 The Irish tenor Donal J. Byrne was born in Dublin and studied there at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where he won many prizes including bursaries from the Irish Arts Council. Since 1994 he has lived in Bruxelles, Belgium.
Some of the renowned conductors Donal has worked with include Rinaldo Alessandrini, Maurizio Barbacini, Bertrand de Billy, Claus Peter Flor, Philippe Herreweghe, Kazushi Ono, Antonio Pappano, Colman Pearce, Julian Reynolds, David Robertson, and the late Marcello Viotti. He has collaborated with stage directors such as Willy Decker, François de Carpentries, Dale Duesing, Achim Freyer, Karl-Ernst and Ursel Herrmann, Yannis Kokkos, Robert Lepage, Christof Loy, Omar Porras and Stein Winge. As well as television and radio broadcasts in Ireland, Belgium, France and Malaysia Donal had a cameo role in the film “Widows Peak” in which he sang to Mia Farrow.
Future projects for Donal include Sellem in Robert Lepage's production of “The Rake’s Progress” of Stravinsky at La Scala, Milan in 2009 and Froh in “Das Rheingold” at the Edinburgh Festival in 2009 and in Essen, Germany 2010.
This season with the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Bruxelles he sings roles in two new productions – Ein Hirt/Ein junger Seeman in “Tristan und Isolde” and Sellem in Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”. Also at the Monnaie Donal has sung the role of Ernesto in their production of “Don Pasquale”; Heinrich der Schreiber in “Tannhauser”; Kunz Vogelgesang in “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”; Giovinetto in Paisiello’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and he created the role of “Primo Invitato” in the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s opera “Ballata”. Other productions at la Monnaie include roles in “Le Nozze Di Figaro”, “Il Tabarro”, “Die Zauberflöte” and “Idomeneo”. As a member of the Opera Studio of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie he sang the roles of Tamino in “Die Zauberflöte” and Ferrando in “Cosi Fan Tutte” in Belgium, France, Holland and Germany.
For Oper Frankfurt Donal has sung in a number of productions – two operas of Dallapiccola “Volo di Notte” (Un Impiegato) and “Il Prigioniero” (Un Sacerdote); the roles of Don Luigino, Gelsomino and Antonio in Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims” and as Dr. Blind in “Die Fledermaus” in concert at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt. Other recent engagements include a trip to Malaysia where Donal sang Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly” and Alfredo in “La Traviata” for the Penang Arts Council in Penang and Kuala Lumpur. In France roles include Ferrando in “Cosi fan Tutte” for the Scène Nationale d’Orléans; Heinrich der Schreiber in “Tannhauser” and Maestro Trabuco in “La Forza del Destino” for the Opéra de Rouen. In Luxembourg he sang the role of Gherardo in Robert Carsen's production of Gianni Schicchi. On tour in the Netherlands he sang Orphée in Offenbach’s “Orphée Aux Enfers”. With the Vlaamse Opera in Belgium he has sung the role of Ascanio in their production of “Lo Frate ´nnamorato” (Pergolesi) in Antwerp and Ghent.
In his native Ireland roles have included Ferrando in Opera Theatre Company’s production of “Cosi Fan Tutte”. He has worked with Opera Ireland in productions of “Martha” and “La Boheme” and with other companies around Ireland in productions including “Rigoletto” - Duca di Mantova; “Don Giovanni” - Don Ottavio; “Albert Herring” (Britten) - Mayor Upfold; “The Bohemian Girl” (Balfe) – Thaddeus; “Die Lustige Witwe” – Camille and “Bastien und Bastienne” – Bastien.
In concert and oratorio Donal’s repertoire includes performances of Bach´s “B Minor Mass” (Paris – St. Sulpice) & the “St. Matthew Passion”; Mahler’s “Das Lied Von Der Erde” and Bernstein’s “Songfest” (la Monnaie, Bruxelles); concert performances of Chuecca’s “La Gran Via” and Caballero’s “El Duo De La Africana”; Handel’s “Messiah” and Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solennelle” (Dublin). With the Brussels Operettetheater he has sung Symon Rymanowicz in “Der Bettelstudent” (Millöcker); Caramello in “Eine Nacht In Venedig” (Strauss); Astolf in “Die Verschworenen” (Schubert) and Ange Pitou in “La Fille De Madame Angot” (Lecocq).
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