Helen Kearns studied music at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.
Noticed by Placido Domingo, she was invited to sing Suzanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at the Palacio de las Artes in Valencia (Spain), where she went on to perform the roles of Naiade (Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos) under Andrew Davies for two seasons, Pamina (Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Gilda (Verdi’s Rigoletto) and Dido (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas). In 2007, she made her debut at the Opéra de Rennes, as well as in Nantes and Angers, in the role of Miriam in John Casken’s opera Golem (French premiere).
Helen Kearns has won every major competition in Ireland. She won the Annie Shankey scholarship at the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. She won 1st prize at the Klassik-Mania international singing competition in Vienna, and the special jury prize at the Marmande competition.
Today, Helen Kearns leads an international career that successfully alternates between the opera stage, recitals and orchestral concerts. She has performed with orchestras in England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland. She has also performed at festivals throughout Europe, as well as in Japan and Brazil, where she completed a highly successful tour in 2004.
She recently sang Strauss’s last four lieder, Villa-Lobos’s Bacchiana Brasiliera No. 5 with the cellos of the Orchestre National de Lyon, Benjamin Britten’s Illuminations, cycle of songs, Op. 18, and Mozart’s concert aria Ch’io mi scordi di te with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne.
Her rich, powerful voice, with its infinite colours, rare suppleness and delicacy, enables her to tackle a particularly wide repertoire, from the can-tatas of J.S. Bach to contemporary composers. She has recorded an album for Naxos devoted to William Perry.
Since 2002, Helen Kearns has formed a duet with François Dumont, particularly noted for its musicality.
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