The Sylvia O'Brien Voice Studio provides professional singing and voice lessons of the highest quality to singers, actors, presentors, conductors and singing teachers.whether you are keen to enjoy music for the first time or aim to succeed in examinations, diplomas, auditions, performances at all levels, Sylvia O'Brien Voice Studio will provide you with the professional skills and creative inspiration to achieve your vocal potential.Masterclasses are also given in choral singing, presentation and performance.

With over 115 years experience in examining, the Royal Irish Academy of Music is highly regarded as an examining body both at home and abroad.The Local Centre Examination System, which examines over 42,000 students annually, offers a logical progression in most classical musical disciplines, as well as speech and drama for students and teachers alike.Diplomas of Associate and Licentiate in both Teaching and Performance are a natural conclusion for many students who have travelled up through the Local Centre Examination system.

A new sinfonietta, Evlana, launches with its first concert at the end of September. Founded by composer Siobhán Cleary, the new ensemble is dedicated to contemporary classical music including the work of Irish composers, and to the under-performed influential works of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Her vocal and musical skills make her an important singer of contemporary repertoire, having performed works by Tristan Keuris, Gerald Barry, Louis Andriessen, Brian Irvine, Morton Feldman, Manos Tsangaris, Seóirse Bodley, Ian Wilson, Kevin O’Connell, Reymond Deane, Kaaija Saariaho, and Luigi Nono. In 2002, she was resident performer at the Malkovich International Composers Competition and since has performed in many contemporary series, festivals and with many leading contemporary ensembles. She has performed the one act opera Neither by Morton Feldman with the Helsinki Philhamonic conducted by Dmitry Slobodeniuk and with the National Symphony of Ireland premiere under conductor Stefan Asbury. In September 2008 she premiered a new work by Joseph Phibbs Silence at the Song’s End for soprano and string quartet, at the Jubilee Hall Aldeburgh. She has performed and recorded the role of Gabriel in the Naxos recording of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant by Gerald Barry. Lewis Carroll Poems by Matan Porat with the Nieuw European Ensemble in the Netherlands. In 2013, she performed the Irish premiere of Here (in circles) by Michel van der Aa with the Crash Ensemble conducted by Alan Pierson and in 2014 as part of the New Music Dublin Festival she sang Claude Vivier’s Lonely Child with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted by Nicolas Cleobury., Colin Mawby, Seoirse Bodley, Raymond Deane, Siobhan Cleary, most notably the Irish composer Seóirse Bodley, with whom she has performed on many occasions. Her passion and commitment to new music has led her to investigate the world of Irish Contemporary Song and recently held residency at the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin. Sylvia spent her time exploring the library collection of contemporary Irish vocal music. Sylvia is co-founder of EVLANA, an ensemble devoted to playing not only contemporary works but also work form the classical repertoire. .

As a regular recitalist, she has performed at the West Cork Music Festival (Bantry House), with the Grieg Piano Trio, Vogler Festival, she toured the Seven Romances on Verses by A. Blok with the Syrius Trio ending in a performance at the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York and performed at the White Crow Music Festival Leiden, The Netherlands with the New European Ensemble. She has performed a number of times with Seoirse Bodley, most recently in a new work written for her by Seóirse Bodley (voice and piano) text by Seamus Heaney at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin and she toured John Tavener’s To a dancing child in the Wind with the Triocca ensemble. She performs regularly in recital with Russian pianist Hanna Shybayeva and performed Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death at the Russian Embassy in the Hague in April 2012.Concerts include Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gobots with the NDR Radio Philharmonie, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle conducted by Celso Antunes, Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate with the Orchestra of St.Cecilia conducted by David Agler, guest soloist for RTE Proms with National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and Mozart’s C minor Mass and Requiem in the Mozart Festival with the Orchestra of St.Cecilia conducted by Kenneth Montgomery. Verdi’s Requiem with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by David Milne, Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Deventer Kamer Orkest and Chausson’s Poemes de l'Amour and de la Mer in Hilversum both conducted by Pedro Lopez Lopez. In 2013 Ms O'Brien performed Les Nuits d'Ete by Berlioz both with the Goois Symfonie Orkest and Zuid Hollands Symfonie Orkest and was soloist with Sweelinck Orkest at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam performing the Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 and the Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde.

Ms O’Brien made her operatic debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with Opera Theatre Company in 2004. The same year she took part in the Buxton Festival with English Touring Opera in The Turn of the Screw as well as performing with Opera Ireland as Barena in Janacek’s Jenufa. In 2005 she premiered the role of Gabriel in the concert premiére of Gerald Barry’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant with The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (conductor Gerhard Markson) and in 2006 performed Morton Feldman’s Neither (conductor Stefan Ashbury). She has also sung Konstanze (Die Entführung and Grafin/Der Wiener Bluthe and the title role of Jenufa with English Touring Opera, Countess /Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Theatre Company), Zerlina/Don Giovanni (Opera2005), Aspasia/Mitridate (Opera in the Open), Despina/Cosi Fan Tutte under Kenneth Montgomery in Dublin and Mabel (Pirates of Penzance) with the Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society. She has recorded the title role for Wexford Opera Festival’s production of Martinu’s Mirandolina. In 2012 Ms O’Brien made her debut concert performance in the title role of Turandot. In June 2014 Sylvia premiered the dynamic POP-UP OPERA performance of Things We Throw Away composed by Brian Irvine.

Recent performances include Vivier's Lonely Child with the NSO (New Music Festival) Raymond Deane's Passage Work with the Crash Ensemble of Ireland, Siete Canciones Populares by De Falla as part of the White Crow Music Festival (Holland), Things We Throw Away-Brian Irvine September 2014. National Symphony of Ireland Concert December 2014.Brian Irvine project with WIDE OPEN OPERA 2014/15), Shostakovich Blok songs at the Westport Festival of Chamber Music 2015, Andre Previn songs ( National Tour, Christopher Marwood and Michael McHale November 2015).Upcoming engagements include Schoenberg Songs opus 6 (February Dublin), Rachmaninov songs (Hugh Lane, Russian Festival, Dublin), Messiah (Guinnes Choral Society), Die Schöpfung (April Holland) Solo recital-Irish works for voice and piano (Hugh Lane, April 16 at 4pm)

Sylvia is currently touring with her recital ‘A Contemporary Voice’, an adventurous exploration of the rich tapas of contemporary Irish vocal repertoire.

Researching and exploring the vast library of vocal repertoire by Irish composers for the purpose of recital programming and encouraging other vocalists to incorporate Irish works in their programs.

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