Sinead Hayes
Conductor / Concerts Manager
Irish conductor Sinead Hayes is a Britten Pears Artist for 2023/24. A graduate of the masters conducting programme of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, she is emerging as a leading interpreter of contemporary music and opera in Ireland. The 2023-24 season is Sinead’s tenth season as conductor of the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble in Belfast, with whom she has premiered numerous works by established Irish and international composers. She has conducted all the major professional orchestras in Ireland including the Ulster Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra, as well as conducting productions for Northern Ireland Opera, Irish National Opera and Opera Collective Ireland.
Recent projects include conducting the world premiere of Ian Wilson’s Passerine Night with the Fews Ensemble, the broadcast of Elaine Agnew’s opera Paper Boat for RTE Lyric FM, concerts with Wexford Sinfonia, Limerick Philharmonic and the Luminosa String Orchestra as well as the creation of an audio piece documenting the work of Anthony Braxton at the Darmstadt Summer Course 2023. This season she returns to Wexford Sinfonia and Limerick Philharmonic, as well as making her Ulster Hall debut conducting the Irish Doctor’s Orchestra. She will work for a third season as conductor of the Royal Irish Academy Symphony Orchestra, and looks forward to sharing new approaches on creative music making and conducted improvisation, inspired by her experiences at Darmstadt 2023.
She is founder and artistic director of the Ivernia Ensemble, a new flexible chamber group dedicated to bringing high quality performances and immersive musical projects to areas currently underserved by the performing arts. Sinead is happy to join the HRSE management team as interim concerts manager & artistic advisor for this season.