Wexford Festival Opera

Dr Tom Walsh (1911–1988) was one of the founders of the Wexford Opera Festival and its first Artistic Director, from 1951 to 1966. His skills as an impresario were developed during the late 1930s when he reformed the Wexford Operatic Society as the Wexford Musical Society, and then formed the Wexford Theatre Guild during the war years. In 1950 he set up the Wexford Opera Study Circle and invited Sir Compton Mackenzie to give the inaugural address. Mackenzie suggested that they put on an opera themselves, and so an operatic legend was born. The Dr Tom Walsh Lecture is presented by Wexford Festival Opera to honour the memory of ‘Dr Tom’.

This year’s lecture will be given by the conductor and Chairman of The Delius Trust, David Lloyd-Jones. He was appointed Assistant Music Director at English National Opera in 1972, and in 1978 he was invited by the Arts Council to found a full-time opera company in Leeds, Opera North, with its new orchestra, the English Northern Philharmonia (later re-named the Orchestra of Opera North). He became Artistic Director of Opera North and spent twelve seasons with the company. He conducted operas at Wexford in 1967 (Roméo et Juliette), 1968 (La Jolie Fille de Perth), 1969 (L’Infedelta Delusa) and 1970 (Lakmé). He has conducted a number of highly-acclaimed CD recordings of music by Delius and other British composers.

We invite you to join us for a cup of tea or coffee in the foyer of the Jerome Hynes Theatre after the lecture.

Ticket: €10

Kindly Supported by Victoria Walsh-Hamer