Hello! Week one down. Written, printed and sold! We had a very successful week of rehearsals here at the Opera House. The Ghosts of Versailles was first to have their four sessions onstage over the weekend and will continue in rep with the other productions. The Double Bill is onstage over the next two days and then Maria Padilla. This, to anyone who knows the process at WFO, is always the case. The artists were very excited to get a chance to do this, as you get a much better sense of space, the blocking requirements can get adjusted at an early stage, acoustic qualities can be monitored, vocal needs, etc. than just being in a rehearsal room.

This is a great luxury to have, to be able to be on set with all the bells and whistles required and it wouldn’t be possible without the expertise of our fantastic stage and lighting crew who work tirelessly and to such a high standard to allow this to be possible
We’ve also had a few more arrivals, mostly from the US, so, they’ll be integrated into the proceedings over the next days. The warmest welcome to Wexford to you all and very much looking forward to meeting you and working together.

Friday night was ‘Culture Night’ here in Wexford town. It’s an initiative co-ordinated by Temple Bar Cultural Trust and supported by the Dept. of Arts, Sport and Tourism in partnership with Wexford Borough and County Council. Various disciplines from pipe bands to contemporary dance were performed all evening across the town in various locations. WFO was out in force too.
In the foyer of the Opera House, Pervin Chakar (Soprano), Krisztina Szabo (Mezzo), Marco Caria (Baritone) and Adriano Graziani (Tenor), accompanied by Rosetta Cucchi, sang their hearts out with ‘Libiamo Nei Lieti Calici’ from La Traviata and the Act 3 ‘Quartet’ from Rigoletto. The packed crowd gave resounding applause and the artists reciprocated with an encore of the well known Italian song ‘Musica Proibita’.
Pervin, one of many new faces to WFO, is playing the role of Fanny in ‘La Cambiale di Matrimonio’ (second act of the Double Bill). Krisztina returns this year to play Susanna in ‘The Ghosts of Versailles’, Marco takes the role of Don Pedro and Adriano, Don Ruiz di Padilla in ‘Maria Padilla’ respectively.

It was the company day off yesterday, so I hope everyone had a lovely day and are refreshed for the coming week.

Over and out!

Justin