Music Director
More information about our Musical Director, Margaret Bridge
Margaret Bridge is a mezzo-soprano and conductor from Dublin, Ireland. She was selected for a development grant as a conductor by Northern Ireland Opera in 2023, which culminated in a performance at Ulster Hall conducting the Northern Ireland Opera chorus. Prior to that, Margaret was a participant in the 2019-2021 NCH Grant Thornton Female Conductors Program which afforded the opportunity to conduct the RTE Symphony Orchestra in NCH Dublin in February 2022. Tutors on that course included Alice Farnham, David Brophy, Robert Houlihan, and Eimear Noone. Prior conducting experience includes two years as conductor of the Trinity College Dublin chapel choir, the Royal Irish Academy of Music Contemporary Singers ensemble, as well as community choirs, children’s choirs and church choirs.
As a singer she has performed across the UK, Ireland, Europe and the US. She has appeared as a soloist with, among others, Northern Ireland Opera, Opera Collective Ireland, Opera Memphis, the RTE Concert Orchestra, The Henry Purcell Society of Boston, Chautauqua Opera, the Ulster Consort, and Sestina. As an ensemble singer, she has enjoyed singing with the Monteverdi and Constellation Choirs under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Handel and Haydn Society under Harry Christophers and Harry Bicket (NY Phil, 2019), Chamber Choir Ireland, Wexford Opera, Resurgam, and Irish National Opera.Margaret’s graduate vocal training took place at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, from whom she holds a Master in Voice, and the New England Conservatory Boston, from whom she received a Graduate Diploma in Voice with a specialisation in Voice Science and Pedagogy. She holds a first class honours degree in Musicology and Theory from Trinity College Dublin and was also a scholar of the college.
The COVID pandemic forced a slight career re-calculation; Margaret completed a diploma in Computer Science in 2021 and these days enjoys balancing an active performance schedule singing and conducting with a day job as a software engineer.