A Summer Lunchtime at the Opera

Sandra Oman, soprano
Simon Morgan, baritone 
with Maedhbh Hanafin, mezzo soprano 
David O’Carroll, baritone 
David Wray, piano

Welcome to a lunchtime celebration of opera!!! An operatic gala which includes well-loved arias, duets, and ensembles from La Traviata, La Bohème, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, L’Elisir d’Amore, The Tales of Hoffman, Così Fan Tutte, and The Merry Widow. Featuring established artists Sandra Oman soprano, Simon Morgan baritone, and David Wray piano, who have performed on both national and international operatic platforms, and TU Dublin Conservatoire emerging stars, who are commencing their careers at the Wexford Festival Opera and at the National Concert Hall Dublin. Bringing opera to a lunchtime audience! Dublin-born soprano, producer and researcher, Sandra Oman, was the 2004 recipient of the Margaret Burke Sheridan Memorial Award for excellence in the field of opera.  Sandra has performed extensively in opera and concert in Ireland, UK, USA, Italy, Germany, Faroe Islands, Latvia, and Poland and has interpreted over 40 operatic roles on stage.   A favourite with Opera Ireland at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, she performed principal roles with them in twelve different seasons, including roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cosi Fan Tutte, La Cenerentola, Dead Man Walking and A Streetcar named Desire.  She has performed in concert with both the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra and has sung as soprano soloist with virtually all of Ireland's major choral societies.  She has two Number One Albums on the iTunes Vocal Charts to her credit, entitled LIBERTY and NOËL. In 2022, she was awarded an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Scholarship for her PhD research studies on Giacomo Puccini. She was awarded Doctor of Philosophy from TU Dublin Conservatoire in 2025, where she also lectures.

Simon Morgan, baritone’s operatic roles include Ipparco in L’Egisto by Cavalli, Cox in Sullivan’s Cox and Box, and Belcore in L’Elisir D’Amore, at the National Concert Hall of Ireland; Marcello in La Boheme with Loughcrew Opera; Silvio in I Pagliacci with Wonderland Productions; Aeneas in the Cork Opera House Production of Dido and Aeneas. He performed as Silvio in The Everyman Palace Theatre’s production of I Pagliacci, which won the Best Opera Production Award at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2013. He has toured Kilkenny Arts Festival, Galway, Cork, and Wicklow, as Aeneas, in Cork Opera House’s touring production of Dido and Aeneas (with the three great Cork Sopranos, Cara O Sullivan, Majella Cullagh, and Mary Hegarty).

Maedhbh Hanafin is a fourth-year pedagogy student, who is studying with Mairead Buicke at TU Dublin Conservatoire of Music and Drama. She performed the role of Cornelia in the Conservatoire’s production of Handel’s Giulio Cessare and has appeared as soloist in two of the Conservatoire’s Stagecraft operatic presentations. Maedhbh performs regularly in concert and lunchtime recital and was a featured soloist for TU Dublin Choral Society. In January 2026, she interpreted the role of Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in the East Quad Concert Hall, Grangegorman as part of the Conservatoire’s opera showcase 2026. Future engagements include a production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Birr Festival of Music, May 2026, and Loughcrew Opera Festival’s production of Madama Butterfly, August 2026.
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David O’ Carroll is a baritone in his 4th year of the BMus degree at TU Dublin Conservatoire of Music and Drama, studying with Emmanuel Lawler and Aoife O’ Sullivan. David is a multi-award winner at Feis Ceoil, Feis Maitiu, andNewpark Music Festival. He recently made his operatic debut as ‘Damon’ in Handel’s Acis and Galatea with Dublin City Council’s Opera in the Open Summer Opera Festival, August 2025. In January 2026, David interpreted the roles of Don Alfonso Così Fan Tutte and Sid Albert Herring in TU Dublin Conservatoire’s operatic showcase entitled ‘Within These Walls’, at their Grangegorman Concert Hall. He is currently preparing the roles of Hector and Louis as part of the European collaborative ‘Bravo’ project, performing these roles in Sicily and Dublin. Other forthcoming engagements include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for Birr Festival of Music, May 2026, and Loughcrew Opera Festival’s Madama Butterfly, August 2026.

Presented by Sheldon Nulty Music