Edel O'Brien (mezzo-soprano)

Edel O’Brien comes from Kilrush, Co. Clare. She graduated with an honours Masters Degree in Music and Performance from NUI Maynooth. At the age of nineteen, she won the Margaret Burke-Sheridan Cup at the Dublin Féis Ceoil. In London, she was awarded a scholarship to study singing at Trinity College of Music where she won ‘Distinction’ in her Postgraduate Diploma in Vocal Studies. In addition, she won the Vocal Faculty Award and the College Gold Medal. In 2002 Edel was one of seven singers out of 200 applicants worldwide to be accepted onto the Young Artists’ Programme at the Centre de Formation Lyrique at the Opera Bastille, Opera National de Paris. While there, she won the Prix Lyrique which is awarded annually to one male and one female singer at the CFL. Edel has much experience in opera, oratorio and recital, having worked around Ireland, Britain and France. Her future plans include the mezzo-soprano solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2  and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the National Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and Maurya in Vaughan-Williams’ Riders to the Sea in Dublin’s Anna Livia Festival.