Close

AvaDodd

/
  • Soprano

About Ava

Irish/American soprano Ava Dodd studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. She won the Yves Paternot Award at the Verbier Festival in 2023. She is a Harewood Artist at the English National Opera and an Associate Artist of The Mozartists.

Highlights in her 2024/25 season include returns to the Wexford Festival as Tilburina in Stanford's The Critic, to the English National Opera as Adina The Elixir of Love and Barbarina The Marriage of Figaro and to Oper Frankfurt as Madeleine, Madame de Latour in Adolphe Adam's Le postillon de Lonjumeau. Ava will also perform Aksinya/Convict The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms.

Recent engagements include Second Niece Peter Grimes and Rosina The Barber of Seville for the English National Opera, Fenimore in Kurt Weill's Der Silbersee at the Opéra national de Lorraine and Sonia in Camille Erlanger’s L’Aube rouge at the Wexford Festival.

A member of the ensemble of the Stadttheater Klagenfurt during the 2022/23 season, she sang Waldvögel Siegfried, Oscar Un ballo in maschera, Mirjam in the world premiere of Bernard Land's opera HIOB, and the soprano solos in Carmina Burana.

Ava is based in London

Download programme biography   

Contact

Keiron Cooke

Keiron Cooke

Associate Director
Charlotte Bateman

Charlotte Bateman

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Jul 2025
Verbier Festival
Cavalleria Rusticana (Lola)
Jul 2025
Opernfestspiele Heidenheim
Lauretta – Gianni Schicchi Vierte Magd – Elektra
Sep 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London
BBC Proms The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Aksinya/Convict) John Storgårds (conductor)
Oct 2025
English National Opera
Carmen (Micaëla)
May 2026
Scottish Opera
The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna)

Photos

Selected Repertoire

Mahler

Symphony No.4

News

Press

  • Le Postillon de Lonjumeau

    Oper Frankfurt
    Apr 2025
    • Ava Dodd's beautifully balanced and flowing soprano goes wonderfully with Demuro's voice. Ms Dodd masters the coloratura with sparkling ease, always remaining lively, present and utterly engaging. She is (as women usually are in real life) the more mature, deeply loving soul of the two, but when her feelings are hurt, she can show her claws and (together with Rose) display a female, winkingly nasty cunning. The scene where she confuses the postilion with her two identities as Madeleine and Madame de Latour is eloquent testimony to this.

  • La finta giardiniera (Sandrina)

    Cadogan Hall
    Mar 2025
    • As Sandrina, wounded aristocrat turned gardener, Ava Dodd had an emphatic intensity, even asperity, that eventually made a fine foil for Brady: not so much the rough – she never was – as the edgy, even prickly, against the smooth and suave. Her forthright characterisation lent real bite to a number such as “Noi Donne poverine”...

    • The titular character, Sandrina, was taken by Ava Dodd, whose light soprano was perfect for the role. Her early ‘Moi donne poverine’ was a delight but also gave hints of deeper emotions to follow, all which she was fully equipped for. I loved Dodd’s Rosina in Barber of Seville at ENO (review here) standing in at the last minute for Anna Devin, and I said at the time I looked forward to encountering her again. Look no further; and a great future surely is ahead of her.

  • The Marriage of Figaro

    English National Opera
    Feb 2025
    • Ava Dodd’s stirringly delivered Barbarina marks the Irish soprano as one to watch.

    • Ava Dodd as young Barbarina bringing a frisson of lost innocence to her dusky F minor melancholy of losing a pin (and what else?) in the twilight...

    • Ava Dodd as Barbarina, all micro-mini and Instaface

    • Ava Dodd brings a youthful infectiousness to the role of Barbarina as well as poignancy for her minor-key aria at the start of Act 4.

    • In her all-too brief appearance, Ava Dodd showed a winning stage presence and pearly soprano as Barbarina, one to watch.

    • Ava Dodd as Barbarina sang her aria elegantly (and in this production it is clear what she has really lost!) and made her other contributions count.

  • New Year's Viennese Gala, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

    Poole
    Jan 2025
    • Franz Lehar’s Gold and Silver Waltz also featured with the extraordinary Irish soprano Ava Dodd (who also performed the composer’s Vilja-lied from the Merry Widow and Adele’s Laughing Song from Fledermaus). The young Dublin born soloist added a whole other dimension to a sparkling afternoon with her powerful, crystal, golden voice, bold, amusing and entertaining stage presence. It was a sheer delight to see and hear her perform, her beautiful voice filling and captivating the auditorium.

