*Naomi Louisa O’Connell.
Mezzo-soprano, Naomi Louisa O’Connell has been announced as glór’s musician in residence for the second edition of RESONATE.
Six arts centres across Ireland have brought some of Ireland’s most established professional musicians to different cultural spaces from July to October under the programme.
Each musician is awarded €8,000 as part of RESONATE to support and facilitate the making of new work and creative partnerships. It provides the artists with the time and space to cultivate new sounds which may never have been brought to life otherwise. Audiences will have opportunities to enjoy the new material created through live concert performances in November and via online video content shared on social media platforms shortly afterwards.
A love of music for Naomi Louisa began in Lismorahaun when she heard an opera arias around a piano. From there, the Burren native would study at Juilliard and secure her first professional job on London’s West End.
Widely praised for her versatility on operatic, theatrical and recital stages, Naomi will develop a song cycle for voice, piano, and live electronics with pianist Gary Beecher and composer Emma O’Halloran while in residence. Taking inspiration from their shared backgrounds, they will explore various musical styles and forms drawing on classical, cabaret, folk, and pop music influences to create an exciting new work.
Hailed by The New York Times as “radiant,” Naomi made her professional debut in 2012 starring on the West End in Terrence McNally’s play Master Class. Her work encompasses both theatrical and operatic repertoire, ranging from plays to operas, from recitals and cabarets to sound sculptures and virtual reality performances.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Naomi was brought up in the Burren and studied in Ireland with Archie Simpson and Mary Brennan. Upcoming performances include engagements with LA Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Irish National Opera, Hong Kong’s ‘Intimate of Creativity’ Festival, and New York’s Prototype Festival.
Naomi’s collaborators for her residency are Irish composer and vocalist, Emma O’Halloran, who has written for folk musicians, chamber ensembles, turntables, laptop orchestra, symphony orchestra, film, and theatre along with Cork pianist Gary Beecher who has had a varied career as a vocal accompanist, chamber musician and soloist and currently teaches Piano and Contemporary Keyboards at the MTU Cork School of Music.
In 2021, RESONATE produced six beautiful performances from guitarist Eamon Sweeney, violinist Larissa O’Grady, composer and improviser Philip Christie, feisty fiddler & bilingual singer Clare Sands, singer songwriter Emma Langford and uilleann piper David Power.
Music Network is funded by the Arts Council. Music Network is a national music touring and development organisation whose mission is to make high quality live music available and accessible to people throughout Ireland.
