Biography

Sinead Hayes is rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the most interesting and engaging Irish conductors of her generation. Originally from Galway, but currently based in Manchester, Sinead is music director of Bury Choral Society, assistant music director of Stockport Youth Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Amaretti Chamber Orchestra, with whom she won ‘Best Musical Event’ at the Buxton Festival Fringe 2011.

 Sinead was assistant conductor to Alex Ingram for British Youth Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro in September 2011 and was one of eight young conductors invited to participate in the Orkney Conductor’s Course in June 2011, where she worked with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. In April 2011 she was assistant conductor for the UK premiere of Jonathan Harvey’s Messages with Huddersfield Choral Society and the orchestra of Opera North. In October 2010 she was one of eight conductors invited to participate in the first Ruhr Conductor’s Academy in Bochum, Germany where she worked with Sir Roger Norrington, and Sylvain Cambreling. As part of the academy she was one of three participants chosen to conduct a rehearsal of Carmen with the Essen Philharmonic in the Aalto Theatre Essen.

Sinead won the Royal Irish Academy Local Centre Scholarship in 1992, entitling her to free lessons at the junior department of the RIAM, Dublin, where she studied violin  with Deirdre Ward. A career in music seemed an unreliable path for someone based in the West of Ireland, with no local professional orchestra or opera company, she decided to study engineering!  An honours degree and masters in structural engineering from National University of Ireland, Galway and Imperial College, London respectively, and a few interesting years working with London engineering firms Alan Conisbee & Associates, and Techniker, followed. However, a chance encounter with conducting at Morley College, London was to change her life direction completely and bring her full circle back to full time music.

Sinead completed her BMus in violin and composition at City University, London graduating with first class honours and winning the Worshipful Company of Musicians prize for her final project. She completed her MMus in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in September 2009, where she was recipient of an entrance scholarship and was awarded the Mortimer-Furber Conducting Prize. She has participated in masterclasses with Johannes Schlaefli, Alexander Polishchuk, Jorma Panula, Ben Zander and Alan Hazeldine. She now works full time as a conductor and violin teacher, occasionally, just for fun, chewing through the odd knotty engineering problem! 

In the past year, as well as her work in Manchester, she has conducted concerts with the Orquestra do Algarve, Portugal, the North Czech Philharmonic, Teplice, Bochumer Symphoniker, Westmorland Orchestra and Sheffield Symphony Orchestra. She has also worked with the Essen Philharmonic and the Ensemble and Orquestra do Cadaques, Spain, the latter during the Cadaques Conducting Competition 2010 where she was one of four British based conductors to proceed to the final 17 in the competition from an initial field of 130 competitors.

 Current and future projects alongside her forthcoming concert engagements include the commissioning of a major new work for Bury Choral Society, a series of premieres of new works by Manchester based composers with the Amaretti Chamber Orchestra and the development of a two-year string orchestra project with Stoke-on-Trent music service.