A NAAS man is fast becoming a singing sensation as he takes to the stage around the world.
30-year-old Patrick Hyland had no intention of becoming a star when he attended the Veronica Dunne singing school to receive a few lessons. Ten years on and he is one of the school’s star pupils.
Patrick, who is living in Punchestown, attended Naas CBS and played underage rugby for Naas. He is now making a name for himself on the opera scene. It was when he started at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2006 that he decided to attend the Veronica Dunne School for a few lessons.
“Ten years on and I’m still there and I have never looked back,” he said.
Patrick has gone on to hold numerous operatic roles with the Wexford Opera Festival and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM).
His concert and solo performances include BAM New York, Áras an Uachtaráin, The National Concert Hall, Dublin Castle, The Mansion House and the Royal Hospital Kilmainham for the Irish Presidency of the European Union.
Patrick already has a long list of successful performances to his name. Oratorio performances include Gerontius, The Creation and The Messiah and he is a multiple Feis Ceoil winner including the Dermot Troy Trophy for Oratorio, The Count John McCormack Cup, The William Young Cup, Operatic Duet Cup and the Sligo Feis Ceoil best male singer cup. He is a recipient of a bursary from the Count John McCormack Society and is a former Opera Theatre Young Associate Artist.
Patrick is a finalist in the prestigious Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition which sees singers from around the world audition on an annual basis.
The Veronica Dunne international singing competition was inaugurated in 1995 to honour the lifetime’s work of Dr Veronica Dunne, Ireland’s Grande Dame of singing. The competition, which now operates in association with the Wexford Festival Opera and under the aegis of Friends of the Vocal Arts, runs as an Irish musical event of international standing, offering a global stage for the encouragement and development of Irish and international vocal talent.
Previous prize winners include Nadine Sierra, who opened as Gilda in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera New York earlier this month, and Tara Erraught, current lead mezzo-soprano with the Munich State Opera.
This year 160 applicants from over 35 countries were auditioned in Milan, Munich, New York, London, Paris and Wexford before the competition was launched in December 2015 by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys.
The competition will take place from the 22-28 of January at Trinity College and the National Concert Hall, Dublin, with the final taking place in the main auditorium of the National Concert Hall with the Wexford Festival Orchestra.
