Sharon Carty

Though she took a minor detour in her early career, mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty has firmly established herself in the European vocal scene. She is active on operatic and concert stages as well as in recital and has a broad repertoire, spanning sacred music from the Renaissance to contemporary works. Carty was born in Celbridge, in Ireland's County Kildare. Her family wasn't overly musical, except for a grandparent who played the fiddle. Nevertheless, she became interested in classical music as a child and was heavily involved in the music program at her secondary school. However, she was also very involved in sports and decided early on to become a physical education teacher, attending the University of Limerick for a degree in physical education and English. During her time there, she realized how much she missed her musical life and added teaching and singing studies at Dublin's Royal Irish Academy. With limited immediate opportunities, Carty took a position teaching PE, music, and English at the Mount Sackville Secondary School in Chapelizod. Carty made her recording debut as a member of the Anúna choir in 2006 on the album Sensation, which featured the music of the choir's founder, Michael McGlynn; Carty was the soloist on the composer's Lux Aeterna. While still teaching, Carty took masterclasses with Bernadette Greevy, who cast Carty in roles at the Anna Livia International Opera Festival in 2007. That year, Carty left her teaching post and began studying opera at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2008, Carty, on the invitation of Greevy, made her major-role debut as Maddelena in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Anna Livia Festival. Earning third prize at a competition concluding a summer course near Frankfurt in 2010, Carty caught the attention of Bernd Loebe, who invited her to join the Young Artist Program at the Frankfurt Opera, studying with mezzo-soprano Alison Browner. 2014 was a pivotal year in Carty's development, as she made her recording debut as a featured artist that year on the album Stream in the Valley (with Browner and pianist Andreas Frese), originated the role of Oscar in Fabrice Bollon's Oscar und die Dame in Rosa at the Theater Freiburg, with the composer conducting, and made her first appearance with the Irish Baroque Orchestra for performances of Handel's Messiah. Carty has maintained close ties to Ireland, serving as an artist with the Opera Theatre Company Hub, which is dedicated to championing Irish opera singers. With the relaunch of the Irish National Opera in 2017, Carty was named an artistic partner. In 2018, Carty made her debut at the Wexford Festival Opera in the role of Lucy Talbot for the European premiere of William Bolcom's Dinner at Eight. She made her Irish National Opera debut in the titular role in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice and premiered Silvia Colasanti's Proserpine in her first appearance at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. Carty issued her solo recital debut, Schubert's Four Seasons, accompanied by Jonathan Ware, in 2020. In 2024, she was heard on a recording of the Irish Song Cycles by Charles Villiers Stanford with baritone Benjamin Russell and pianist Finghin Collins.
© Keith Finke /TiVo