  • The Critic

    Wexford Festival
    Oct 2024 - Nov 2024
    • Die Sängerinnen und Sänger changieren gekonnt zwischen ihrer Rolle als Sänger bzw. Sängerin und der Rolle im gespielten Stück. Ava Dodd punktet mit glockenklarem höhensicherem Sopran und zeigt sich, wenn sie von Puff kritisiert wird, als Operndiva sehr zickig.

    • Ava Dodd as Tilburina was the consummate actress, managing to successfully portray boredom with having to repeat her lines and yet somehow also singing with grace and elegance.

    • The improbable tale of a Governor’s daughter Tiburina, a superb Ava Dodd, and her doomed love for Spaniard Don Ferolo Wiskerandos, an equally terrific Dane Suarez, portraying a passion so…passionate it’s worth dying twice for. Throw in the historical Sir Walter Raleigh (Ben McAteer) and Sir Christopher Hatton (Oliver Johnston), the Governor (Rory Dunne), a love lorn beefeater (Gyula Nagy doubling up as Earl of Leicester) and some amorous nieces (Hannah O’Brien and Carolyn Holt) and all the ingredients are set in play for the grandest of grand operas, minus the ballet.

    • C’est d’ailleurs sans doute Ava Dodd, son interprète, qui se voit attribuer la partie la plus conséquente avec une enchaînement de soliloques dont la soprano irlandaise ne fait qu’une bouchée. Entendue ce printemps dans le Lac d’argent de Kurt Weill à l’opera National de Lorraine, débutant cet hiver en Adina à l’ English National Opera de Londres, elle bénéficie d’un timbre ductile, tout en agilité. Son talent de comédienne s’avère patent dans l’hilarante scène de folie parodique comme dans la la pathétique scène d’amour où Dane Suarez lui donne la réplique avec panache et de belles nuances en dépit d’un soutien intermittent.

    • Stanford reserves his best vocal writing for Tilburina, which soprano Ava Dodd exploits to the full, while the choruses swell with typical Stanford grandeur.

    • Ava Dodd performed her initial pastoral aria with charm and elegance while imbuing the vocal line with a sumptuous tone. She switched seamlessly between irritation with Puff’s interruptions and the inflated love music of the opera.

    • The singers, meanwhile, never break character, though with voices of the calibre of Ben McAteer (Sir Walter Raleigh) and Ava Dodd (the geographically named heroine Tilburina) you didn’t really need much realism.

  • The Barber of Seville (Rosina)

    English National Opera
    Feb 2024
    • Ava Dodd [...] made a huge impression. If initially her upper register felt a touch hard, that evened out as the evening progressed; more importantly, she has all the agility Rosina requires, delivering a standout ‘Una voce poco fa’ in the first act. Even better, her soprano voice extends down to the lower reaches perfectly (Rosina can also be sung by a mezzo-soprano, but Dodd seems to be the best of both words). I look forward very much to encountering Ava Dodd onstage again.

  • Peter Grimes (Second Niece)

    English National Opera
    Sep 2023 - Oct 2023
    • Cleo Lee-McGowan and Ava Dodd, dressed as school-girls, sang the two nieces, very well, especially the chromatically difficult ‘From the gutter’.

    • The two nieces (Cleo Lee-McGowan and Ava Dodd, perfectly cast) look like a disturbing Diane Arbus photo come to life as they synchronise their jerky motions.

    • One can only imagine how unusual the First and Second Nieces upbringing was – depicted by Alden as a pair of disturbed twins – but both are brilliantly voiced and acted by Cleo Lee-McGowan and Ava Dodd.

  • Hiob

    Stadttheater Klagenfurt
    Feb 2023 - Feb 2023
    • Alexander Kaimbacher zeigt und zeichnet Mendel Singer großartig als zerissenen Gott- und Menschensucher, Ava Dodd ist toll als ihren wilden Gefühlen freien Lauf lassende Tochter Mirjam, sehr gut auch Katerina Hebelková als Mendels Gattin und jiddische Mamme par excellence.

    • Exzellent sind auch der Chor (Einstudierung: Günter Wallner) und das übrige Ensemble mit Katerina Hebelková als seine sehr leidende Frau Deborah, Ava Dodd als kristallklar singende Tochter Mirjam, Viktor Rydén als feinsinniger Sohn Schemarjah und Benjamin Kelly Chamandy als kernig zu hörender Sohn Jonas. Steven Scheschareg zeigt in vielen Rollen seine große Wandlungsfähigkeit.

  • The Marriage

    Discography

    Askonas Holt sends 26 artists and touring partners to BBC Proms 2025

    /24 April 2025

    This morning saw the announcement of this summer’s BBC Proms’ line-up, which is set to include performances from 26 Askonas Holt artists and touring partners.

