Irish Youth Choir (18+)

Northern Irish tenor Aaron O’Hare has performed with leading opera companies across the UK and Ireland. Recent highlights include Rinnucio in Opera up Close’s new adaptation of Puccini’s Gianni Schicci, Spoletta in Puccini’sTosca (Northern Ireland Opera), Fourth Jew in Strauss’ Salome (Irish National Opera), Monsieur Triquet in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (Northern Ireland Opera), Alfred in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Irish National Opera), and Adam in Jonathan Dove’s The Walk from the Garden (Opera Collective Ireland).

As an Associate Artist with Welsh National Opera (2020–2022), Aaron sang the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni on tour, Stárek in Janáček’s Jenůfa, and the March Hare/White Knight in Will Todd’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Other notable performances include Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème (NI Opera), and Elsewhere, a new commission by Michael Gallen, produced in Ireland with support from the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.

Aaron studied at the University of Ulster and the Royal Northern College of Music under Matthew Best. He won Northern Ireland Opera’s Festival of Voice competition and is a recipient of the BBC NI and Arts Council NI Young Musician’s Platform Award. He was also a Young Artist at Opera Holland Park in 2018, and a member of the Studio of Opera de Lyon in 2019-2020. 

Niall Crowley is a conductor, singing teacher, and musicianship tutor at South East Technological University (SETU), Ireland. Based in the university’s Music School in Waterford, he was a key figure in developing the award-winning SETU Choral Programme— home to seven choirs and nearly 250 singers.

Beyond SETU, Niall has conducted the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, the Irish Youth Choir, Waterford Baroque Consort and Waterford Male Voice Choir amongst others. His choirs have been featured on national radio and television and have won prizes at major Irish and European music festivals. Passionate about the transformative power of choral singing, he has played a pivotal role in establishing over ten choirs in his hometown of Waterford.

With 25 years of teaching experience, Niall has coached countless youth and adult singers, nurturing many emerging music professionals, singers, and conductors. In demand as a tutor, he has worked with the Irish Youth Choir, Ulster Youth Choir, Cornell University Glee Club, and the Irish Boys’ Choir, as well as tutoring on the Sing Ireland’s International Choral Conducting Summer School.

Niall holds a BA in Music from Waterford Institute of Technology and postgraduate degrees from the University of Limerick and the CIT Cork School of Music, earning an MA in Musicology and an MA in Conducting respectively.

Judith Lyons is a conductor, facilitator and mezzo soprano.

Hailing from Dublin, she began singing and playing piano at home with her pro musician Nana. From there she went on to become a Chorister and Choral Scholar in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, where she still works as a chorister tutor and music assistant taking rehearsals and workshops throughout the year. Judith studied music in Trinity College Dublin and has been lucky to sing with lots of different choirs and a cappella groups, including Sing and Tonics, Ardu, Anuna, and New Dublin Voices. She is also currently a Lay Vicar Choral in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin. She is also known to belt out a few pop and musical theatre tunes for various events such as her annual Disney recital where she gets to live her best princess life each summer.

Judith teaches music in both primary and secondary schools and is the choral tutor at The Lir Academy of Dramatic Art. She also directs various choirs and ensembles, including Dulciana Vocal Ensemble.
 

Sarah is a contralto originally from Dublin. Her recent solo performances include Stanford’s Stabat mater and Buckley’s Lament for Art O’Leary with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Fennessy’s Blood with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Elgar’s The Light of Life, Duruflé’s Requiem, Bach’s St John Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Mass in B-minor, Cousser’s The Universal Applause of Mount Parnassus, and Handel’s Messiah with Chamber Choir Ireland and the Irish Baroque Orchestra under Peter Whelan.

August 2025 saw Sarah’s debut in the Royal Albert Hall with the Irish Baroque Orchestra at the BBC Proms, performing Handel’s Alexander’s Feast.

Sarah is also an experienced choral musician, and is a member of ensembles such as Chamber Choir Ireland, Sestina Music and Resurgam. She also recently had the pleasure of being appointed as the first female Lay Vicar at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, where she currently holds the post of Vicar of the Prebendary of Swords.

Originally from Limerick and now based in Gorey, Co. Wexford, Conor is a pianist, teacher, and musical director working extensively throughout Ireland. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education (B.Mus.Ed.) from Trinity College Dublin and the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, alongside performance diplomas in Piano from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) and the London College of Music (ALCM).

Conor works across a wide range of musical genres, with a particular focus on musical theatre, where he has received numerous accolades for his work as a musical director. He also serves as a part-time lecturer on the Musical Theatre degree programme at American College Dublin.

Alongside his teaching and theatre work, Conor continues to perform regularly at major concert and theatrical events across Ireland.