Rachel has reached the final of the prestigious Paris international Opera Competition. The final will take on Friday 20th at the Theatre de Champs-Elysées. Rachel has been shortlisted along with ten others out of 250 contestants from around the world to take part in this competition. The jury will consist of twelve some of the most influential directors of casting and opera in Europe. Further details to be found here.
Rachel will appear with the Odense Symphony Orchestra on 21st and 22nd of December under the baton of Nicholas Cleobury. This will be Rachel's Danish debut singing Handel's great Christmas masterpiece. For more information click here.
Soloists:
Anna Devin, Soprano
Rachel Kelly, Mezzo-Soprano
Thomas Elwin, Tenor
Gareth John, Bass
Rachel will join La Nuova Musica under the directorship of David Bates on Monday the 28th November in Wigmore Hall, tickets available here. Rachel will sing the part of Giunone in Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto, first performed in Venice in 1651. The opera is a blend of both comedy and tragedy with music of rich sensuality bringing to the modern day the hedonism, pleasures and charm of the Venetian baroque era.
Don Giovanni directed by Oliver Mears, set and costume design by Annemarie Woods
Rachel will make her role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Northern Ireland Opera. This production will be directed by Oliver Mears, Artistic director of NI Opera, and soon to be Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House, and performed under the baton of Nicholas Chalmers. Rachel played Nerone in Oliver Mears' award-winning production of Agrippina with the Irish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Cohen to rave reviews in September 2015.
"For sheer vocal fireworks, however, the palm went to the feckless Nerone of Rachel Kelly, still firing off the coloratura accurately in ‘Come nube’, at the end of a long evening.”
Opera Magazine, November 2015
Rachel will sing her first Les Nuits D'été with The Ulster Orchestra in the Ulster Hall, Friday 21st October. The program entitled Exotic Storytellers will consist of Ravel's Pavane Pour un Enfant Défunte, Berlioz's Les Nuits D'été, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and will be conducted by Jac van Steen. Tickets and more information can be found here.
Rachel is to sing with Peter Whelan and the Cork Baroque Orchestra on Friday 14th October at the Curtis Auditorium, Cork School of Music. The Program will span from baroque favourites such as Handel's Dopo Notte to classical arias from the lesser known Jommelli.
G.F. Handel: Overture from Agrippina
G.F.Handel: ‘Come nube che fugge dal vento’ – Agrippina
G.F.Handel: ‘Verdi Prati’- Alcina
F.Geminani: Concerto Grosso No.12 in D minor (La Follia)
G.F.Handel: ‘Scherza Infida’- Ariodante
Interval
G.F.Handel: ‘Dopo note’ – Ariodante
G.F Handel: Concerto Grosso Op.6 No.1 in G Major
N.Jommelli: ‘Cara deh serbami’ – Il Vologeso
P.Van Maldere: Sinfonia in D Major
Tickets available here
Rachel is to make her debut with the Sibiu State Philharmonic Orchestra on September 30th singing her first Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Romania. Rachel will be joined by her colleague Lauren Fagan, also a former member of the prestigious Jette Parker young artist programme at Covent Garden.
Rachel Kelly is to be accompanied by her mother, leading Irish pianist Una Hunt, in the Composing the Island series in the National Concert Hall on Friday 23rd in a lunchtime recital. Tickets available here.
Works commissioned specially for the event, by Philip Hammond, will be performed alongside contemporary Irish Composers including Philip Martin and Bernadette Marmion.
This event will also be an especially poignant occasion for Rachel, as she will have the great pleasure and pride of performing works by her late grandfather, the composer T.C.Kelly, including "The Mother", which was banned upon its release from Irish Radio for its inflammatory content.
Rachel is returning to Classical Opera following her hugely successful debut in the Title role of Il Vologeso in Cadogan Hall.
"Kelly’s vocal agility and bright, well-centred tone enabled her to create a thrilling portrayal.” Opera Magazine, July 2016
"Rachel Kelly, a total natural with a vibrant mezzo voice seemingly flawless throughout the range...Kelly made her urgency felt, persuading us with natural body language as well as focused urgency that the recitative are as crucial a part of the drama as the arias and finales."
Arts Desk, May 2016
Rachel will perform the role of Apollonia in La Canterina by Haydn along with arias from Semiramide by Myslivecek as part of Classical Opera's ground-breaking Mozart 250 series. The first performance will take place in the prestigious Eisenstadt Haydn Festival in the Esterházy Palace on the 8th September. The second will be performed In Wigmore Hall on the 19th September.
Photographer: Frances Marshall
Rachel Kelly is debuting as Idamante in Mozart's masterpiece Idomeneo in August under the baton of Christian Curnyn and The Irish Chamber Orchestra. The performances take place on the 11th and 13th of August in the Kilkenny festival with a star-studded cast including John Mark Ainsley taking the title role, Rebecca Von Lipinski, and Irish Soprano Anna Devin.
Rachel will be performing Idamante later in the season again in the Maggio Musicale, Opera Firenze in an important production by Damiano Michieletto.
Details to be found at Idomeno - Kilkenny Arts Festival