2012 2013 Season Columbia Artists Vocal LLC 1790 Broadway New York, NY 10019 telephone: (212) 841-9685 fax: (212) 841-9557 www.cami.com Personal Direction: Damon Bristo, Vice President djbristo@cami.com Updated July 2013 Please destroy all previous press materials Columbia Artists Management LLC 1790 Broadway, New York, NY 10019-1412 The Creative Source for the Performing Arts (212) 841-9500 Fax (212) 841-9744 www.cami.com
Hailed by The New York Times as radiant, Irish singer Naomi O'Connell is the First Prize Winner of the 2011 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and the Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition. She began 2012 starring on London s West End in Terrence McNally s Tony Award-winning play Master Class, in the role of an aspiring young opera singer opposite Tyne Daly who portrays the legendary Maria Callas. The Times called her performance spectacular, and The Independent lauded her thrilling rendering of an aria from Verdi s Lady Macbeth. Highlights of her 2012-13 operatic season include: Despina in Mozart s Così fan tutte, co-produced by the Juilliard Opera Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera s Lindemann Young Artist Program in fall 2012, under the baton of Alan Gilbert and directed by Stephen Wadsworth; and in spring 2013, she appeared in New York City Opera s new production of Offenbach s directed by Christopher Alden. Featured recital appearances this season include her Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall presented by CAG, as well as the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Purdue University Convocations, the Artist Series of Tallahassee and Merkin Concert Hall. In future seasons, she will debut at Oper Frankfurt and will return to Garsington Opera in Offenbach s Vert Vert. A gifted musician and natural performer, Ms. O'Connell deftly balances her love of opera with that of art song, musical theatre and popular song with repertoire ranging from Schumann, Strauss and Ravel to Bernstein, Sondheim and Randy Newman. She has performed with the Marlboro Music Festival, Steans Musical Institute at Ravinia, the Juilliard FOCUS! Festival, and the New York Festival of Song, where critics hailed her performance as evocative, appealing and expressive. Recent engagements include her professional operatic debut singing the title role in Offenbach s richole with Garsington Opera in June 2012, where London critics hailed her as a star in the making. Ms. O Connell made her Lincoln Center debut in March 2011 in the Juilliard Honors Recital at Alice Tully Hall with pianist Brent Funderburk. She spent the summers 2011 and 2012 performing chamber music at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where her 2012 performance of Ravel s Trois
Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé was hailed by The Boston Globe as outstanding - her voice cool, precisely controlled and perfect for this music. Brought up in County Clare, Ireland, Ms. O'Connell holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma in Opera Studies program with voice teacher Dr. Robert White. The Irish Arts Council generously supports her studies and she has been awarded the Maurice R. Boyd Scholarship for Vocal Studies and the Makiko Narumi Prize for outstanding by The Juilliard School. She began her studies with Archie Simpson and holds a BA Honors degree from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she studied with voice teacher Mary Brennan. Ms. O'Connell has performed in venues throughout the United States, Europe, the UK and Ireland. Her recordings have been broadcasted on WQXR, BBC Three, RTE television, Lyric FM, Clare FM and Radio One. Her operatic roles include Monteverdi's Ottavia, Ravel's L'Enfant and Concepción, Purcell's Dido, Mozart's Cherubino, Bizet's Carmen and Handel's Ariodante. Ms. O'Connell has performed in masterclasses with artists such as Dame Gwyneth Jones, Joyce DiDonato, Sir Thomas Allen, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles and Ann Murray.
