This GAA-playing lad from Clare emigrated and now stars on the world operatic stage

In 2010 Clarecastle GAA Club lost another promising young hurler to emigration. But Co Clare’s loss was Germany’s gain as Dean Power ended up in Munich as one of the stars of the city’s renowned Bavarian State Opera.

When I meet Power, he has just come from the sitzprobe for Lucia di Lammermoor, a rehearsal where performers first sing through a work with orchestra before the dress rehearsals.

‘Yes all went fine’, he tells colleagues who stop by to enquire. ‘Diana (Damrau) is incredible’, he adds emphatically.

Lucia is just one of a dozen or so productions that Power features in this season.

His roles have led him to share a stage with the world’s finest. He starred as Edmondo in Puccini’s ManonLescaut with Kaufman and Opolais.

Later this season he is excited about appearing in Wagner’s Rhinegold and a new production of Strauss’s Arabella

It is a long way from Clare but Power seems at home here chatting in German to colleagues and singing through a tricky line with trainee singers.

Enthusiasm for his work tempered with humility permeates our conversation.

So how did a lad from County Clare find his niche at one of the premier European houses?

Power came relatively late to formal music training. Sport was his passion growing up in his home county.

He accompanied his father as they sang in local folk clubs.

His first official gig was for the Ennis Singer’s Club when he was thirteen - a valuable experience that taught him much about performing.

At 16 he had lessons with renowned teacher Archie Simpson from Fanore who taught him the rudiments along with introducing him to opera and lieder. (Power breaks into a snatch of ‘Du bist wie eine blume’ at the memory).

After school, he went to do a basic course in music at DIT.

What was the moment when he thought he could make a career from singing I ask?

“At 19, I spent a summer working on the side of the road with a construction company. I spent 11 hours a day in a box changing the traffic lights. I had time to think about what I wanted to do with my life and I thought — well maybe I could have a go at being a singer.”

His big breakthrough came as a prizewinner at the Veronica Dunne Competition in 2010.

A casting director from Munich heard him, and invited him to audition. That set him on a course that sees him now an established member of the ensemble.

His voice lowers as he speaks of his gratitude to his teachers and Veronica Dunne for the competition that was his passport to a singing career.

He speaks fondly of his underage hurling coaches who taught him a lot about performing under pressure.

Life seems good for this Clareman.

In August he will marry his fiancee Kate, from Roscommon.

He plays gaelic football on Saturdays.

“We have 30 players training,” he says proudly, and occasionally when he can find a willing accomplice he takes a sliotar and hurley to one of the parks for a puc around.

You can take the man out of Clare...