Naomi O'Connell

Hailed by The New York Times as “radiant,” Naomi made her professional debut in 2012 starring on the West End in Terrence McNally’s play Master Class. Her work encompasses both theatrical and operatic repertoire, ranging from straight plays to operas, from recitals and cabarets to sound sculptures and virtual reality performances. Sought after for her interpretations of contemporary opera, she recently created the role of Mrs Van Buren in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater, and her performance in Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’ Least Like The Other: Searching for Rosemary Kennedy with Irish National Opera was hailed as “a tour de force” (Sunday Independent) and “a cut above the extraordinary” (The Arts Review). Notable operatic roles include the title role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Oper Frankfurt), Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Welsh National Opera, Atlanta Opera), Offenbach’s La Périchole (Garsington Opera), and Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande — both Maeterlinck’s play and Debussy’s opera — with the Cincinnati Symphony. World premieres include Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets A Divorce, Korine Fujiwara’s The Flood, Emma O’Halloran’s The Wait, Karen Power’s TOUCH, and Clarice Assad’s The Selfish Giant. Lauded by The New York Times as “a natural in the recital format,” she performs regularly in concerts internationally, and her recitals have been featured on WQXR and the Met Live Arts Series. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Naomi was brought up in the Burren and studied in Ireland with Archie Simpson and Mary Brennan. 

May 2022