WATCH OUT MANHATTAN, Naomi O'Connell (right) is on the way. She may be only 24, but this young mezzo-soprano has nabbed a full scholarship for the Master of Music degree programme at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.
The 22-year-old from Clare has been studying at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with Mary Brennan for the past year and despite her age, she's already got a slew of prizes under her belt, recently taking home the inaugural €10,000 IAWS John McCormack Vocal Bursary for classical music, to add to the three separate prizes she won at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition last year, among them the Dame Joan Sutherland prize for most promising young singer. This promise was first spotted by her teacher Archie Simpson when she began lessons at the age of 13. Within six months under Simpson, singing had taken over her life.
"I just loved it, there was nothing I wanted to do more," she says.
Unlike so many of her peers, classical music retained its draw for O'Connell through her pop-saturated teens and into her 20s. "The pull to classical music was just so strong, even though I've plenty of interest in other music," she says. "Classical is the most invigorating to sing." This has led her to performances as Cherubino in Le Nozze Di Figaro in Italy, as well as the title role in Dido and Aeneas in the UK, and roles in excerpts from Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, The Tales of Hoffman, The Rape of Lucretia and Hansel und Gretel for the DIT Conservatory of Music.
In applying for Juilliard, she pitted herself against hundreds of her talented peers looking to study at this illustrious school. "I just thought: 'Shoot for the stars, and see where you land'," she says of the daunting application procedure.
O'Connell has landed on her feet, with a coveted Juilliard scholarship - worth more than $28,000, or €18,000 - under her belt and her sights firmly set on New York.
"It's an incredible amount of money, but it's a very expensive school," she admits. "That covers just tuition and fees, but I need to cover my living expenses, so I'm looking for sponsorship."
For now, though, O'Connell, who has participated in the Opera Theatre Company YAA programme here and won the Irene Sandford Award for Singers this year, is not allowing financial considerations to get in the way of her dream.
"I suppose the great singers for me are the ones who can really own the stage, such as Maria Callas, Renée Fleming," she says. "What I would aspire to is that kind of completeness as a performer." Fiona McCann
Ears open for the return of a Viking style
If you fancy something a bit different in earrings, then do what the Vikings did and hang a hoop from the top of your earlobe. "It sounds strange but it is incredibly comfortable," says Danish designer, gemologist and goldsmith Anne Mette O'Connor. Her Viking-inspired ear-wear is also perfect for people who don't have their ears pierced. And starting from about €70, it won't pillage the bank.
A Copenhagen native, she now lives in Dublin with her Irish husband - "that's where the O'Connor bit comes from" - and children, and recently opened a working studio in Greystones, where she blends Scandinavian design with an Irish twist. Her range includes an eye-catching "dish" ring (about €700) that cradles a gemstone, and an array of cufflinks, necklaces, brooches and bracelets. See www.amoc.dk or call 01-2871515. Claire O'Connell
Central beam
Last October, US singer-songwriter Sam Beam and his band Iron and Wine illuminated The Ambassador on O'Connell Street, Dublin with one of the most beguiling shows in recent times, a masterclass in musicianship that beautifully showcased his fragile brand of folk. Luckily for all lovers of good music, the band embark on a three-date Irish tour from next Friday, starting in the Savoy in Cork, moving on to the Black Box in Galway on the Saturday and finally the Olympia in Dublin on Sunday, May 11th. His early material was just Beam and a guitar, but his magnificent album from last year, The Shepherd's Dog, featured a fuller sound, and he now travels with an eight-piece band, including his sister, Sarah, on backing vocals, making for a mesmerising performance that should not be missed. Tickets are available from www.ticketmaster.ie and www.townhalltheatregalway.com Davin O'Dwyer
Bright ideas
Incandescent bulbs will be banned from the beginning of next year because the 19th-century technology produces a great deal of heat, which is wasted. The aim of the ban is to increase energy efficiency in homes and businesses, leading to an estimated reduction of 700,000 tons of carbon emissions every year and an annual saving of €185 million in electricity costs. The alternative, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are very energy efficient, using 80 per cent less energy than incandescent lamps.
"A wide range of energy-saving light bulbs are already available on the market," says Michele Lynch of National Lighting. "These bulbs are not only a better environmental choice but cost far less to operate."
National Lighting has two shops in Dublin selling energy-saving light fittings that don't compromise aesthetics. A range new to the shops is Viso, an eye-catching selection that uses materials such as hand blown glass, fabric and crystal. All of the Viso fittings can take energy-saving bulbs.
We like the 1960s-styled Zebra range of metallic sphere pendants made from polycarbonate and aluminium, which cost from €380. National Lighting, 11-15 Upper Erne Street, Dublin 2 and the Western Retail Park, Nangor Road, Dublin 12. Call 01-7099070 or see www.nationallighting.iefor details. Eoin Lyons
Biofuel for the future
The biggest argument you hear against biofuels is that they push up the cost of food because biofuel crops supplant food crops. But a recent announcement from Maxol and Ford about this year's Fiesta Sporting Trophy rally series is worth taking note of - participating cars will be powered by bioethanol, with a commendable CO2 emissions reduction per car of up to 70 per cent over a petrol equivalent.
The upside of this is that Irish bioethanol is not diverting land that should be used to produce food. In fact, the majority of our domestic production is made from a waste product of the dairy industry called whey. Maxol's bioethanol is made by the Carberry Group in Cork, which primarily concerns itself with making cheese. The company discovered that if it distilled and fermented the lactose which is left when you remove protein from whey, you produce ethanol. Loads and loads of ethanol.
This clean, green fun is not just open to rally car drivers, of course - car manufacturers such as Saab, Volvo and Ford have been supplying vehicles that will run on bioethanol, and sales of so-called flex-fuel cars here are running at about 1,000 units per year. The beauty of them is that you can fill your tank with normal unleaded if you can't find a service station selling bioethanol (Maxol now has almost 30 petrol stations nationwide selling its E85 bioethanol product). The fuel at the rally will cost participants 94c per litre - currently the average price of petrol per litre is €1.20.
So here we have a high-performance, Irish-made petrol alternative which is derived from a waste product. And it's cheaper than petrol. So why, pray tell, are we not shouting this from the roof tops? If you want to see what the future of fuel looks like in action, the next Fiesta Sporting Trophy event takes place in Killarney tomorrow. ( www.fiestasportingtrophy.ie). Michael Kelly
Pre-modern icons
A rare exhibition of authentic contemporary Greek icons will get a brief run at the crypt at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin from this Monday, courtesy of the Gordon Gallery, Derry, and the Hellenic Foundation for Culture. The familiar Byzantine style is still used by modern iconographers, who regard their work as a prayer, and the Holy Spirit to be the real author of their work. As a result, the artists, including Dimitris Kolioussis (whose Archangel Michael is pictured left) and Maria Sigala (whose Virgin Mary can be seen on the right), do not sign the pieces. Every element in an icon's production has a spiritual significance, and the techniques and colours are laden with tradition and significance. The exhibition runs from Monday to Saturday, and the crypt will be open from 9.45am to 4.45pm. Davin O'Dwyer