The Esker Festival Orchestra, one of Europe's most exciting orchestras for emerging young professional and pre-professional musicians, was set up in 2014 to provide a high quality, beneficial and meaningful musical opportunity for young emerging musicians from all across Ireland and for the first time to have an orchestra of this quality and scope based in Galway. The orchestra was set up to fill the musical and social void that currently exists in Ireland by allowing young musicians from across the country to perform together, socialise together and to build relationships that will be essential during their personal and professional lives, to promote and develop orchestral music in Ireland by nurturing the talents of its emerging musicians and crucially to provide all of this with as little financial burden as possible on the musicians themselves. The Esker Festival Orchestra now also welcomes international members each year, allowing musicians from across the world to come to Ireland, perform together and to meet and learn from their international colleagues and peers, further developing the impact and reputation of orchestral music in Ireland and abroad.
The Esker Festival Orchestral is gratefully supported by the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras, the Arts Council of Ireland, RTÉ Supporting the Arts, the Galway Music Residency, The University of Galway and the MTU Cork School of Music.
Peter Joyce - Director, Founder and Conductor
Peter Joyce is a prize winning Irish conductor and composer whose musical identity has been strongly developed by his early experiences with jazz and classical performance, his vigorous training in Viennese Classicism and Modernism and his ongoing passion for contemporary music and experimental as well as traditional opera and musical theatre.
Winner of the 1st Prize and Orchestra Prize of the 2023 Irish National “Feis Ceoil” Conducting Competition, Peter Joyce has worked in symphonic, musical theatre, opera and choral settings including his debut in the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein with the Akademische Philharmonie Vienna. Recently he has performed again in the Musikverein with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra and in the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Wiener Symphoniker. Other highlights include conducting the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Sofia National Philharmonic, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Szolnok Symphony Orchestra. Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic, Pro-Arte Orchestra Vienna, Orchestra of the Technical University Vienna, Max Brand Ensemble, Ensemble Ars Nova, the Webern Ensemble and the Webern Chamber Choir, and with the ORF as a musical assistant for live broadcasts from the Vienna State Opera. In May 2024 Peter made his opera debut with Radames by Peter Eötvös at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and was invited to return again in 2025 and 2026 to conduct the Austrian premiere of Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate and William Walton’s The Bear. Since the 2024/25 season Peter has been assistant conductor and studio member with the Irish National Opera and in 2025 was selected as an Opera Europa Next Generation artist as part of the worldwide streaming of INO’s The Flying Dutchman on OperaVision.
Peter is the founder and conductor of the Esker Festival Orchestra, Ireland's longest established, and one of Europe's most exciting orchestras for emerging young professional musicians with whom he celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2023 with lauded performances of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony.
A champion of new music, Peter has performed and conducted premieres of many new works by Irish and international composers. As a composer Peter's own works have been performed throughout Europe by groups such as the Arditti Quartet, Crash Ensemble, Quartetto Prometeo, the Kandinsky Quartet, the Webern Ensemble, Platypus Ensemble and at festivals such as Wien Modern and New Music Dublin. In 2020 he was the winner of the Feis Ceoil IMRO Composition Award and was finalist in the 2025 International Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition. Most recently he was chosen to be one of five music creators to take part in the 2026-2027 Crash Works Residency, supported by Crash Ensemble and New Music Dublin Festival.
Peter is a music graduate of Trinity College Dublin where he began composing, arranging and conducting, later studying conducting with Dr. Geoffrey Spratt. Peter continued his musical education by studying conducting with Mark Stringer and composition with Detlev Müller-Siemens at the renowned University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from where he graduated with honours in June 2024. His musical education has been furthered through masterclasses and academies with Peter Eötvös, Salvatore Sciarrino, Marin Alsop, Sian Edwards and Chaya Czernowin, Stefano Gervasoni and many others.
