Biography
Following her debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as the title role of Jenůfa, the Financial Times praised Irish soprano Sinéad Mulhern as having “precisely the combination of innocence and depth that the title role demands, and a voice capable of representing Jenůfa’s huge emotional journey without ever losing its purity of tone”.
She recently covered the role of Lucia Marquesa di Nobile in Thomas Adès' The Exterminating Angel at the Royal Opera House in London and reprised the title role of Jenůfa with the Royal Swedish Opera, a role that she also sang with Den Jyske Opera last season. In 2015, she returned to her native Ireland as Anna Sørensen in the European premiere of Puts’ Silent Night with the Wexford Festival. She made further company debuts at the Royal Opera House in London as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte and the Salzburger Landestheater as Leonore in Fidelio. She also sang Marquise de Merteuil in Francesconi’s Quartett in her debut at Teatro alla Scala and reprised it with Opéra de Lille.
The soprano made her debut with the Vienna Staatsoper as the title role in Jenůfa and has since returned for Mimì in La Bohème and Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro. She sang Leonore in Fidelio with the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and Singapore Symphony Orchestra as well as Iseut in Le vin herbé at the Ruhr Triennale festival with Opéra de Lyon, where she previously sang Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, also joining the company on tour to Athens for the same production. She sang the Britten heroines of the Governess in the The Turn of the Screw with New Israeli Opera and Central City Opera and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes with Des Moines Metro Opera. The soprano has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Komische Oper Berlin where following her debut as Asteria in David Alden’s production of Tamerlano, she has sung numerous roles with the company including the title role in Jenůfa, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Jenny in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Micaëla in Carmen, Mimì in La Bohème, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Violetta in La Traviata, and Infantin in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg.
She sang her first performances of Maria in Mazeppa with Opera Ireland and joined Opera Hong Kong for Antonia, Giulietta, and Stella in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. She made her debut at the Theâtre du Châtelet in Paris as Sifare in Mozart’s Mitridate re di Ponto and was subsequently engaged to sing the same role at the Sydney Festival. Other performances include the title role in Manon and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at the Nationale Reisoper in the Netherlands, further performances of Mimì in La bohème with Oper Frankfurt and with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Lucio Cinna in Mozart’s Lucio Silla in a co-production between Opéra de Lausanne and Opéra de Caen, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicci Robert Carsen’s production at Vlaamse Opera. She has also sung First Lady in Die Zauberflöte with Marc Minkowski at the Montpellier and Perpignan Music Festivals, a role that she also sang at Oper Leipzig. With the Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Central City Opera, she sang the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro. She made her American debut as Mimì in La Bohème with Central City Opera.
Ms. Mulhern’s performances on the concert stage include Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Britten’s War Requiem with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony with the Reno Philharmonic, Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with the Het Gelders Orkest. She has also sung Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with La Chambre Philharmonique, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem with Michel Corboz at the Toulon Festival, further performances of the Mass in C minor with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with both the Orchestre d’Auvergne and Northern Sinfonia in Manchester. With Kirill Petrenko and the Komische Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, she sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and in Scotland, she has performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. She joined the Estonian National Symphony and Olari Elts for Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 and the Tours Symphony Orchestra for Haydn’s Creation.
Sinéad Mulhern is a former member of the prestigious Centre de Formation Lyrique at the Opéra National de Paris. She holds a Master of Music of The Curtis Institute and earned her Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School.