BIO

“The audience immediately took Anne O’Byrne to its heart. With fag dangling from the corner of her mouth, she sang her aria with style, spirit and convincing coloratura”. Opera Magazine (UK).  Not many singers would perform with a cigarette glued to their lips, but Anne relishes the more fun aspects of performing!

Soprano Anne O’Byrne hails from Dublin, Ireland, where as a young singer, she joined the Irish Radio Choir, broadcasting weekly on national radio. She was a chorister at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and gained scholarships to attend the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, before embarking on a career in opera and concert.  

Anne has worked with renowned conductors, such as Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Andrew Davis; Early Music specialists Harry Bicket OBE, Harry Christophers CBE, and Dame Emma Kirkby: and famed producers, such as Sir Jonathan Miller and Sir Trevor Nunn.  She has sung over twenty leading roles around the world, including Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto;  Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème;  Leila in Bizet’s Pearlfishers;  Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöteand; Suzanna in Le Nozze di Figaro; Adina in Donizetti’s  L’elisir D’amore, and Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. She has created roles in new operas for the Covent Garden and Wexford International Festivals, and has recorded for the BBC, NPR, and Irish Television and Radio.

 Since moving to the United States in 2002 with her husband David Fisk (CEO and president of Charlotte Symphony) and their two children,  Anne has performed for Virginia Opera, Capital Opera, the Richmond Symphony, RVA Baroque, and many East Coast choral societies. She has sung for luminaries including President Barack Obama, Condoleezza Rice, Robert Redford, and the Royal families of England and Monaco,

Ms. O’Byrne has been teaching voice for over 25 years, including at University of Richmond and GreenSpring International Academy of Music, Richmond.  Many of her students are top prizewinners in national competitions and have followed Anne’s lead by also performing in venues like Carnegie Hall.

• Mimì - La Bohème, Puccini

• Gilda - Rigoletto, Verdi

• Pamina - Die Zauberflöte, Mozart

• Leila - Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Bizet

• Micaela - Carmen, Bizet

• Adina - L’Elisir d’amore, Donizetti

• Susanna - Marriage of Figaro, Mozart

• Donna Elvira - Don Giovanni, Mozart

• Zerlina - Don Giovanni, Mozart

• Gretel - Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck

Companies

Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Northern Ireland, Virginia Opera, Anna Livia International Opera(Ireland), English Touring Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, London City Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Richmond Symphony (VA), Ulster Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Capital Opera Richmond, RadioTelefis Eireann Chamber choir. BBC Northern Singers

Conductors

Andrew Davis, Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst, Graeme Jenkins, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket,Yakov Kreizburg, Albert Rosen,Bruno Weil, Donald Runnicles, David Angus, David Milne, Joseph Cullen, Franz-Paul Decker, Harry Bicket, Simon Joly, Stephen Smith, Joe Walsh, Mark Russell-Smith, Daniel Meyer, Lenora Thom, Alexander Kordzaia, Blanaid Murphy, Daniel Myssyk, Erin Freeman, Keitaro Harada, Colin Mawby

Directors

Jonathan Miller, Trevor Nunn, Francesca Zambello, Stephen Lawless, Nicholas Hytner, Patrick Mason, Stephen Metcalf, Michael McCarthy, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Dorothy Danner, Roberto Oswald