Kandinsky Quartet - String Quartet in Residence 2026
Hannah Kandinsky - Violin
Israel Gutiérrez Vildósola - Violin
Ignazio Alayza - Viola
Antonio Gervilla Díaz- Cello
The Kandinsky Quartet, winners of the 2023 Verbier Festival Anniversary Prize, the International Mozart Competition Salzburg, and the Boccherini Competition, was founded in 2020 and has since established itself as one of the most outstanding young string quartets on the international music scene. Based in Vienna, one of Europe's cultural capitals, the quartet represents a synthesis of traditional chamber music expertise and a dynamic, modern approach to music. The Kandinsky Quartet is known for its deep engagement with the classical repertoire as well as its innovative approach to contemporary works and unconventional concert formats.
The ensemble has been invited to prizewinning festivals from early on. They performed, among others, at Rheingau Festival (Germany), Festival d’Aix-en- Provence (France), Styrian Chamber Music Gestival (Austria), Wien Modern (Austria) and Heidelberger Frühling (Germany). Further invitations led them to Milano Musica (Italy), Festival Música Sur (Spain), Chaise-Dieu Festival (France) Venice Biennale (Italy) and to the Verbier Festival (Switzerland).
The quartet is a member of the EU-funded MERITA project, which aims to promote collaboration andexchange between young musicians from across Europe. The Kandinsky Quartet is also part of the ECMAprogram (European Chamber Music Academy), one of the most prominent chamber music programs in Europe, and is a scholarship recipient of Villa Musica as well as Jeunesse Musicales Deutschland.
A particular focus of the four musicians is the social responsibility of music. As Artists in Residence at the ArbeiterInnenkonzerte in Vienna, they are involved in an outreach project that engages with socially disadvantaged communities in Vienna. In this unique concert series, ten concerts are held each season in social housing complexes, emphasizing not only the artistic but also the social potential of chamber music.
The Kandinsky Quartet has continuously advanced its artistic development through intensive coaching and study with leading string quartets. Among its most important mentors are the Ebénè Quartet, the Quatuor Diotima, the Cuarteto Casals, the Quatuor Mosaïques, the Alban Berg Quartet and renowned soloists and chamber musicians such as Nicolas Altstaedt, Bruno Giuranna, Amihai Grosz, Dirk Mommertz, Mathieu Herzog, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, and Elisabeth Leonskaja, with whom they regularly share the stage together.
2026 Vocal Soloists for Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana
Jenni Hietala - Santuzza
The Finnish soprano Jenni Hietala has already built a notable career in the opera and concert field and has participated in numerous international singing competitions. Since September 2024, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera.
At the Vienna State Opera, she has appeared in numerous roles, including Freia (Das Rheingold), 3.Norn and Gutrune (Götterdämmerung), Gerhilde (Die Walküre), 1.Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos), Anna (Nabucco), and Hanne (Die Jahreszeiten). In July 2024, she made her debut in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein with Bruckner’s Te Deum and Schubert’s Magnificat, and already in March 2023 at the Wiener Konzerthaus with the soprano solo in Beethoven’s 9. Symphony.
In April 2026, she won third prize at the Elizabeth Connell Competition in London. In 2025, she was a finalist at the Concorso Lirico di Portofino and in 2022 at Operalia in Riga. She also won first prize at the national Kangasniemi Singing Competition in Finland (2022) and first prize at the Havets Röst Competition in Åland (2021).
From 2022 to 2024, she was a member of the Opera Studio of the Vienna State Opera and a scholarship holder of the Hilde Zadek Foundation. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in voice at OAMK (Oulu University of Applied Sciences) in Finland with Univ.-Prof. Airi Tokola. For her Master’s studies in vocal performance, she moved to the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna, where she is currently completing her studies with KS Univ.-Prof. Linda Watson.
Lukas Schmidt - Turiddu
German tenor Lukas Schmidt joined the Opera Studio of the Vienna State Opera for the 2022/23 season and subsequently became a member of the company’s ensemble until 2026. During his time there, he appeared as Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the First Armed Man in Die Zauberflöte, Vítek in Janáček’s The Makropulos Case, the First Jew in Salome, and Eumete in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. He also participated in the new productions of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser.
Lukas Schmidt has collaborated with renowned conductors including Philippe Jordan, Alexander Soddy, Axel Kober, and Pier Giorgio Morandi. Further engagements have taken him to Oper Frankfurt, the Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden, and the Nuremberg State Theatre.
