"This production breaks all the rules!" - performing with Don Pasquale

Lixnaw-native Leanne has her family to credit for her artistic upbringing. Having an Irish dancing master for a grandmother and a keen local theatre actor for a father, she grew up around creativity and was always the most enthusiastic singer in her primary school classes.

At the age of eleven, she took up the violin at the Kerry School of Music, and soon after began attending Tralee Stage School where she stayed for five years. At sixteen, she began singing lessons with Sharon Reidy in Abbeydorney which ignited her passion for opera.

Leanne went on to complete a degree in Music Performance at the TU Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama, where she landed her first opera role in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. She made her professional debut soon after graduating, in Adams’ Nixon in China with Wide Open Opera in 2014, recalling the vast scale of the production as something which stood out to her. After doing multiple productions with both Wide Open Opera and Opera Theatre Company (which later merged to become Irish National Opera), Leanne took a break from her opera career to join Chamber Choir Ireland, Ireland’s flagship choral ensemble with whom she sang for six years.

Performing at home in Kerry and around Ireland is something Leanne has enjoyed throughout her life, calling it “an absolute joy”.

Leanne is confident that audiences will love Don Pasquale, which received a five star review from the Irish Times and enjoyed sold out performances in December.

“I think audiences were kind of surprised at how funny it was when they came to see it last year. Our director Orpha Phelan did such a wonderful job creating this little world of madness for us to live in!”

If you’re a first-time goer or a regular opera patron, she’s confident that there’s something for everyone in this timeless comedy.

“Leave any preconceived notions of what opera should look like at the door… this production breaks all the rules!”

Don’t miss Leanne in our production of Donizetti’s sparkling Don Pasquale, coming to The Everyman, Cork on Tuesday 7 February, Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick on Thursday 9 February and Siamsa Tíre, Kerry on Saturday 11 February.

Sarah Thursfield (Marketing Executive)