Irish orchestral conductor and violinist Sinead Hayes has forged a career conducting symphonic and opera repertoire, with strong experience in contemporary music and a particular interest in the work of established and emerging Irish composers. 

After a decade of focussing on contemporary music, the 2024/25 season sees Sinead refocus on conducting orchestral and operatic repertoire, with returns to Ulster Orchestra, Irish National Opera (Guest Chorus Master on Rigoletto), Branar Theatre Company and the Fews Ensemble. She also works as assistant conductor with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, assisting conductor Dinis Sousa on Tippett’s A Child of our Time.  

23/24 was Sinead’s 10th and final season as conductor of Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble (HRSE) in Belfast with whom she premiered over 70 new works by Irish and international composers. She returns to the ensemble as a guest conductor this season. She is in her fourth season as conductor of the Royal Irish Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Excel Women’s Conducting Programme 2024-25, working with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Newcastle.

She has worked with all the major professional orchestras in Ireland including the Ulster Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra & National Symphony Orchestra. In opera she has conducted productions for Northern Ireland Opera, Irish National Opera and Opera Collective Ireland. She has also been invited as guest conductor with the Orquestra do Algarve, as well as working in masterclass with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bochumer Symphoniker, Argovia Philharmonic, and others.

She completed her MMus in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music and her BMus in violin and composition at City University, London. Sinead also participated in masterclasses with Johannes Schlaefli, Sylvain Cambreling & Sir Roger Norrington among others. In 2014 she was one of three finalists in the Interaktion Conducting Workshop, chosen by the players of the Critical Orchestra Berlin (leader: Lothar Strauss), whose players are drawn from the Berlin Staatskapelle and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. She has worked as assistant conductor to James Lowe (Halle Harmony Orchestra), Alex Ingram (British Youth Opera), André de Ridder (Irish National Opera) and others.

As well as being active as a violinist in chamber ensembles, leading the Ivernia String Quartet and solstrek strings, Sinead is also a professional level Irish traditional fiddle player, and in 2017 performed alongside members of the Berliner Philharmoniker in two of the orchestra’s family concerts in the Philharmonie, Berlin. She is fascinated by the links between folk music and the orchestral canon, and brings a fresh, unique perspective to the symphonic repertoire.

Sinead was invited as a participant in the Darmstadt Summer Course Words on Music workshop with Kate Molleson and Peter Meanwell (August 2023) where she had the opportunity to delve into the work and music of composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton. As part of her explorations into large scale improvised ensemble repertoire, Sinead regularly plays with the QUBe Ensemble, Queen’s University, developing her own violin improvisation skills.

Sinead divides her time between Belfast and Dublin, while maintaining strong links with her native Galway.