Dervla Ramsay

Born in Derry, N. Ireland, she studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1993 she was the winner of the Ulster Bank Music Foundation Award for Young Irish Musicians (RTE, The Late Late Show), which enabled her to continue her studies in Italy with various teachers including Margarita Rinaldi and Renata Scotto.

In 1994 she won the Concorso Internazionale di Bagna di Lucca and made her debut as Volpino (Haydn’s Lo speziale). While in Italy she sang with various companies including Teatro Communale, Florence and Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, where she sang La Cenerentola in a televised performance of opera extracts with Renata Scotto. A member of the Royal Opera Chorus since September 1999, her solo roles have included Lolette (La Rondine, Puccini), Contess Ceprano (Rigoletto, Verdi), Trainbearer (Elektra, Strauss) and Third Page (Lohengrin, Wagner).

She sang the role of Cenerentola in the ROH Linbury Theatre production of the ‘Sixty Minute Cinderella’.

Her oratorio experience includes the mezzo roles in the Messiah (Handel), Nelson Mass (Haydn), St. Matthew Passion (Bach), Elijah (Mendellsohn), Requiem (Mozart), Gloria (Vivaldi).

Dervla has also sung with the Covent Garden Big Band at tea dance events in the Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House.