guest artists 2022

Daire Halpin - Soprano

Daire Halpin is an Irish soprano of considerable talent.

Born and bred in Dublin, Daire comes from a musical family with many family members enjoying careers in the arts as teachers, performers, and designers.

Daire is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Opera Course (MMus and PGDip – Distinction), DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin, (MMus and BMus – distinction) and Trinity College Dublin (BAMod – Music and Philosophy). She also spent a year studying voice at il Conservatorio Statale di Musica “Luigi Cherubini” in Florence, Italy and was one of only five international singers selected to study at the International Lied Masterclasses, Koninklijk Conservatorium, Brussels 2008-9.

She won numerous awards to support her studies from from the Arts Council (Ireland), the Arts Humanities Research Council, the Worshipful Company of Barbers, the Anthony Kearns Music Fund and Fenn Wright Manson. At the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, she was also awarded the Michael Mc Namara medal for highest marks for performance in the graduating class and the special excellence award for outstanding achievement in performance and academic studies.

Daire is in great demand as a soloist and her career has taken her to Sweden, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US as well as Ireland and the UK.

Daire has sung principle roles with Irish National Opera, Theater Magdeburg, NI Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Nevill Holt Opera, Wide Open Opera, Scottish Opera, the European Opera Centre and English National Opera, among others. Roles Include: Maid (Powder Her Face), Elizabeth I, Lucia, Sophia (Heresy), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Apollo (Il Parnasso Confuso), Lucy Lockitt (Beggar’s Opera), Proserpina (Orfeo – Monteverdi), Adina (Elisir D’Amore), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Despina (Cosi fan Tutte), Theodora (Theodora), Pamina/Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Sylvie (La Colombe), Gabrielle (La Vie Parisienne), Diana (Orpheus and the Underworld), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) and Amor (Orfeo – Gluck).

Daire is a regular oratorio soloist and has sung with the RTÉ Concert and Symphony Orchestras, Our Lady’s Choral Society, Tallaght Choral Society, Trinity Choral Society, Dún Laoghaire Choral Society, Eastbourne Choral Society, East Sussex Bach Choir, the Baroque Collective, Schola Cantorum Oxford and Goldsmiths Choral Union among others.

Daire is also a keen recitalist and has given many recitals at home and abroad, notably at St Martin-in-the-Fields, for Friends of Britten, at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the National Concert Hall, Dublin, the Irish Embassy, London, and at the home of the President of Ireland; Áras an Uachtaráin.

In 2007, Daire gave a recital tour of Japan with the New Crawford Piano Trio to celebrate 50 years of Irish diplomatic relations with Japan and in 2013, she appeared as a soloist on tour with the European Youth Orchestra.

Reiad Chibah - Viola

Born 1973 in London of Irish and Algerian parents viola player Reiad Chibah has had a diverse and successful career in music. After graduating from the Royal College of Music having won all the available viola prizes and the top award for ensemble playing, Reiad travelled to Israel for lessons at the Rubin Academy with the renowned violin pedagogue Maya Glizarova.

Reiad is an established and experienced performer of contemporary repertoire and has performed, recorded and broadcast regularly with new music ensembles Apartment House, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Jane’s Minstrels, The Composers Ensemble, The New Music Players and Lontano, appearing at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music, BBC Proms Chamber Music, Wien Modern, Ultraschall Berlin, Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, Dartington, and Ultima Oslo festivals. With these groups Reiad has been fortunate to collaborate on projects with artists such as Oliver Knussen, Thomas Ades and Peter Maxwell Davies. Reiad has also performed ‘Le Marteau sans Maître’ for the composer Pierre Boulez with The Warehouse Ensemble.

As a soloist Reiad has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, The South Bank Centre and St Martin-in-the-Fields and his interpretation of Walton Viola Concerto has been broadcast on BBC radio 3. He has also appeared as guest principal with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The Academy of St Martin-in-the-fields, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Glyndebourne Touring Orchestra.

As a studio musician Reiad has also worked with some of the pop worlds most famous artists, appearing on tracks by Stevie Wonder, George Michael, Elton John, Sam Smith, Coldplay, Radiohead, Jamiroquai, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and Taylor Swift. He has also appeared on numerous film soundtracks including The Avengers, Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, in the process working with legendary film composers such as James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, James Horner and Hans Zimmer.

Reiad plays a modern viola by Melvin Goldsmith made in 2017

Reviews of Reiad on disc:
“…Brave and impressive performances” - The Gramophone
‘..impressively controlled lyrical playing to savour” - The Strad Magazine

Featured Young Artist

Mollie Wrafter - Violin

Mollie Wrafter has recently graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. During her time at RNCM, she won the Norman George Violin Competition and the Nossek Prize for Chamber Music. She was awarded the Irish Heritage Performance Bursary for her Wigmore Hall debut performance in 2019. Since completing her undergraduate study at RNCM, she has enjoyed a busy freelance career balancing solo engagements and her quartet. In April 2022, Mollie won the Aileen Gore Cup & RTE Lyric FM Award at the Feis Ceoil in Dublin. Subsequently, she was awarded the RDS Jago Award and a professional solo engagement with the RTE Concert Orchestra.

Mollie features on Manchester Collective’s debut LP, ‘The Centre is Everywhere’ and was named one of Golden Plec Magazine’s ‘PlecPicks’ in 2021. This year, she is returning to RNCM with the Treske Quartet to take part in the ‘RNCM Chamber Studio’ residency. The quartet has performed around the UK and has worked with a number of emerging composers. Most recently, Treske travelled to the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada for the Evolution: Quartet programme, an innovative artist development programme for quartets and composers who are in the early stages of career development. Here, they worked with Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Bouche Caro, and performed the premiere of his piece ‘La Candela’ in collaboration with the JACK Quartet. Mollie plays a 1714 Collingwood violin and Sartory bow.