Guest Artists 2023
Anna Devin
Irish soprano Anna Devin is widely admired for her “vocal control, artistry and musico-dramatic intelligence” (Opera News). An alumna of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artist programme, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the National Opera Studio, Ms Devin has gained recognition across the world for her work in the Baroque and Bel Canto repertoire.
This upcoming season Anna Devin will perform at the Royal Opera House in the role of Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, she will also appear at the English National Opera as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Seviglia and perform in concert with theOrquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Cataluña in Barcelona.
In 2022-23, Anna Devin performed as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte with the Irish National Opera. She was also part of a Carmina Burana performance with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Messiah with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the B Minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
In recent years, Anna Devin’s successes have included Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda with the Irish National Opera; Almirena in Rinaldo with Glyndebourne on tour and Michal in Saul in Paris Théâtre du Châtelet; Melissa in Amadigiwith Garsington Opera; Celia in Lucio Silla in Madrid; the title role of Semele with the Händel-Festspiele; Tusnelda in Arminio at the International Handel Festival in Göttingen; Michal in Saul at Glyndebourne and Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare for the Early Opera Company, in which her Cleopatra was described as: ‘one of the finest London has heard’ (Opera Magazine). She has sung Galatea in Acis and Galatea for Mozartwoche Salzburg; the title role in Handel’sRodelinda with the Moscow Philharmonic; Nannetta in Falstaff and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi for Covent Garden; Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro for Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Tour and Scottish Opera; Sophie in Wertherand Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Scottish Opera; la bergère Louis XV and la chauve-souris in L'enfant et les sortilègesfor La Scala; Poppea in Agrippina for Opera Collective, Ireland; and Clotilde in Faramondo for Brisbane Baroque, which earned her the Best Supporting Singer in an Opera at the 2015 Helpmann Awards, Australia.
Other roles have included Governess in Turn of the Screw, la Comtesse Adèle in Le Comte Ory, Marie in La fille du Régiment, Morgana in Alcina, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Ilia in Idomeneo.
A frequent concert performer throughout Europe and the USA, Ms Devin’s repertoire encompasses a vast range of sacred and secular works and she has appeared at the London Handel, Göttingen Handel, Lausanne Bach, Brighton Early Music and Belfast festivals, the BBC Proms and Carnegie Hall. She has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic, Hallé, RTÉ NSO, Ulster and Minnesota orchestras and Houston, Charlotte and Seattle symphonies, among others. Recent season highlights, Mozart Concert Arias with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Harry Bicket; and a concert tour performing Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with frequent collaborator Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Other conductors she has worked with include Sir William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Ottavio Dantone, Ivor Bolton, Sir Colin Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Sir Antonio Pappano.
Anna Devin’s recordings include Arminio and Faramondo for Accent from the International Händel Festspiele Gottingen; Mozart in London, Il re Pastore and Mitridate, Re di Ponto with Classical Opera for Signum Classics; and ‘Arias for Benucci’ with Arcangelo for Hyperion. She was also an Associate Artist with Classical Opera, with whom she records and performs regularly.
In addition to her work on stage, Ms. Devin is proud to be an Ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association. She has also been open with the public through the media and events about growing up with dyslexia, saying: “Being different is not a bad thing. Not fitting in with the crowd is a blessing as we all have our own journey, and being forced to find your own path brings originality.” She is passionate about nurturing new talent and gives masterclasses at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, as well as coaching at the Royal Academy Opera Course, London.
Fiona Kelly – Flute
Irish flautist Fiona Kelly has been hailed by the New York Times as a player with “impressive technique and elegant musicianship”.
Based in London, Fiona is in demand as an orchestral and chamber musician. She leads a busy freelance career performing as guest principal flute with many of the UK’s leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden amongst others.
Solo and chamber music engagements have led to collaborations with ensembles and artists including the Wigmore Soloists, Antje Weithaas, Uri Caine and Håkan Hardenberger. Fiona has performed concertos at the BBC Proms, Rheingau and Heidelberg festivals. With a keen interest in new music, Fiona has premiered and recorded new works by Uri Caine, Stephan Mackey and Ian Wilson.
Fiona has a duo with her harpist sister Jean Kelly. They have performed recitals and concertos throughout the U.K. and Ireland. A recent highlight was a recital at the National Concert Hall Chamber Music Series: The Natural World, with a programme titled “Toward the Sea”. The Kelly Sisters often perform works and arrangements of Irish music by their grandfather, composer T.C Kelly.
Fiona enjoys regularly returning home to Ireland to the Irish Chamber Orchestra, where she is guest principal flute. Before relocating to London, Fiona was principal flute of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra from 2012-2016.
