On RTÉ Lyric fm – St Stephen’s Day at 6pm – The wonderful Veronica Dunne and Iarla Ó’Lionáird in Conversation for Vocal Chords.

 

Iarla’s guest in this special Christmas edition of Vocal Chords is the singer and vocal coach Veronica Dunne.

Veronica or ‘Ronnie’ as everyone knows her celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year and in this extended interview at her home she traces her life in song from her childhood, when singing competed with horses for her attention, to her debut at Covent Garden in La Boheme.

As a young woman she went to Rome to study and train as a bel canto opera singer and in her years in Rome and in London at the Royal Opera she met the stars of her age, including Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland.

From the early 1960s Dunne turned from singing and performance to teaching and across the last fifty five years she has been the force behind a generation of vocal talent including Ann Murray, Celine Byrne and more recently Tara Erraught. Veronice Dunne established the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition ten years ago.

vdiscompetition.com for more on Veronica

vocalchords.ie for more about the episode