Aimee Banks and Dearbhla Collins

Aimee Banks soprano | Dearbhla Collins, piano

Arts in Action and Music for Galway are delighted to welcome award-winning Soprano Aimee Banks and internationally renowned pianist Dearbhla Collins to the campus of the University of Galway to perform a lunchtime programme of popular operatic arias.

These concerts are relaxed performances, intended specifically to be sensitive to and accepting of audience members who may benefit from a more relaxed environment.

Biographies

Aimee Banks is a 22 year old Soprano from Galway, Ireland.She graduated with honours first class in her Bachelor of Music Performance under thetutelage of Kathleen Tynan, Head of Opera and Vocal Studies and répétiteur DearbhlaCollins at RIAM, Dublin.She is the winner of the Junior Class of the Charles Wood International Song competition2023, The Irene Sandford Award and Bursary 2022, The Birr Lions Club Bursary at BirrFestival of Music 2022. Aimee was also a finalist in the Veronica Dunne Bursary for YoungIrish Singers 2023. Aimee has performed in prestigious venues from Carnegie Hall New York to the NationalConcert Hall and was invited to perform at Ann Murray’s Lifetime Achievement Award Gala Concert, aswell as a recital for Blackwater Valley Opera Festival 'Classics at Christmas '23’. Aimee debuted as the young Giordano Bruno in Roger Doyle’s Opera, 'Heresy', where she received commendation from Opera World, The Irish Times and Opera Today. She played the roles of Amore and Damigella in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Damigella in RIAM Opera’s production of La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. She was a member of theBlackwater Valley Opera Festival Chorus 2023 in Macbeth. In 2024 she played the titular role of Cendrillion by Viardot and is also one of the UCHLimerick Rising Stars for 2024.

Dearbhla Collins is one of Ireland’s finest musicians. She enjoys collaborating with singers who have a real passionfor song, among whom are Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Tara Erraughtand Nicky Spence. Her performances have brought her to the US, China, Japan, and many European countries. Venues she has performed in include the Wigmore Hall, London, the Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Lincoln Center, New York and Festivals including Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and Dublin International Chamber Music festival. Dearbhla is Artistic Director of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. She is passionate about mentoring young vocal talent and is Artistic Consultant at the National Opera Studio, London. She has for many years been a vocal coach at the Royal Irish Academy ofMusic, Dublin and is also visiting coach to Mascarade Opera Studio, Florence and the YAP Opera Academy of the Polish National Opera, Warsaw. She has given masterclasses and workshops to singers in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, China, in the Royal College of Music,London,Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, Royal Northern College of Music,Manchester and Opera North, Leeds. Dearbhla founded Dublin Song Series in 2013 and continuesto curate it inpartnership with the National Concert Halland the Hugh Lane Gallery. The concerts in 2024/25 at theNCH feature mezzo soprano, Paula Murrihy, and the Irish debut performances of American baritone, Sean Michael Plumb and the tenor, Anthony Leon, winner of Operalia Competition 2022. In October 2017 she was awarded an honorary doctoratefor her services to music in Ireland from the National University of Ireland.