Sandra Oman & Niall Kinsella

Sandra Oman, soprano
The Liberties-born soprano Sandra Oman was the 2004 recipient of the Margaret Burke Sheridan Memorial Award for excellence in the field of opera.  A first-class honours Masters graduate from TU Dublin Conservatoire, Ireland, she has also studied with La Scala soprano Graziella Sciutti, and for many years with Conor Farren. Sandra has performed extensively in opera and concert in Ireland, UK, USA, Italy, Germany, Latvia and Poland, interpreting principal roles in over 40 operas, including Gilda Rigoletto, Mimì and Musetta La Bohème, Liù Turandot, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Elvira Don Giovanni, Despina Così Fan Tutte, Micäela Carmen, First Lady Die Zauberflöte, and Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A frequent broadcaster on both television and radio, and an experienced recitalist, she has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and virtually all of Ireland’s major choral societies. With two Number One albums on iTunes to her credit, this multi-faceted performer is also a concert producer and writer, having presented multiple sell-out concerts at the National Concert Hall and nationwide.

Sandra is an Irish Research Council/Government of Ireland Scholar in her final year of PhD research on Giacomo Puccini’s 1893 opera, Manon Lescaut. Awarded the Student Academic Excellence Award for 2020 from TU Dublin Conservatoire,  she has presented academic papers at conferences, both nationally and internationally, and looks forward to her first publication—by the Università di Pavia—in early 2024. Sandra is currently a staff member of the Vocal Faculty of the TU Dublin Conservatoire, lecturing in stagecraft.
www.sandraoman.ie

Niall Kinsella, piano

Niall Kinsella has established himself as one of Ireland’s most exciting, versatile and sought-after musicians. He has been described as “a meticulous collaborator” (BBC Music Magazine) and “a first-class calling card as a knowledgeable and profound song accompanist” (Merker, Austria). He has performed as a song-accompanist extensively across Europe, in venues such as Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, Mozarthaus Wien, The Liszt Academy, Budapest, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and National Concert Hall, Dublin. He also performs regularly as a principal keyboardist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Niall’s debut CD John F. Larchet: Complete Songs & Airs was released internationally on Champs Hill Records (UK) in 2020 and was described as “a long overdue recording given John F. Larchet’s remarkable contribution to musical life in Ireland” (John Bowman, RTÉ Radio One) and that “it is hard to imagine [Larchet’s] complete vocal output being given a better representation than it receives here” (Journal of Music). His second CD, Schubert’s Women, for Austrian label Gramola Klassik was released in 2021, with critics praising the “polished music-making of fine repertoire” (BBC Music Magazine) and remarking that “Kinsella’s perspective is so fresh and fruitful” (The Whole Note, Canada).

Niall studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, furthering his postgraduate studies in lieder accompaniment and chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, with Professor Barbara Moser. He completed his studies in Lieder accompaniment at the Franz-Schubert-Institut, in Baden-be-Wien, Austria, and at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum University, Salzburg.
www.niallkinsella.com