Gráinne Gillis,
contralto
“Gillis – whose voice has rich, dramatic potential – [is] powerful in the title role.” Fiona Maddocks in The Observer on The Medium at Grimeborn .
"Gillis' charismatic performance....Gillis’s strong mezzo tones were even more impressive, bestowing Flora with suitable gravitas." Matthew Lunn, BritishTheatre.com, La Traviata at the King's Head Theatre, 2018
"Gráinne Gillis brings a touch of Katie Hopkins's brutal ruthlessness to club owner and landlady, Flora, though with pleasing timbre rather than shrillness in her voice." - Gary Naylor, Broadway World, La Traviata at the King's Head Theatre, 2018
"The final character in the story is Flora, the proprietor of the club, wonderfully played by Grainne Gillis as a business woman, hard of heart. " - LondonPubTheatres.com, Heather Jeffery, La Traviata at the King's Head Theatre, 2018
Gráinne Gillis is an Irish-American opera singer, actress and voiceover artist. She read Music at University College Cork and graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Since re-training as an opera singer, she has worked as an Emerging Artist for Opera della Luna in The Gondoliers, and performed La Nourrice in Ariane et Barbe-Bleu, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, and the Mother in Hansel & Gretel; La Zia Principessa and La Badessa in Suor Angelica; Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos; Baba in The Medium; Annie Jump-Cannon in The Observatory for Improbable; 3rd Witch in Macbeth for English Pocket Opera Company; Madame Popova in The Bear; Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Dama/3rd Witch in Macbeth and Annina in La Traviata for Pavilion Opera; Frugola & Lucia in Il Tabarro and Cavalleria Rusticana respectively; The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, Formations 2016 for The Helios Collective, creating the role of Flora Sandes in Dead Equal at ENO Baylis, supported by ENO and the IOA.
In 2018 she worked with the legendary mezzo Dolora Zajick as one of only 5 selected participants in intensive vocal workshops in Reno, Nevada in 2018; sang the role of Flora in the Olivier award-winning King’s Head Theatre’s autumn production of La Traviata (nominated for an Offie) and also sang a concert of Bernstein songs in the opening recital for the London Song Festival. Other highlights in 2018 saw her performing her own one-woman show Mezzo Sings The Bard, a show about Shakespeare and opera; and singing Hélène in Faust et Hélène, the Old Woman in Candide and La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod 2018.
In 2019 roles include Aksinya in Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk for Fulham Opera; Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica and Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana for North Wales Opera Company; and Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance at the Cork Opera House.
Operatic Repertoire
Pirates of Penzance,Ruth (Cork Opera House)
Suor Angelica, Z.Principessa (North Wales Opera)
Cavalleria Rusticana, Lucia (North Wales Opera)
La Traviata, Flora (King’s Head Theatre)
La Traviata, Annina (Pavilion Opera)
Dead Equal, Flora Sandes (Helios Collective)
Il Tabarro, Frugola (Opera Passione)
Dido & Aeneas, Sorceress (Helios Collective)
Macbeth, Dama/Witch 3 (Pavilion Opera)
The Bear, Mme Popova (Operaview)
Die Zauberflöte, 3rd Lady (Pavilion Opera)
The Medium, Baba (Grimeborn)
Ariadne auf Naxos, Dryad (Queen’s Opera)
Hänsel und Gretel, Gertrud (Opera at Home)
Gianni Schicchi, Zita (Morley Opera)
Ariane et Barbe-Bleu, La Nourrice (Morley Opera)
Semele, Juno (Opera Mint)