Masterclass

Lisette gave two days of masterclasses for the emerging artists of the Wexford Factory, Wexford Festival Opera's professional development academy, at Newbay House in Wexford, Ireland. Fifteen singers took part, and it was Lisette's first visit to Ireland.

Founded in 2020 by Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi, the Wexford Factory nurtures young opera singers, répétiteurs, and stage managers through a two-year journey of intensive training held in Wexford each September.

Day 1 — Tuesday, September 29

"If you think of yourself as an object behind a window, and the window is your singing, your text, and your performance, the more stained glass we have on that window, the more we see stained glass. But the less stained glass we have on the window, the more we see the object that we're trying to actually see through."

Lisette Oropesa

Carmen Santoro, piano

• Rachael Conaghan: Ô petite étoile (Chabrier, L'Étoile)
• Sophie Whelan, soprano: Donde lieta uscì (Puccini, La bohème)
• Catherine Hooper: Amour, ranime mon courage (Gounod, Roméo et Juliette)
• Yasmin O’Reilly: In quali eccessi… Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata (Mozart, Don Giovanni)
• Deirdre Higgins: Glück, das mir verblieb (Korngold, Die tote Stadt)
• Cuan Durkin, baritone: Bella siccome un angelo (Donizetti, Don Pasquale)
• Eva Maria Kavanagh: Regnava nel silenzio… Quando rapito in estasi (Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor)

Day 2 — Wednesday, September 30

"A cadenza in bel canto is not about the high note. … But as an artist, it's more moving if we hear you singing the word rather than singing your voice."

Lisette Oropesa

Giorgio D'Alonzo, piano

• Yuchen Pan, tenor: Forse la soglia attinse… Ma se m'è forza perderti (Verdi, Un ballo in maschera)
• Éadaoin Hassett, soprano: Du gai soleil (Massenet, Werther)
• Matthew Mannion, bass-baritone: Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni (Bellini, La sonnambula)
• Eiméar Harper, soprano: Quel guardo il cavaliere… So anch'io la virtù magica (Donizetti, Don Pasquale)
• Seán Tester, tenor: Vivi tu (Donizetti, Anna Bolena)
• Eilís Dexter: Una voce poco fa (Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia)
• Timothy Mays, baritone: Hai già vinta la causa… Vedrò mentr'io sospiro (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro)
• Olha Palazhchenko, mezzo-soprano: Acerba voluttà, dolce tortura (Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur)