Celine Byrne (born 3 May 1980 in

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

) is an Irish

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Career

She first saw opera live at Milan's

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

when she worked there as an au pair after leaving school. She then decided she wanted to be an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singer and upon her return home began her first singing lessons age 18. Byrne received her master's degree in music from the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution which ...

in 2007, where she studied with Veronica Dunne, also receiving the RIAM Award for Outstanding Achievement. In addition she has an honours music degree from the Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin, where she was awarded the college Gold Medal for excellence. She has received coaching at the

National Opera Studio The National Opera Studio in London, England was established in 1977 by the Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. It was resident at Morley College in Lambeth until 2003, when it gained use for t ...

of London and has studied with

Christa Ludwig Christa Ludwig (16 March 1928 – 24 April 2021) was a German mezzo-soprano and occasional dramatic soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, lieder, oratorio, and other major religious works like masses, passions, and solos in symp ...

at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

. In 2007 Byrne was awarded the first prize and gold medal at the Maria Callas Grand Prix, Athens. Other awards include the

Margaret Burke Sheridan Margaret Burke Sheridan (15 October 1889 – 16 April 1958) was an Irish opera singer. Born in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland, she was known as ''Maggie from Mayo'' and is regarded as Ireland's second prima donna, after Catherine Hayes (1818� ...

Gold Medal in 2009 for her contribution to the arts, the William Young Prize at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, Dublin 2007, and the ''

Brabants Dagblad ''Brabants Dagblad'' is a daily Dutch newspaper. It is distributed in the center and northeast of North Brabant, in 's-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg and their surrounding regions. The paper's office is in 's-Hertogenbosch. History 18th century Th ...

'' Press Prize at the

International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch The International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch (IVC; ) is a music competition for classical singing founded in 1954. It is the only classical vocal competition in the Netherlands that also focuses, besides opera, oratorio and Lied. This bie ...

, Netherlands. On television she has performed on '' The Late Late Show'' and received her own episode of '' The Meaning of Life''.

References

External links

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Schedule

Operabase Operabase is an online database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers themselves as well as their agents. Found at operabase.com, it was created in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb.Edward Sch ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Celine Irish operatic sopranos 1980 births Living people Musicians from County Kildare 21st-century Irish singers 21st-century Irish women singers