Rachel Kelly in the final of the Paris International Opera Competition

Rachel has reached the final of the prestigious Paris international Opera Competition. The final will take on Friday 20th at the Theatre de Champs-Elysées. Rachel has been shortlisted along with ten others out of 250 contestants from around the world to take part in this competition. The jury will consist of twelve some of the most influential directors of casting and opera in Europe. Further details to be found here

Rachel Kelly to sing in La Calisto in Wigmore Hall

Rachel will join La Nuova Musica under the directorship of David Bates on Monday the 28th November in Wigmore Hall, tickets available here.  Rachel will sing the part of Giunone in Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto, first performed in Venice in 1651. The opera is a blend of both comedy and tragedy with music of rich sensuality bringing to the modern day the hedonism, pleasures and charm of the Venetian baroque era. 

Rachel Kelly to Debut as Donna Elvira

Don Giovanni directed by Oliver Mears, set and costume design by Annemarie Woods

Don Giovanni directed by Oliver Mears, set and costume design by Annemarie Woods

Rachel will make her role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Northern Ireland Opera. This production will be directed by Oliver Mears, Artistic director of NI Opera, and soon to be Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House, and performed under the baton of Nicholas Chalmers. Rachel played Nerone in Oliver Mears' award-winning production of Agrippina with the Irish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Cohen to rave reviews in September 2015. 

"For sheer vocal fireworks, however, the palm went to the feckless Nerone of Rachel Kelly, still firing off the coloratura accurately in ‘Come nube’, at the end of a long evening.”
Opera Magazine, November 2015

Rachel to sing at the Cork Early Music Festival

Rachel is to sing with Peter Whelan and the Cork Baroque Orchestra on Friday 14th October at the Curtis Auditorium, Cork School of Music. The Program will span from baroque favourites such as Handel's Dopo Notte to classical arias from the lesser known Jommelli. 

G.F. Handel: Overture from Agrippina
G.F.Handel: ‘Come nube che fugge dal vento’ – Agrippina
G.F.Handel: ‘Verdi Prati’- Alcina
F.Geminani: Concerto Grosso No.12 in D minor (La Follia)
G.F.Handel: ‘Scherza Infida’- Ariodante

Interval

G.F.Handel: ‘Dopo note’ – Ariodante
G.F Handel: Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.1 in G Major
N.Jommelli: ‘Cara deh serbami’ – Il Vologeso
P.Van Maldere: Sinfonia in D Major

Tickets available here

Rachel Kelly and Una Hunt perform Contemporary Irish Composers

Rachel Kelly is to be accompanied by her mother, leading Irish pianist Una Hunt, in the Composing the Island series in the National Concert Hall on Friday 23rd in a lunchtime recital. Tickets available here

Works commissioned specially for the event, by Philip Hammond, will be performed alongside contemporary Irish Composers including Philip Martin and Bernadette Marmion.

This event will also be an especially poignant occasion for Rachel, as she will have the great pleasure and pride of performing works by her late grandfather, the composer T.C.Kelly, including "The Mother", which was banned upon its release from Irish Radio for its inflammatory content. 

Rachel to sing with Classical Opera in Eisenstadt and Wigmore Hall

Rachel is returning to Classical Opera following her hugely successful debut in the Title role of Il Vologeso in Cadogan Hall.

"Kelly’s vocal agility and bright, well-centred tone enabled her to create a thrilling portrayal.” Opera Magazine, July 2016

"Rachel Kelly, a total natural with a vibrant mezzo voice seemingly flawless throughout the range...Kelly made her urgency felt, persuading us with natural body language as well as focused urgency that the recitative are as crucial a part of the drama as the arias and finales."
Arts Desk, May 2016

Rachel will perform the role of Apollonia in La Canterina by Haydn along with arias from Semiramide by Myslivecek as part of Classical Opera's ground-breaking Mozart 250 series. The first performance will take place in the prestigious Eisenstadt Haydn Festival in the Esterházy Palace on the 8th September. The second will be performed In Wigmore Hall on the 19th September

 

Rachel Kelly to Debut as Idamante

Photographer: Frances Marshall

Photographer: Frances Marshall

Rachel Kelly is debuting as Idamante in Mozart's masterpiece Idomeneo in August under the baton of Christian Curnyn and The Irish Chamber Orchestra. The performances take place on the 11th and 13th of August in the Kilkenny festival with a star-studded cast including John Mark Ainsley taking the title role, Rebecca Von Lipinski, and Irish Soprano Anna Devin. 

Rachel will be performing Idamante later in the season again in the Maggio Musicale, Opera Firenze in an important production by Damiano Michieletto.

Details to be found at Idomeno - Kilkenny Arts Festival