    Our Tours and Projects team is proud to once again be bringing the Wiener Philharmoniker to the Proms, following our 2019 collaboration with the orchestra and Bernard Haitink in what marked not only the year of the legendary maestro’s 90th birthday but also the 65th anniversary of his conducting debut. This summer we bring the Wiener Philharmoniker back to the Royal Albert Hall with Franz Welser-Möst for two performances – the first with Berg’s Lulu Suite paired with Bruckner’s Symphony No.9, and the second, Mozart’s Symphony No.38 Prague alongside Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 Pathétique.

    Cristian Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France also return in collaboration with Askonas Holt for a French-themed programme that includes Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and La valse, as well as Bologne’s Violin Concerto and Chausson’s Poème, both with soloist Randall Goosby.

    Our Tours and Projects team also brings mandolinist Avi Avital and his Between Worlds Ensemble for their Proms debut as they take the audience on a sonic tour of the countries that border the Black Sea, performing traditional Crimean Tatar music, Turkish folk and klezmer plus works by Bartók and Fazil Say.

    Sir Simon Rattle gives two performances this summer; the first sees him team up with the wind, brass and percussion of the London Symphony Orchestra for folk-song arrangements by Vaughan Williams, Grainger and Arnold alongside Gunther Schuller’s trombone concerto. He follows that with his first performance with The Chineke! Orchestra conducting Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10.

    Having recently been invited to become an Honorary Member, Robin Ticciati joins the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with soloist Golda Schultz for a programme of songs by Bernstein, Gershwin, Weill alongside Schreker’s Chamber Symphony and Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird. The appearance marks Robin’s first with the COE at the Proms and the ensemble’s first appearance since their 2017 performance under Bernard Haitink.

    Edward Gardner is back with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a 20th-century programme of Debussy’s La mer, Sibelius’s The Oceanides and Ravel’s song-cycle Shéhérazade.

    Thomas Adès leads the BBC Symphony in a performance of music from his own opera The Tempest alongside Sibelius’s tone-poem The Swan of Tuonela.

    Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic are joined by trumpeter Pacho Flores in his Proms debut for Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de otoño presented alongside Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 From the New World and Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral.

    Peter Whelan makes his Proms debut conducting the Irish Baroque Orchestra in Handel’s Alexander's Feast with countertenor Hugh Cutting as soloist. The performance marks the ensemble’s Proms debut, making them only the second Irish orchestra to perform at the Festival in its more than 125-year history.

    Conductor Laureate Tadaaki Otaka returns with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 with soloist Vadym Kholodenko, alongside Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Recent signing Benjamin Grosvenor also joins forces with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the baton of Ryan Bancroft for Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.

    Cellist Johannes Moser presents the UK premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s concerto Before we fall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Eva Ollikainen. Next month sees Johannes give the world premiere of the piece with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Dalia Stasevska.

    Four Askonas Holt singers make debuts in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District with the BBC Philharmonic. Amanda Majeski, John Findon and Ava Dodd all make their Proms debuts as Katerina, Zinovy and Aksinya/Convict respectively, while Nicky Spence returns making a role debut as Sergey.

    Also making their Proms debuts are Jasmin White who joins the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi for Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, and Sarah Dufresne who also makes a role debut singing Sister Genovieffa in Suor Angelica with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano.

    Jess Dandy and Ashley Riches return with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra singing Stravinsky’s last major work - the Requiem Canticles, and Laurence Kilsby joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Arthur Bliss’ The Beatitudes.

    Outside of London, Benjamin Hulett joins the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Glasshouse as soloist for Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2 Lobgesang. Also at the Glasshouse, Ema Nikolovska celebrates the centenary of the birth of Pierre Boulez with his Le marteau sans maître as part of a touring project with guitarist Sean Shibe and friends.

    The BBC Proms 2025 runs from Friday 18 July to Saturday 13 September, with all performances broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and streamed on BBC Sounds. To view the full line-up, please click here.

    Latest News

    • 04 July 2025

      Jasdeep Singh Degun gives London premiere of his ‘Into the Night’ at Southbank Centre with BBC Symphony Orchestra

      Read full article
    • 04 July 2025

      Elsa Dreisig debuts in title role of Louise at Festival d’Aix

      Read full article
    • 04 July 2025

      A trio of debuts at Festival d’Aix for Clive Bayley, Madison Nonoa and Paweł Horodyski

      Read full article
    • 02 July 2025

      Debuts for Sean Michael Plumb, Stephen Costello and Toby Spence in Billy Budd at Teatro Colón

      Read full article
    • 02 July 2025

      The Berliner Philharmoniker returns to Japan with Askonas Holt

      Read full article

    This website uses cookies to enhance your experience. By using this website you agree to our Cookie Policy