Irish mezzo-soprano Margaret Bridge’s repertoire ranges from early baroque through classical and romantic, right up to contemporary music and her roles include Flora (La Traviata, Northern Ireland Opera), Dorinda (The Tempest, Henry Purcell Society of Boston), Mrs Monday (If You Can Find Me – Sondheim Revue, Northern Ireland Opera Studio), Maddalena (cover) (Rigoletto, Northern Ireland Opera), Melanto (The Return of Ulysses, Opera Collective Ireland), Elaine (Later the Same Evening, Opera Memphis), Prince Charmant (Cendrillon, New England Conservatory), Agrippina (Agrippina, New England Conservatory), Hen/Pasek’s wife (Příhody lišky Bystroušky, NEC), Erisbe (L’Ormindo, Royal Irish Academy of Music), Journalist (Sensational!, Royal Irish Academy of Music), and the Cock (The Cunning Little Vixen, Royal Irish Academy of Music). Margaret also has a reputation for excellent musicianship and has workshopped a number of new operatic works, most recently Luke Murphy and Jerome Begin’s Arts Council funded research project, Mujina, in Dance Limerick in March 2020. She is a former Studio Artist with Northern Ireland Opera and winner of the Deborah Voigt Opera Prize at the NI Opera Festival of Voice, Glenarm, 2018.
Margaret is also at home as a soloist in oratorio and concert performances. Highlights include Bach’s St John Passion at the Crumlin Road Gaol Belfast in April 2023 with Cappella Caeciiana as part of the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Handel’s Messiah in a semi-staged performance with Sestina (April 2022), Philip Wilby’s An English Passion with Belfast Cathedral Choir (April 2022), De Falla’s El Amor Brujo with the Ulster Orchestra (September 2018), Corigliano’s Fern Hill and DiOrio’s All Is with Back Bay chorale Boston (March 2018), Bach’s Cantata 63 (Dec 2015) and Weihnachtsoratorium (Dec 2014) with the Goethe Institut choir in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and Vivaldi’s Gloria at Léran Music festival, France, (June 2013).
An avid ensemble singer, Margaret has sung for numerous projects with the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Handel and Haydn Society Boston under the baton of Harry Christophers, as well as with Chamber Choir Ireland. On the operatic stage, she has sung with the choruses of Wexford Festival Opera, Irish National Opera, Chautauqua Opera USA, and Wide Open Opera, and was due to sing with Glyndebourne Opera for the 2020 Festival, which was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Margaret holds a B.A. in Musicology and Theory with first class honours and a foundation scholarship from Trinity College Dublin as well as graduate degrees in vocal performance from the Royal Irish Academy of Music and New England Conservatory, Boston. Outside of singing, Margaret also conducts and was a participant in the 2019-21 NCH Female Conductor’s Program, sponsored by Grant Thornton. Margaret used the COVID-enforced career break to pursue a Higher Diploma in Computer Science at University College Dublin and now enjoys juggling a day-job as a software engineer with an active performance career. When not singing or coding, she’s most likely sea-swimming, hiking, or (realistically) watching Netflix.