Conductor

Elaine Kelly

Testament

Biography

Formerly resident conductor and chorus director of Irish National Opera, Elaine Kelly conducted nine works in INO’s internationally praised 20 Shots of Opera in 2020 and the nationwide tour of Peter Maxwell Davies's The Lighthouse in 2021. With INO, she also conducted Amanda Feery’s A Thing I Cannot Name, David Cooney’s Horse Ape Bird, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Donnacha Dennehy’s The First Child, Evangelia Rigaki’s Old Ghosts, Gounod’s Faust, Emma O’Halloran and Mark O’Halloran’s Trade/Mary Motorhead, and Jennifer Walshe’s MARS. She has worked as assistant conductor with Opéra National de Bordeaux and Nouvel Opéra Fribourg, and appeared with National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Cork Concert Orchestra, Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, conducted the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and was Music Director of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra and the University of Limerick Orchestra. Elaine was the first Irish conductor to be nominated for a GRAMMY® Award when she was nominated for ‘Best Choral Performance’ for Benedict Sheehan's Akathist in 2024. She was also nominated in 2025 for ‘Best Opera Recording’ category for Emma O’Halloran and Mark O’Halloran’s opera double bill Trade/Mary Motorhead.

“Irish conductor Elaine Kelly is a discovery, tracing the musical lines with exactitude.” 
(Los Angeles Times, 2023) 

July 2026