Patrick Hyland’s New Years Day Gala Concert
Join Patrick Hyland and special guests for a magical New Year’s Day Concert 1st
Tickets €32 plus booking fee
Ioana Constantin Pipelea
Romanian-Irish soprano is an award-winning performer praised for her vocal brilliance, expressive presence, and accomplished technique.
A regular soloist at Wexford Festival Opera, she has appeared in roles including Colombina in Le Maschere, Michelina in Il Bravo, and Fenitchka in Risurezzione, alongside performances with companies and festivals across Ireland and Europe.
Her repertoire also includes Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen, solo concerts, oratorio and solo vocal-symphonic works with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and the Hibernian Orchestra at venues like the National Concert Hall Dublin, Christchurch Cathedral Dublin, Ulster Hall Belfast etc.
A graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Trinity College Dublin, she continues to perform internationally and has received numerous awards, including the Wexford Festival Opera Gerard Arnhold Award.
Rory Dunne
Based in Leipzig, Germany, baritone Rory Dunne is a graduate of both the TUDublin Conservatoire (BMus Hons) and The Bull Alley Theatre Training Company, an alumnus of the Wexford Festival Opera Factory, the Irish National Opera Studio and the Cork Opera House Cara O'Sullivan Associate Artist Programme.
Rory is a regular soloist with The National Symphony Orchestra, Cork Opera House, Wexford Festival Opera, Irish National Opera, Opernfestspiele Heidenheim, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Opera Collective Ireland, Lyric Opera Productions, The Dublin Bach Singers, Opera Workshop Limerick and the Wexford Festival Singers.
He has won numerous bursaries, awards and prizes from institutions and competitions, including The Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, The Bernadette Greevy Awards, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Wexford Festival Opera, Feis Ceoil, Navan Choral Festival, The Glenarm Festival of Voice and TUDublin Conservatoire.
Past operatic roles include Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn (The Everyman), Peter Hänsel und Gretel (Cork Opera House), The Governor of Tilbury Fort The Critic (Wexford Festival Opera), Escamillo Carmen (Cork Opera House), Papageno Die Zauberflöte (Cork Opera House), Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte (Mozarthaus Vienna), Colline La Bohème (Cahersiveen Arts Festival & Cork Opera House), Baron Truenfels Lurline (National Symphony Orchestra), Capellio I Capuletie i Montecchi (Wexford Festival Opera), The Mikado The Mikado (Cork Opera House), Mamma Agata (cover) Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (Wexford Festival Opera), Michael Shine The Ballybruff Trilogy (Opera Workshop Limerick), Talbot Giovanna d'Arco (Opernfestspiele Heidenheim), Pilatus St. John Passion (National Symphony Orchestra).
For more information on upcoming performances visit www.rorydunne.ie
Dr Máire Carroll
Hailed by Gramophone as “a most persuasive exponent” of Philip Glass’s Twenty Piano Études, Máire Carroll is a pianist, composer, collaborator and educator whose career spans Europe, Asia and North America.
Her performances have taken her to leading venues including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, Budapest’s Liszt Academy and Dublin’s National Concert Hall. The first pianist in Ireland to receive the prestigious RDS Music Bursary, Máire brings curiosity and imagination to a repertoire ranging from the baroque to the present day. She has appeared with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.
Her acclaimed album, The Complete Piano Études of Philip Glass, was released by Delphian Records in 2024 and named one of The Scotsman’s top five classical recordings of the year. The recording also received praise from BBC Music Magazine and International Piano. Her research into the piano étude inspired Étude Extravaganza, presented as part of the National Concert Hall’s 2024 Chamber Music Series, featuring works by composers including Hélène de Montgeroult and Unsuk Chin.
Collaboration is central to Máire’s work. Her partnership with Italian-Colombian composer Caterina Schembri led to the 2026 release of A birch forest seen, imagined, and remembered on the Ergodos label. She also collaborated with singer Michelle O’Rourke on Garrett Sholdice’s Still is the Night. Other projects include song and literature recitals with actor Barry McGovern at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Jennifer Walshe’s MARS with Irish National Opera, and an Irish tour of Andrew Hamilton’s Dancehall with Crash Ensemble.
At the 2024 Kilkenny Arts Festival, Máire performed the complete Ros Tapestry Suite alongside Finghin Collins and gave a solo recital of Philip Glass’s piano études. Her own work, Lavinia Fontana, was commissioned by the National Gallery of Ireland for its 2023 exhibition, Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rulebreaker.
A committed champion of contemporary music and a recipient of the Bank of Ireland Begin Together Fund, Máire’s forthcoming album, Sudden Changes, features commissioned solo piano works by David Coonan, Amanda Feery, Anna Murray, Sam Perkin and Nick Roth. She regularly performs and records with Crash Ensemble, has worked with the London Sinfonietta, and is a former fellow of the Bang on a Can festival at MASS MoCA, USA.
Máire is also the founder and Artistic Director of Hidden Pianos, which brings intimate classical and contemporary performances to unexpected spaces. Since its launch in 2018, the series has visited locations including Dublin Port, 14 Henrietta Street, the Lighthouse Cinema, MoLI and the National Gallery of Ireland, with coverage on RTÉ and in The Irish Times.
A scholarship graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Music, Máire studied with Christopher Elton and received the 2016 Franz Reizenstein Award for outstanding achievement. She completed her doctorate at Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, specialising in twentieth- and twenty-first-century piano études.
Alongside her performing career, Máire is a passionate advocate for music education. She coaches and accompanies students at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, hosts pre-concert talks at the National Concert Hall, and works as an examiner and adjudicator. Through her private teaching and accompaniment studio in Dublin, she supports and nurtures the next generation of musicians.