Sharon Carty
Irish mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty is a singer who has firmly established a reputation as a respected interpreter of both early and contemporary works, alongside maintaining a busy schedule in mainstream opera and concert repertoire. She is an alumna of the RIAM Dublin, MDW Vienna, and Oper Frankfurt Young Artist Programme, and is currently an Artistic Partner to Irish National Opera as well as a Creative Associate on the Irish Arts Council pilot “Creative Schools” scheme.

Regularly praised for her musicality and intelligence, her integrity as an artist and the warmth, clarity and agility of her voice, her opera repertoire includes many of the important lyric and coloratura mezzo-soprano roles, such as Hänsel, Dido, Ruggiero, Dorabella, Cherubino, Ariodante, Orfeo and Sesto. On the concert platform her repertoire spans most of the major sacred concert works, including all the principal works by J. S. Bach as well as Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor and a broad song repertoire in addition to numerous chamber music works. She is also a dedicated song recitalist, most recently appearing in performances with pianists Finghin Collins, Jonathan Ware and Graham Johnson.

Career highlights to date include her London, Amsterdam and New York opera debuts with The Second Violinist at the Barbican Theatre, the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Park Avenue Armory, her Wexford Festival Opera debut as Lucy Talbot in the European première of William Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight, the title role in Irish National Opera’s critically-acclaimed Orfeo ed Euridice and her debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, where she premiered a new opera, Proserpine by Silvia Colasanti, to critical acclaim.

A regular collaborator with orchestras across Europe, her discography includes La Traviata on DVD with the NDR Radiophilharmonie alongside Thomas Hampson and Marina Rebeka as well as The Mountebanks (Gilbert/Cellier) on CD with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Jonathan Ware
Sought after as a song accompanist and chamber musician, over the last year Jonathan Ware has given recitals at Wigmore Hall (with Golda Schultz, Robin Tritschler and Brenda Rae), the Aldeburgh Festival and the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin. He collaborated with the Vogler Quartet and young trombonist Peter Moore in a tour sponsored by the European Concert Hall Organisation, as well as with oboist Olivier Stankiewicz in the U.S., appearing at the Morgan Library in New York to critical acclaim. He has also recorded with Ludwig Mittelhammer, Luca Pisaroni and Elsa Dreisig.

Engagements in the 2019–2020 season include a European tour with Elsa Dreisig and repeat engagements at Wigmore Hall in London, as well as important debuts at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall with Golda Schultz, Milan’s La Scala with Bejun Mehta, the Kennedy Center with Brenda Rae and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Robin Tritschler. He also returns to the Heidelberger Frühling Festival with Bejun Mehta and Ludwig Mittelhammer as well as the Verbier Festival. Ware teaches at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” and Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin, and is a regular guest for masterclasses at the Samling Foundation as well as a staff member at the Verbier Festival.

He studied at the Eastman School of Music, Juilliard School and Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler.” Awards include First Prize in the International Hugo Wolf Competition and the Pianist’s Prize at the Das Lied and Wigmore Hall international song competitions.