As a concert singer, Lukas Schmidt is equally versatile. In addition to the major oratorios by Bach and Haydn, he has performed numerous cantatas and masses as well as concert performances of operas. In several song recitals, he has devoted particular attention to the Romantic Lied repertoire of Schubert, Schumann, and Strauss.
He studied with Professor Thomas Heyer at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. Further artistic inspiration came from Brigitte Fassbaender, Michael Kraus, Linda Watson, Laura Aikin, and Michael Schade, as well as from Helmut Deutsch and Julius Drake in the field of Lied interpretation.
In the upcoming season, Lukas Schmidt will make his debut as Pedrillo at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He will also appear, among other engagements, at the Cologne Philharmonie and at the Esker Festival in Ireland. Lukas Schmidt is the recipient of the Cultural Award of the Main-Kinzig District and was nominated for the Austrian Music Theatre Award in 2024 in the category “Best Young Male Artist.”
Daniel Scofield - Baritone
The 2025/26 season secures Daniel Scofield's position as a dramatic baritone “destined for the world’s major Wagner stages,” with critics acclaiming his Wotan in Die Walküre for Opéra de Monte-Carlo: “His vocal security, stylistic assurance, German diction and dramatic intelligence placed him immediately among today’s most compelling interpreters of Wotan,” (Operawire)..
Daniel opened the season with his role debut as Jochanaan in Salome in St. Louis, “a huge mountain of voice [that] might well be the voice of God” (Broadway World). After Bayreuth, he returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Elijah Moshinsky’s legendary production of Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci. Following his triumph as Wotan in Monte Carlo, he rejoins the Prague State Opera this spring to reprise Tonio/Alfio in in Ondřej Havelka’s production of Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci for the fourth season in a row, Pagliacci in Las Vegas, and makes debuts as Jochanaan with the Israeli Opera, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande with Opera Baltimore, and Athanael in Thais with Opera Idaho.
During the 2024/25 season Scofield joined Staatstheater Hannover to create a new production of Pagliacci, brought his Marcello in La Bohème to North Dakota, made a double debut as Escamillo in Carmen with Opera Carolina, and returned to Prague for Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci, before making his acclaimed debut there in May in the title role of Der fliegende Holländer.
The 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons included several major debuts and premieres, including Smyth’s Les Naufrageurs (The Wreckers, in the original French) with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin under Robin Ticciati, a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Sir David McVicar’s production of Don Carlos, and his Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Fort Worth Opera debuts as Marcello in La bohème. He joined Teatro di San Carlo in Naples for Die Walküre and the Houston Symphony for Salome, and brought his menacing Scarpia in Tosca to Opera Orlando and the title role of Eugene Onegin to Opera Baltimore. Other recent engagements include his Prague State Opera debut as the Count in Schreker’s Der ferne Klang, and joining Lyric Opera of Chicago for Macbeth.
A two-time Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a recipient of the Olga Forrai Foundation Grant for dramatic voices, Scofield is also a highly regarded concert artist, having appeared with orchestras nationwide in repertoire ranging from Haydn and Handel, to Britten, Stravinsky, and Mahler. Widely praised for his ample vocal palette and strong legato, he is increasingly recognized as a leading interpreter of Verdi and Wagner, with major roles including Rigoletto, La traviata, I vespri siciliani, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Aida, Tosca, La fanciulla del West, Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana, Der fliegende Holländer, and Die Walküre.
Olha Palazhchenko - Lucia
Olha Palazhchenko is a Ukrainian-born mezzo-soprano based in Dublin, Ireland, and a current member of the Irish National Opera Studio. She is particularly at home in dramatic mezzo-soprano repertoire, with a dark, low-lying timbre and a secure upper register
developed through her earlier soprano training. Her operatic repertoire includes Olga in Eugene Onegin, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Fenena in Nabucco, Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia, La Cieca in La Gioconda, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte.
Since 2025, Olha has appeared with Irish National Opera as a chorus mezzo-soprano in productions including Der fliegende Holländer, L’elisir d’amore, Madama Butterfly, Rusalka and Norma, and has covered Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She has worked with conductors including Fergus Sheil, Maurizio Benini and Erina Yashima, and with directors including Daisy Evans, Netia Jones and Orpha Phelan.
