Not fitting in with the crowd is a blessing as we all have our own journey and being forced to find your own path brings originality.” She is passionate about nurturing new talent and gives masterclasses at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, as well as coaching at the Royal Academy Opera Course, London.
Sergio Alapont
Awarded as Best Conductor in Italy 2016 by GBOSCARS, and winner of the II City of Granada Conducting Competition, Sergio Alapont is one of the leading conductors of his generation.
Alapont has worked extensively as a guest conductor including orchestras as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Ile de France de París, Orchestre Symphonic de Bretagne, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of The Norwegian National Opera, The Orchestra of the Scottish Opera, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Janâcek Philharmonic Ostrava, Arena di Verona, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI of Turin, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de la Comunidad Valenciana (Palau de Les Arts), Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Monterrey Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai International Youth Orchestra, Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes in México, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá or Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco among many others.
Recent highlights include Carmina Burana at the Teatro Regio di Parma, La Bohème at the Irish National Opera, his debut in Denmark with the Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra his debut in USA conducting La Rondine by Puccini at the Minnesota Opera, Stabat Mater by Pergolesi at the Teatro Real, Bellini Opera Gala at the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, a new production of Idomeneo at the Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, The Merry Widow at the Teatro Comunale of Sassari, L’heure espagnol and Gianni Schicchi at the Opera Lombardia, Carmen at the Opera de Oviedo, The Merry Widow at the Fondazione Arena di Verona, Le nozze di Figaro at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso and Teatro Pergolesi di Jesi, assistant conductor in Poliuto at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Gala Concert at the Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, Gala Concert with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid at the Teatro Real de Madrid, La forza del destino at the Las Palmas Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso and Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo, Otello at the Teatro Calderon of Valladolid, Roméo et Juliette and Aida in Sassari, Don Pasquale at the Las Palmas Opera, Attila at the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, Don Bucefalo at the Wexford Opera Festival, Il cappello di paglia di Firenze at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Wexford Opera Festival, Opera Gala with the soprano Ainhoa Arteta at the Palau de la Música de Valencia, Poliuto at the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos of Lisbon, Gianni Schicchi, Cavalleria Rusticana and La Traviata at the Orizzonti Festival, Don Giovanni at the Opera Tenerife, Cenerentola in Treviso and Ferrara, Una cosa rara at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia and at the Teatro Calderón of Valladolid, Le nozze di Figaro at the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Pamplona, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Norma in Sassari, Cavalleria Rusticana at the Illica Festival, Norma in Ferrara and Treviso, Le nozze di Figaro with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Tosca in Skopje, Don Pasquale at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso, Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, and Festival of Pollença, Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni or La Traviata at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan.
He assisted Marco Armiliato in several productions at the Metropolitan, as Madame Butterfly, La bohème or Sly. And Semyon Bychkov invited him as Assistant Conductor for several symphonic programs.
He has conducted in prestigious Festivals as Carintischer Sommer, Mahler Festival – Dobbiaco, Ravello Festival, MITO Festival, Shanghai Opera Week, Quincena Musical Donostiarra, Euro Arts – Leipzig, or Varna Summer International Music Festival.
Alapont has collaborated with soloists as Nemanja Radulovic, Pavel Berman, Boris Berman, Sébastien Hartaud, Kateřina Javůrková, Pablo Sainz Villegas, Sunao Goko, Anna Tifu, Detlef Roth, Paula Murrihy, Rafael Aguirre, or Measha Bruggergosman and singers as Erwin Schrott, Gregory Kunde, Placido Domingo, Juan Pons, Celso Albelo, Anna Pirozzi, Désiree Rancatore, Ainhoa Arteta, Dimitra Theodossiou, Isabel Rey, Fabio Armiliato, Lorenzo Regazzo, Roberto de Candia, Bruno Praticò, Yolanda Auyanet, Ofelia Sala, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Carlos Chausson, Jorge de León, Tomas Mohr, María José Montiel, Juan Francisco Gatell, Erika Miklosa, Christopher Lowrey, Maximilian Schmitt, or Judith Van Wanrojj.
He has recorded for RAI, RTÉ Ireland, Euroradio or the labels Signum Classics and UNIVERSAL.
In September 2008 he debuted at the Großer Saal of the Vienna Musikverein.
Future engagements for Mr. Alapont include RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, Balearic Symphony Orchestra, Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Clássica do Centro, Teatro Regio di Parma, or his return to the Irish National Opera to conduct again La Bohème in 2023.
He has studied orchestral conducting in New York with Maestro Marco Armiliato, and in Pescara with Maestro Donato Renzetti, finishing his studies with qualification “Cum Laude”.
Alapont pursued conducting studies also with Jorma Panula (Royal College of Music of Stockholm), Helmuth Rilling (Bachakademie of Stuttgart), and Masaaki Suzuki (Bach Collegium of Japan). He also receives advice from conductors as maestro Semyon Bychkov and maestro Antonio Pappano.