OPERATIC REPERTOIRE BIZET Carmen Carmen BRITTEN The Rape of Lucretia Lucretia DEBUSSY Pelléas et Melisande Melisande HANDEL Ariodante Ariodante HUMPERDINCK Hãnsel und Gretel Hänsel MONTEVERDI L incoronazione di Poppea Poppea MOZART Le nozze di Figaro Cherubino Così fan tutte Dorabella Despina Don Giovanni Zerlina OFFENBACH La Périchole La Périchole POULENC Dialogues des Carmélites Blanche PURCELL Dido and Aeneas Dido RAVEL L heure espagnole Conception L enfant et les sortilèges L enfant SMETANA The Bartered Bride Hata STRAUSS Der Rosenkavalier Octavian Ariadne auf Naxos Komponist WEILL Aufstieg und Fall Jenny der Stadt Mahagonny
PRESS ACCLAIM Ravel s Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé at the Marlboro Music Festival Naomi O Connell was the outstanding, her voice cool, precisely controlled, and perfect for this music. - Boston Globe, August 7th 2012 La Périchole at Garsington Opera "Making her U.K. opera debut as La Périchole was the Irish, Juilliard-trained mezzo Naomi O Connell, her streetwise manner and gift for vivid dialogue enhancing a performance that was notable for warmth, clarity and cleanness. As her less proactive boyfriend, Piquillo, tenor Robert Murray matched her in vocal style and grace, while his shy, fumbling manner was just as appealing in its very different way as hers. Both of them seized their vocal and dramatic opportunities fully throughout the show." - Opera News, June 18th 2012 It's hard to imagine how Geoffrey Dolton's Viceroy, Naomi O'Connell's Périchole and Robert Murray's Piquillo could be bettered in these parts this production is O'Connell's UK operatic debut, and she is a star in the making. Hardly surprising, given that she's a postgraduate of the Juilliard who will make her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013. - Music OMH, June 24th 2012 In the title role and looking delectable, Naomi O Connell s creamy tone and elegant phrasing ravished the ear. - Seen and Heard International, June 21st 2012 Naomi O Connell and Robert Murray are unbeatable in the principal roles of La Périchole and Piquillo. Their sometimes tempestuous relationship is beautifully observed, and their singing is a joy to listen to. This is O Connell s UK operatic debut, and she s very definitely a name to watch. - Oxford Times, June 20th 2012 At the centre are two first-rate performances from the ingenue leads, Naomi O Connell s Périchole and Robert Murray s Piquillo. Both of them sing with grace and style, she suitably sharp-witted and streetwise; he - something of a James Corden lookalike in a rumbustious comic performance - softer and more vulnerable. Between the two of them, they take every trick that comes their way. - The Stage, June 19th 2012 The word "charm" applied particularly to the performance of Naomi O'Connell in the title role She has stage presence and magnetism to burn, helped by a gorgeously soft Irish accent. She also did a great job of the dance numbers - everything from the Spanish ones to a brief jig straight out of Riverdance. - Bachtrack, June 19th 2012
Master Class West End Debut Naomi O'Connell does a spectacular Lady Macbeth, hurling it virtually through gritted teeth as Callas torments her. - The Times, February 8th 2012 She, and we, are even more rewarded by the turnarounds in Naomi O'Connell s tremendous performance of the letter scene in Macbeth - WhatsOnStage, February 8th 2012 Two egos clash, however, when victim number three, soprano Sharon Graham (played by the brilliant Naomi O Connell), who initially flees the stage after being criticised for her entrance and sparkly dress, confronts her teacher and insults her. Yet there s no doubt that she s learned an important lesson when she finally grasps how to sing and act the letter scene of Verdi s Lady Macbeth. - London Theatre Tickets, February 8th 2012 Naomi O Connell, as one young victim in a ball gown, takes on the murderous ambition of Verdi s Lady Macbeth, bats off Callas s scorn and rises to her challenge. - The Mail, February 9th 2012 Naomi O'Connell brings fire to Verdi's Lady Macbeth. - Businessweek, February 9th 2012 There is one electrifying sequence where the diva's taunts goad a young soprano into a thrilling retaliatory rendering of an aria by Verdi's Lady Macbeth - The Independent, February 8th 2012 Ravel s Chansons Madécasses with SongFusion Guest artist Naomi O Connell s rich voice beautifully conveyed the sensuality and passion of these wonderful Ravel songs. - New York Concert Review, October 7th 2011 L incoronazione di Poppea with Juilliard Opera Ottavia, the abandoned empress (Naomi O Connell, a radiant ) comes across as a regal and attractive woman, too trusting to see her rapacious husband s betrayal coming. - New York Times, November 18th 2010