Orla Boylan Nancy Previs catches up with one of our leading sopranos as she gets ready to take on the role of Aida in Dublin

Life is pretty full for Orla Boylan. Not only is the Skerries native an international soprano star and a rower, but this month, she also stars as Aida in Verdi’s epic opera for the first time. She talks to Nancy Previs

I’d like to start a bit of teaching, and also to counsel young singers about the lifestyle

Orla Boylan premieres her Aida – the story of an Ethiopian princess enslaved in Egypt – in front of a home crowd in the Irish National Opera’s last production of the year at the end of the month in Dublin.

She’s looking forward to it: “Aida’s such a good old girl,” she says about her character, “and also the opera’s music is so well known.”

This is only the third full opera Orla has sung in Ireland; and her very first time to sing this really demanding role, which has come to her at the ideal point in her career: “You don’t just skip into singing Aida! I don’t think you could even approach the role until you have a good 20 years under your belt, and you have the body for it. I’m a good strong girl and she needs that force behind her. I don’t think it’s physically possible to sing Aida without that build-up of muscle around the voicebox.”

In a way, life has come full circle for Orla. In the beginning, in order to establish her singing career, she had to leave Ireland and base herself abroad for many years. Once her reputation was achieved, though, she saw her chance to return home. She bought a house – with a lovely fertile garden, she says – in Skerries, the north Co Dublin seaside town where she was born and bred. That has been her base for about a decade. “It is so nice to be at home in Skerries, surrounded by friends,” she says. Given how the opera world works, however, she spends a large portion of her year working abroad and that makes Skerries’ proximity to Dublin Airport handy. Like any frequent traveller, she has her getting to the departure gate routine down to a fine art: “It’s 17 minutes door to door.” You can well believe her; as well as possessing a plaudit-winning voice, Orla has an honours science degree from UCD.

In fact, she was a full three years into a PhD in botany when she happened to enter – and win – the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. It changed everything for her overnight. Looking back on that time now, Orla sounds a little bemused. “It seems like somebody else’s life. I’m still very close to the people I was at college with but it is another type of life, and I could never imagine doing it now.”

Two decades later, she continues to grow and flourish as an acclaimed international singer, delighting to make a living in the field that excites her, in all of its aspects. Even rehearsing, she says, makes her happy. “I feel brave in rehearsal. I feel I’ve things to give and important things to show. Opera is a gift in the way that you totally escape your own life for those three or four hours. That is the joy of performing, but there is a real life before and after and it’s the juxtaposition that makes it work. It’s a funny old career.”

Luckily for her, when she’s not performing and rehearsing, Orla has no problem switching off. “Oh, I do that quite a lot,” she laughs, “probably too much.” For relaxation, she goes out with friends or more likely, hosts a dinner party, for which she has something of a reputation in her circle. “I do love hosting them, cooking for other people. There’s nothing nicer, especially coming into the winter. My truffle and porcini pasta is one of my signature dishes, but I love to make sushi as well.”

Orla’s other passion is her garden, one which grew when she bought her house. “Now you can’t keep me out of it. It’s only a small patch but you’d think I had a farm, with the amount of time I spend in it and the talking up I do about it. I have a lavender hedge and lots of Clematis, the kind that used to grow outside my grandmother’s house. And I’ve lots of herbs: Italian parsley, curly parsley, mint and sage and rosemary and basil. At this time of year I get the birdseed out and I could watch the birds all day.”

Orla is a firm believer in the benefits of exercise. “I’ve never been someone who’s inactive. It might be Pilates, it might be a bit of running or it might be some weights. And I was always a swimmer.

“I do Pilates, although my Pilates teacher won’t agree,” she laughs, explaining, “Lately, I haven’t been able to get back to it because I’ve been rehearsing, but I will. I absolutely love it. I had two slipped discs at one point and I’ve really never had trouble since starting the Pilates. “And this year I joined the rowing club in Skerries as a full-time member for the summer and competed in regattas. Now that is tough! I thought I would die at the end of the races and some of them only last 10 to 15 minutes. But they’re good for the back.

“Exercise is really important to keep away the black thoughts, even if it’s just a good long walk, and I think as I get older it’s even more important. I think we need to laugh too…we have so few chances to laugh these days. My little dog Darcey, who’s a Jack Russell, makes me laugh. She is quite the character. If I sing she’ll sing too, so I can’t really have her with me when I practice!”

Having won the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition herself all those years ago, Orla will be an adjudicator at the contest next year. “I’ve come full circle and going back to judge is great.” Looking further towards the future, she says, “I’d like to start a bit of teaching, and also to counsel young singers about the lifestyle. Hopefully, I have another 10 to 15 years of singing big roles like Aida, but they take their toll. I’ve been travelling for a long, long time and it would be nice to strike a balance.”

Aida is at at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on November 24, 27 & 29 & December 1. bordgaisenergytheatre.ie