Beginning her studies in Cork with her mother Evelyn Grant and Sabine Ducrot, Fiona went on to complete her studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire with Anna Noakes, and at The Juilliard School with Robert Langevin.
Fiona is a flute professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and gives masterclasses at music departments and colleges throughout the UK and Ireland.
Francesco Paolo Scola – Clarinet
Francesco Paolo Scola graduated with full marks “summa cum laude”, aged just 18 from the V. Bellini conservatory in Palermo.
Whilst a student he won many major international competitions, including Members of the International Federation of Geneva. After completing his studies, he started working with the Orchestra of the Opera House in Rome at the age of 19 under Maestro Riccardo Muti.
In 2010, after many valuable years with the Opera House, Francesco was appointed as Principal Solo Clarinet/Section Leader with the Ulster Orchestra, Belfast. Since then Francesco has been invited as guest principal clarinet with many leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Helsinki, Orchestre Les Dissonances Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The John Wilson Orchestra, and the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
A keen soloist, Francesco has performed most of the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra. He has toured worldwide and performed in some of the finest concert halls including the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Philharmonie de Paris; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; the Royal Albert Hall, London, and many others.
Francesco frequently broadcasts live concerts on radio and television for Mezzo, RAI International, Yle Finnish radio, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Ulster, NPO Radio 4 and has recorded several CDs for labels such as Chandos, Naxos, Hyperon.
Very passionate about musical pedagogy, Francesco is Professor of Music Performance at Queen’s University Belfast, as well as Visiting Professor for the ARCS Clarinet Academy at Liverpool Hope University. He is frequently invited to give Masterclasses worldwide, including the Hochschule Für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany, under the invitation of Wolfgang Meyer and Eduard Brunner, Associazione Stupor Mundi, Soni Ventorum, and Associazione Eliodoro Sollima.
Alongside these engagements, he is particularly active in a number of chamber music projects worldwide; he is a member of the Soni Ventorumensemble (Italy), the Fews Ensemble (Northern Ireland), and a regular guest with the Fidelio Trio (UK).
Most recently Francesco has been contributing to create some new compositions dedicated to him alongside some of the most exciting contemporary composers, most notably the renowned Italian cellist/composer Giovanni Sollima. These projects included two pieces for clarinet and piano: “Anphenibene – Yafu’”, Marcello Bonanno’s concerto for clarinet and strings: “In quellaparte del libro della mia memoria”, and Anselm McDonnell’s “When Aslan shakes his mane” suite for solo clarinet. All the projects were presented and broadcast by the BBC Radio 3 Classical Connections.
Jane Atkins – Viola
Jane Atkins is one of Britain’s most diverse violists with performances encompassing multiple genres including Baroque to Contemporary music, Dance and Jazz.
At the age of six Jane was awarded a scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School. She completed her studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she won the LPO/ Pioneer Young Soloist of the Year and gained second prize in the Lionel Tertis competition. Since her solo debut performing the Walton concerto with Kurt Sanderling and the London Philharmonic, Jane has appeared as a soloist throughout the UK and Europe performing with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras: the Dutch and Danish Radio Orchestras and both the City of London and Northern Sinfonias. As a recitalist she has performed in most of major British Festivals including Harrogate, Spitalfields, Newbury, Cheltenham, East Neuk and Edinburgh.
After four years as Principal viola in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Jane joined the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as Principal viola in 2008. Her more recent solo collaborations include performances of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with both Alexander Janiczek and Stephanie Gonley, Brahms F minor sonata with Llyr Williams and Auerbach’s Sogno di Stabat Mater with Hugo Ticciati. In the SCO’s 2015/16 season Jane performed Kurtag’s Movement with Robin Ticciati and Britten’s Lachrymae with Oliver Knussen.
Jane has always been committed to expanding the viola repertoire and has commissioned and performed many new works by Diana Burrell, Ib Norholm, John Woolrich and Andrew Toovey. Her contemporary recordings include Woolrich’s Ulysses Awakes, Burrell’s Concerto and Tavener’s Out of the Night for Viola and Tenor. Other recordings include the Telemann and the newly reconstructed Bach concertos, both recorded with the Adderbury ensemble and Rothko Chapel by Morton Feldman with James Wood and the New London Chamber Choir. The Scottish composer John McLeod wrote a viola concerto for Jane, commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, performed in their 2018/19 season. Other projects include European, Asian and North American performances of ”˜Goldberg Variations- ternary patterns for insomnia’, with the Scottish Ensemble and Andersson Dance as well as innovative concerts with Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Kammarorkester in Sweden. Jane teaches at St Mary’s School of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.