The festival features public recitals and events, including three concerts in partnership with and broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and culminates in a vocal competition hosted by Northern Ireland Opera Patron and BBC Radio 3 presenter Sean Rafferty.
The 15th Glenarm Festival of Voice will take place from 22-24 August 2025.
BBC Radio 3 Recitals
The BBC Radio 3 recitals are free and open to members of the public to come and watch and listen in St Patrick’s Church. These three recitals are recorded live by BBC Radio 3 and subsequently edited into four lunchtime concerts which are broadcast nationally on BBC Radio 3 a few weeks after the festival.
The BBC Radio 3 Recitals for 2025 will be on a theme of ‘Landscapes’ and feature mezzo soprano Carolyn Dobbin with BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists baritone James Atkinson and tenor Santiago Sanchez, with pianist Simon Lepper who curated the recital series. These recitals will be broadcast as the Lunchtime Concerts on BBC Radio 3 in Autumn 2025.
Vocal Competition
Singers are chosen from applications from across the island of Ireland after submitting a recording and they spend four days working with top opera and song professionals who in 2024 were Dr Ingrid Surgenor, Professor Mark Wildman and baritone Ben McAteer – the first ever winner of the competition in 2010 and now a Vice Patron of the Glenarm Festival of Voice. The coaching of our finalists for 2024 has been generously supported by the Fidelio Charitable Trust.
The singers and pianists involved with the Glenarm Festival of Voice competition benefit from a highly focused experience and the opportunity to perform and make contacts with opera professionals. The winner of the competition is awarded the Deborah Voigt Opera Prize, and becomes the NI Opera Young Opera Voice for that year. The judges also choose the winner of the Song Prize, sponsored by The Priests Charitable Foundation, and the audience vote for the winner of the Kathryn Harries Audience Prize.
The 2024 Finalists were sopranos Zoë Jackson and Hannah McKay, tenor Peter Thomas O’Reilly and baritones Seamus Brady and John Johnston, with Orlaith Sharkey joining them as the Peter Rankin Piano Intern for this year’s competition.
Winner of the Deborah Voigt Opera Prize 2024: Zoë Jackson
Winner of the Song Prize 2024: Seamus Brady
Winner of the Kathryn Harries Audience Prize 2024: Hannah McKay
You can read their biographies by clicking here.
Patrons of The Glenarm Festival of Voice
Patrons: The Earl and Countess of Antrim
Vice-Patrons: Ben McAteer, baritone and winner of the first Glenarm Festival of Voice in 2010 and Richard Hamilton.
We are grateful to the Fidelio Charitable Trust for supporting the coaching of our artists at the 14th Glenarm Festival of Voice.
Click through our gallery below to see some images from previous Festivals over the last ten years.
