Wexford Festival Opera News

Cast announced as booking opens Saturday, 13 April - 9.30am

Ahead of the opening of general booking for this year’s Wexford Festival Opera which goes on sale this Saturday, 13 April at 9.30, Artistic Director, David Agler today announced the cast for the forthcoming Festival. 

Over the years the Festival has established an international reputation both for attracting and introducing new talent, many of whom have gone on to great international careers and this year is no exception. Artists from eleven countries will gather in Wexford this autumn to perform repertoire which they rarely have had the opportunity to sing before. 

‘Il bravo’ named ‘Best Opera Production’ at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards

Wexford Festival Opera’s production of Il bravo by Saverio Mercandante was last night named, ‘Best Opera Production’ at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards ceremony in the National Concert Hall.  This is the ninth win in this category since the Awards were introduced in 1997. Wexford Festival Opera have also received three other awards in the past including ‘Best Design’ for the opera Pénélope by Fauré in 2005, ‘Special Jury Prize’ for the then newly opened Wexford Opera House, now the National Opera House in 2008 and both the ‘Best Opera Production’ and ‘Audience Choice’ Awards in 2014 for the WW1-based opera Silent Night by Kevin Puts with libretto by Mark Campbell.

‘Opera in the Garden’ at The Merrion Hotel, Dublin in partnership with Wexford Festival Opera

Following the great success of ‘Opera in the Garden’ last summer, Wexford Festival Opera is delighted to once again partner with The Merrion Hotel to bring a taste of Wexford to Dublin, for two exclusive performances on 5 and 6 June 2019.  

Details of the programme for Wexford Festival Opera 2019 announced

Artistic Director of Wexford Festival Opera, David Agler has today announced details of this year’s Festival.  There is a distinctly Irish flavour to the programme featuring not just one, but two Irish composers on the O’Reilly Theatre stage of the National Opera House including the world-premiere of a newly-commissioned opera by Irish composer Andrew Synnott, La cucina, and a concert version of The Veiled Prophet by the Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford, to be conducted by David Brophy, presented in association with Heritage Music Productions, headed by international pianist and Irish music specialist Una Hunt, and supported by a grant from The Arts Council.  La cucina will be presented as a companion piece to one of Gioachino Rossini’s lesser known operas Adina. This year’s programme will also feature the first Baroque opera to be performed at WFO in over 30 years, Dorilla in Tempe by Antonio Vivaldi.  The Festival will continue its long association with Massenet, presenting its 10th opera production by the French composer, Don Quichotte.