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Group Coaching for classical singers (intermediate and advanced level) who aim to build and enhance their presentation skills of Opera/Oratorio repertoire for auditions and live performances.
In this new, limited-participation course, Megan O'Neill will work with classical singers (intermediate and advanced levels) to enhance their presentation skills of Opera and Oratorio recitatives & arias for performance or audition purposes.
Together with Megan participants will explore building a solid all-body consciousness, aligning body posture, voice, diction, facial expressions and gestures to convey the emotional content of sung literature.
Two terms á 10 sessions (90 minutes each), focussing on:
Recitatives:
Arias:
Subject to participants' preferences and where appropriate this could include working on duets or trios.
Course structure
The course (in a group setting) is running as a two-term course throughout the Academic Year 2023/24, due to its developmental structure. By registering for this course, participants commit to two terms of 10 sessions each and the associated fees.
The scheduling of sessions will be through direct liaison between Megan and course participants. Where appropriate, partial delivery of the course in 1:1 settings (pro-rata) may be considered, but is at the discretion of the tutor.
Payment
The course fee of €790 per registrant (e.g. 2 x €395 for the year) can be paid in two instalments (50% due at registration, with the balance due by the end of November 2023).
This course is subject to a minimum number of three participants to be able to run.
- Thorough preparation of (new) recitatives and arias for performance or audition purposes
- Perfecting your diction and pronunciation of common opera/oratorio literature.
- Develop and deepen a solid all-body consciousness.
- Learn to align body posture, voice, diction, facial expressions and gestures for an overall rounded performance.
- Improve your connection with the audience by involving them in your performance reflecting your own emotional experience of the music.
Age: 18+
This course is intended for intermediate and advanced-level singers only.
Megan O’Neill is a soprano from County Kerry. She is currently studying with Prof. Mary Brennan and Dr Andrew Synnott and is in the third year of the Doctor in Music Performance Degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She completed her BMus Degree at Maynooth University in 2018 and graduated with a First Class-Honours Degree.
In August 2020, she completed the Masters in Music Performance Degree at the RIAM, where she also received a First Class Honours. Most recently, Megan made her National Opera House debut, playing the titular role of Cinderella, an opera by Alma Deutscher, at Wexford Festival Opera as part of the Wexford Factory programme.
In the 2022 Feis Ceoil, Megan was the winner of the Gervase Elwes Memorial Cup. She was also awarded the 2022 RDS Music Bursary of 15,000EUR, and the 2023 RDS Collins Memorial Award of 2,000EUR. In December 2022, she gave a recital at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, which also included the première of ‘For Gertie’, a song cycle by Andrew Synnott.
Megan played the role of ‘Teen polar bear’ in The Scorched Earth Trilogy, a street art opera by Brian Irvine and John McIlduff, which was produced by Irish National Opera and Dumbworld Production Company in March 2022. In association with Cardiff Singer of the World, The Scorched Earth Trilogy will be playing in venues across Wales in June 2023. She played the role of Signora Avoglio in All the Angels by Nick Drake, which took place in the Everyman Theatre, Cork, and Smock Alley, Dublin, from October 2021 to December 2021.
Some of her upcoming engagements include:
Irish National Opera Studio for the 2023/2024 season
Playing the lead role of Jane in the world première of the film opera DreamCatchr by Kevin O’Connell, which will be released in 2023
Performing at the Chamber Music on Valentia Island Festival in August 2023