Baritone

David Kennedy

Biography

Throughout his upbringing in the countryside of rural Galway, baritone David Kennedy has always been curious about the natural world. He is fascinated by the music-making process and is committed to his journey of self-development. Under the mentorship of Irish baritone Owen Miles-Gilhooly and collaborative pianist Dearbhla Collins, he has honed his craft and pursued his artistic development.

As the first Irish scholar at the LiedAkademie with the Heidelberger Frühling in Germany, David studied under the artistic direction of esteemed baritone Thomas Hampson for the 2022/23 class and was invited back to partake in the following year of 2023/24. In May, he was selected with collaborative pianist Elitsa Desseva as one of five duos to join the LIEDBasel Akademie in Switzerland, working with duo-in-residence Julius Drake and Ian Bostridge. David has recently graduated top of his degree class with first-class honours in music performance (vocal) at RIAM, Dublin. He is also a member of the Wexford Factory 2024/25 a young artist development programme at the Wexford Opera Festival. Additionally, he participated at the Savonlinna Festival International Music Academy 2023 in Finland, where he received mentorship on German lied and Chinese art song from Hartmut Höll, Changyog Liao (President of the Shanghai Conservatory), and Zheng Zhou (Baritone).

In January, David performed at the Pierre Boulez-Saal, Berlin with Susan Manoff in a recital featuring Schubert and Wolf, as part of their ‘Young Artist Series’. In March, he appeared at the Heidelberger Frühling Kammermusik Fest with the Tiny Bridges ensemble in 'Brahms und der Zwischen Töne'. He sang at the launch of the Wigmore Hall Series in Dublin and was involved in a radio broadcast for World Europe Day on RTÉ LyricFM at the Whyte Recital Hall. Some other performances include the Hugh Lane concert series ‘Sundays at Noon’, the ‘Summer Festival of Opera’ at Killruddery House, hosted by the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. David's operatic roles include Dr. Falke in ‘Die Fledermaus’, Il Conte in ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’, and George in Opera Workshops Limerick's ‘Twisted Tales’. During the 2024/25 season, he will cover the roles of ‘Belcore’ in L’elisir d’amore and ‘Dr. Falke’ in Die Fledermaus through his involvement in the INO Studio.

David was honoured to be selected to compete at the Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition 2024 with collaborative pianist Jong-Sun Woo. He also received the Irené Sandford Award 2023 together with the Gráinne Dunne Memorial Song Prize at his faculty singing competition in the Whyte Recital Hall, Dublin. He was also delighted to receive the ChamberFest Dublin Prize 2024 with pianist Aurélie Cimbe. David is delighted to join the INO Studio 2024/25, he is looking forward to the upcoming year of development, performance and coaching.

September 2024