Her concert work includes Irish National Opera projects such as Music for Galway and Music Magic Mischief, as well as performances in Cork, Skibbereen, Galway and Limerick. In 2018, she took part in Le vie dell’amicizia under the direction of Riccardo Muti in Kyiv. Olha trained at Mariupol Music College and the Lviv National Music Academy named after Mykola Lysenko.
Heather Sammon - Lola
Heather Sammon, from Co. Kildare, was a member of the chorus of Irish National Opera from 2022 to 2024, and this year joined the INO Studio for the 2025/2026 season. During this season, she covered the role of Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma and played the role of Lapek/the Innkeepers Wife in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen. She recently appeared at Wexford Festival Opera, where she sang the role of the Friend of the Infanta in Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf. Heather was previously a member of the Opera Studio at Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in Belgium, where she studied under renowned soprano Patrizia Ciofi. During her time there, she made her stage debut as Roussette in Marco Taralli’s Le Château enchanté and as Hedwige in Petit Guillaume, an adaptation of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. In September 2026, Heather plays the title role of Fanny Price in OCIs production of Dove’s Mansfield Park. She is looking forward to working with Esker Festival Orchestra for the first time, where she will debut the role of Lola.
Véronique Bernar - Assistant Conductor 2026
Véronique Bernar is a Luxembourgish conductor, clarinettist and music educator. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Conducting from the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, where she studied with Yves Segers, as well as a Master’s degree in Clarinet Performance. During her studies as a clarinettist, she received several distinctions, including awards from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels for outstanding academic achievements and the Rotary Club Esch/Alzette Music Prize. Her artistic background as a performer and conductor has shaped her versatile approach to orchestral music.
Throughout her career, Véronique has gained valuable experience with professional orchestras and ensembles. She was a trainee clarinettist with the Luxembourg Philharmonic during the 2023–2024 season and has participated in numerous projects with the orchestra.
As a conductor, Véronique completed her Master’s final examination with the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides in 2024. Her conducting experience has been further enriched through international masterclasses and internships, including a conducting internship with the Heeresmusikkorps Koblenz, where she conducted a work during the Military Music Week 2024 in Germany. She was also invited as guest conductor of the Grand Ducal Military Band of Luxembourg. In 2025, she participated in the conducting competition organised as part of the Deutsches Musikfest 2025, reaching the third and penultimate round among the final eight candidates, conducting the Heeresmusikkorps Ulm and the Kreisverbandsjugendblasorchester Ulm/Alb-Donau.
Since 2023, Véronique has been conductor of the Municipal Harmony Orchestra of Differdange, becoming the first woman to hold this position in the orchestra’s history. She is also active as a teacher and conductor at the Dudelange Regional Music School and as a member of the Luxembourg Clarinet Association, contributing to the promotion of the clarinet internationally.
Having previously performed as a clarinettist with the Esker Festival Orchestra in 2022 and 2024, Véronique now returns to the ensemble as Assistant Conductor. This new role represents a natural continuation of her artistic journey and reflects her commitment to musical collaboration, communication and shared artistic growth.
Jenna Raggett - Presenter
Irish violinist Jenna Raggett enjoys a diverse portfolio career, combining her passion for performing with her love of working in the wider community. As a workshop leader and presenter, Jenna works with organisations including the London Symphony Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, the Benedetti Foundation, Creative Futures and the Fidelio Orchestra. Some of her most meaningful work is in healthcare, where she is Performer in Residence at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and works across elderly care wards with Imperial Health Charity.
Jenna has a passion for designing storytelling concerts for all ages and presents Irish Baroque Orchestra’s ‘Cushion Concert’ series across Dublin libraries for 0-5 year olds. She is artistic director of ‘Magical Melodies’, a family concert series which has featured at the Kilkenny Arts Festival and Dublin Handel Fest.
As a performer, Jenna appears regularly with ensembles such as the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the Hanover Band, Theresia Orchestra, Figure Ensemble and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. She has performed
internationally, appearing in concert halls in festivals such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, MA Festival in Bruges and West Cork Chamber Music Festival. Jenna has recently been selected as a participant of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Experience Scheme 2026/2027.
Jenna is grateful for the generous support of Music Network’s Music Capital Scheme, funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Music Network is funded by The ArtsCouncil.
