Northern Irish mezzo-soprano Carolyn Dobbin graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, was an Associate Artist at Welsh National Opera and spent two years as soloist at the Luzern Theatre, Switzerland. Her extensive range of engagements in opera, oratorio and solo recital includes appearances with RTVE Madrid, BBC TV & RADIO 3, RTE, Operavision, ARTtv and Swiss radio, and performances at Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre and Edinburgh International Festival. In 2024 Carolyn received a career development grant from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Carolyn’s engagements in 2025 include Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer for Irish National Opera, Florence Pike in Albert Herring for English National Opera, and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at the St Endellion Festival. She will also give a BBC Radio 3 Recital at the Glenarm Festival with Simon Lepper, appear as a soloist in the St Matthew’s Passion with the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall and release two recordings of Northern Irish Art Song with Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside, and Delphian Records.
In 2023/24 Carolyn sang Mary Der Fliegende Holländer with Sir Bryn Terfel for Grange Park Opera, Sorceress Dido and Aeneas with the Akademy of Alte Musik Berlin Baroque Orchestra and Christian Curnyn in Germany. She appeared as Lene La Ciociara (broadcast live on RTE, Opera Vision and ARTETV) and Marquise of Berkenfield La fille du Regiment at the Wexford International Festival Opera, Madam Larina Eugene Onegin for N. I. Opera, Siegrune Die Walküre in Der Ring der Nibelungen at Longborough Festival Opera, Mistress Quickly Falstaff for West Green House Opera,Cornelia Giulio Cesare for English Touring Opera, and covered Ruth Pirates of Penzance for ENO and Erda Siegfried for London Opera Group. Carolyn also sang Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and the Bach B-minor Mass with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Jac van Steen.
Other operatic roles include Scipio Caligula and Hannah The Passenger for English National Opera, Witch Hansel and Gretel and Jacqui in Conor Mitchell’s A Message for Marty in ‘20 Shots of Opera’ for Irish National Opera.Carolyn sang the titular role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in IYO’s inaugural production, under the baton of Stephen Barlow and appeared asCarmen at the Royal Albert Hall and at Theater Luzern, Switzerland, Fenena Nabucco for Dorset Opera, Smeton Anna Bolena for Longborough Festival Opera and Andronico Tamerlano for Capella Cracoviensis Kracow/Poland. For N.I.Opera, Carolyn sang the Page Salome and appeared in the award-winning film ‘Old Friends and Other Days’. While at WNO, Carolyn appeared as Mercedes Carmen, Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte, and covered Magdalena Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Among other roles, her broad repertoire features Teodata Flavio, Bradamante Alcina, Charlotte Werther, Amastre Xerxes, and Penelope Il Ritorno d’Ulisse for English Touring Opera and Luzerner Theatre, Polina Pique Dameand Maddalena Rigoletto for Grange Park Opera, Suzuki Madama Butterfly in Ischia and Florence with the South Bank Symphonia, Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte, and Meg Page for Opera Holland Park, Nicklausse Les Contes d’Hoffman, Madam Popova in Walton’s The Bear, Concepcion in L’heure Espanol and Mrs Peachum in an adaptation of The Threepenny Opera for MidWales Opera, as well as Annina and Flora La Traviata for Stadttheater Bern.
In concert Carolyn has sung Handel’s Messiah with the Philharmonia Orchestra; Mozart Requiem at London’s Royal Festival Hall and for RTVE Madrid; Beethoven 9th Symphony at the Barbican Hall, London; Classical Spectacular for Raymond Gubbay Ltd and Messiah, under the baton of Sir David Willcocks, both at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and Verdi’s Requiem . Further concert appearances include Janacek’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared at the Bath International Festival, and a wide range of appearances with conductors including James Gaffigan, Richard Bonynge, Paul Daniel, Dominic Limburg, Odeline de la Martinez, Stephen Barlow, Nicholas Cleobury, Sir Richard Armstrong, Richard Egarr, Jane Glover, Paul Hillier, Ryan Wigglesworth, Simon Ible, Stephen Kovacevich, Sir Charles Mackerras, Takuo Yuasa,Anthony Negus, Thomas Zehetmair, and orchestras such as the City of London Sinfonia, Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ten Tors Chamber Orchestra, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Ulster Orchestra.
Carolyn has championed a rediscovery of the art song repertoire of Northern Ireland and her work on this, in the form of the Northern Irish Song Project,has given rise to a busy recital schedule. Her research in this field has led her to collect and record songs by composers such as Joan Trimble, Dorothy Parke,Charles Wood, Howard Ferguson, and Hamilton Harty. Carolyn has also commissioned new song cycles by contemporary Northern Irish composers. Her recent releases with Delphian Records and Iain Burnside – an album of songs by Northern Irish female composers in 2024, and an album focused on the songs of Charles Wood (the album, which also features baritone Roderick Williams, is the first ever recording of the famed church composer’s art song repertoire) released in 2025 - further explore this repertoire, complementing Calen-o, a recording of Northern Irish art songs released in 2017-18. Having enjoyed a previous career as an artist, Carolyn often exhibits her paintings of locations in Northern Ireland related to the songs alongside portraits of the composers whose works she performs, adding a visual dimension to her recital programmes.
Carolyn’s broader discography includes Lynne Plowman’s Songs of Silence with Nicolai Moldoveanu and the London Mozart Players, Ethel Smythe’s Fête Galante, conducted by Odaline de la Martinez, Luzerner Theater’s Swiss-German Kinderoper Fraulein Bixel und Herr Glück, and Richard Loder’s Raymond and Agnes conducted by Richard Bonynge for Retrospect Opera.