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 has been a leading voice in Irish choral music for nearly 20 years, working as a conductor, educator and advocate. Groups he has worked with include the WIT Youth Choir, Irish Youth Choir and National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. Niall is based in Waterford, Ireland where he is a conductor and singing teacher at the Waterford Institute of Technology. Here he was instrumental in the success of the renowned WIT Choral Programme, helping it grow from just 30 singers to its current position of nearly 200.

During his career Niall has worked extensively with the WIT Youth Choir, Irish Youth Choir, Waterford Male Voice Choir, WIT Boys’ Choir and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. Under Niall's direction his choirs have performed in venues such as the Southbank Centre, Coventry Cathedral, St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków and Carnegie Hall.
​Other groups he has worked with include the High Hopes Choir, Southbank Sinfonia, Ulster Youth Choir, Cornell University Glee Club, Waterford Baroque Consort and Lumina. Niall also sings with the male voice quartet Concordia and has performed with the Tallis Scholars in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
In demand as a clinician, Niall has given workshops throughout Ireland, Great Britain and America. He has delivered courses for the Dept. of Education & Science, Music Generation and has been a guest tutor at the AOIC’s International Conducting Summer School.

Niall completed his BA Mus at Waterford Institute of Technology and furthered his studies at the University of Limerick and the CIT Cork School of Music

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.