After the success of the 24hr Opera in June, Opera Theatre Company now presents the Opera Hub Showcase. Taking place August 16 in the NCH Studio, this features twelve early-career singers from across Ireland, mentored by Michelle O’Rourke, in a rich and wide-ranging programme directed by Conor Hanratty. Singers Anna Brady, Eoin Conway, Fearghal Curtis, Gabrielle Dundon, Rory Dunne, Carolyn Holt, Maria Hughes, Muireann Mulrooney, Bríd Ní Ghruagáin, Martha O’Brien, Tim Shaffrey, and Rebecca Rodgers perform arias and ensembles from operas by Mozart, Bellini, Humperdinck, Handel, Tchaikovsky, and Bizet, as well as Kurt Weill, Benjamin Britten, and Jonathan Dove. Bríd Ní Ghruagáin and Rebecca Rodgers will perform part of Neil Martin’s recent community-based work The Belfast Opera, and the evening is set to close with Samuel Barber’s pocket-sized opera A Hand of Bridge.

Best-known for her work with Ergodos Musicians and the Crash Ensemble, Michelle O’Rourke will add an extra dimension to the evening by performing new music by Amanda Feery, Andrew Hamilton, Anna Murray, and Garrett Sholdice. To introduce this material, O’Rourke will lead a workshop that afternoon on contemporary approaches to writing for the voice, discussing ideas of communication and scoring in new vocal writing alongside the featured composers.

Showcasing both new talent and new music, this promises to be an exciting event. On Wednesday 16 August at the National Concert Hall (Studio), the afternoon workshop runs 2.30-3.30 (places are limited, RSVP to siobhra@opera.ie), and the showcase follows at 7.30: https://nch.ie/Online/OTC-Opera-Hub-Showcase-16Aug17