I’ve always regarded Dublin as my home. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else. I was born in Holles Street Hospital, I grew up in the South Dublin suburb of Knocklyon, and I’m still there now. My husband and I bought our house 10 years ago, and we now have two children. I like the area, I like the people. There are not many places I would choose to raise a family, and I think Ireland and Dublin strike the right chord for me. We have a great standard of living. The weather can be temperamental at times, but in general, it’s fine. I just think there’s a nice sense of community.
Music was always in our home growing up. As children, we all started with the piano. Even if you don’t become a concert pianist, it’s a lovely thing to have at home. I have one now. My little son, George, and my daughter, Blossom, go tinkle on the keys, and it’s just lovely. But it influences you as well. I just really took to music [as a child]. I studied the cello, and did my degree on the cello, but I always did acting as well. That was a big part of how I turned to opera, because with opera you get drama, and you get music.
Halfway through college, I decided I wanted to be a singer, and when I finished the degree, I did a master’s in vocal performance. Then I went over to the Salzburg Opera Festival, where I was a young artist on their course. It was a real baptism of fire into the world of opera. You got to see the crème de la crème of opera singers working, rehearsing, performing. And you also got to sing for conductors. That really was a springboard for me, paving a career in opera.
You’re always going to have to travel if you want to be a serious opera singer. I’ve worked in Paris, London, Oslo, São Paulo, Tokyo. It’s a big perk of the job. I love experiencing other cultures. When I started in opera and started working away a lot, the humour was something I missed so much [about Ireland]. The banter – little conversations and interactions with people that you take for granted when you’re here, but when you don’t have them, that’s what you miss the most. I did a lot of work in Rome early on in my career and I always remember on the flights coming back, just looking out the window and being so happy and grateful to see the green fields as you fly in.
Claudia Boyle: ‘There aren’t many places I’d raise a family. Dublin strikes the right chord’
Irish musician Wallis Bird: I bought a farmhouse with my partner and two other couples
Alison Curtis: ‘On arriving in Ireland I was stumped at how men and women didn’t interact’
‘I’m an accidental emigrant. Once you have a child somewhere it’s hard to go back’
Even though opera mightn’t be Irish – it came from Italy – I think in Ireland we do have an innate love of music and storytelling, so I think Irish audiences are very open to it. It’s just another way of telling a story, and it’s immersive, it’s dynamic, it’s dramatic. There’s nothing like a night at the opera. It’s the spectacle of it. The curtains when they open. The huge orchestra. As a soloist, to sing with a huge band of 50-70 people, it’s a real privilege – it’s a high.
Around a year ago, I had to sing the national anthem in the Aviva Stadium. It was for an American football match. I’d sung the national anthem before, but never at the Aviva. I just loved every second of it, and had a huge sense of pride being Irish and singing the national anthem. To have people singing with you, and knowing the words, and the audience having pride too – it was gorgeous, and a memory I’ll hold for a long time. I think that might sum up my relationship with Ireland.
We have such a wealth of culture in Ireland that I love. Certainly, we have a great musical culture. Our music is famous all over the world. We have so many great Irish poets. At my dad’s funeral last year, we quoted Yeats. [My dad] was an English teacher and a lover of English, so I think he definitely passed that on.
My favourite place in Ireland is a beach near Brittas Bay. We used to call it the secret beach
I do feel for the younger Irish generation coming up. We are in the middle of a huge housing crisis, and I feel for younger people who cannot get on the property ladder either to buy a home, or indeed to rent. It’s a problem we have to look at because they deserve what the generations before them got.
My favourite place in Ireland is a beach near Brittas Bay. We used to call it the secret beach, but that’s not the real name. It’s a real gem. Not a lot of people go to it. We always used to bring our dog and now we bring the kids as well. It’s a normal enough place to go, but it’s just beautiful. I have great memories there.
In conversation with Niamh Donnelly. This interview, part of a series, was edited for clarity and length.
Irish National Opera’s new production of l’Elisir d’Amore starring Claudia Boyle as Adina runs in The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; The National Opera House, Wexford; and Cork Opera House, beginning 25th May. See irishnationalopera.ie
Claudia Boyle presents Weekend Classics on Lyric FM from 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
