Audience Choice Winner Announced. And the Winner is … Rossini
Opera lovers from 30 countries have chosen Gioachino Rossini’s L’equivoco stravagante to be one of the three main stage operas for the 75th Anniversary Festival in October 2026.
This special public vote, a first in the Festival’s history, gave opera lovers the chance to choose a comedic masterpiece for the 75th anniversary festival in 2026. Three operas, all previously performed at the Festival, were up for the vote. Rossini’s L’equivoco stravagante, last performed at the Festival in 1968, received the most votes, securing its spot in the 2026 programme. The public vote was part of the lead-up to the 75th-anniversary celebrations in 2026 and the voting process was officially verified by the Festival’s Company Secretary.
The other two titles considered for the vote were Il barbiere di Siviglia (Giovanni Paisiello, 1782) and Don Gregorio (G. Donizetti, 1826).
Wexford Festival Opera is renowned worldwide for its commitment to staging rarely performed operas. Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi will build the 75th festival programme around the theme of ‘The Best of: one for the head, one for the heart, one for fun’, a concept with a long history at the Festival. This phrase is believed to have originated from Wexford Festival opera-goers themselves and was even noted in the Grove Dictionary of Opera.
Commenting Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi said: “The 75th anniversary is an incredible milestone and a very special birthday for Wexford, and for our Wexford Festival Opera family all around the world. We were thrilled by the response from our global audience. This was a unique opportunity to involve opera lovers in shaping the 75th-anniversary programme. Rossini’s L’equivoco stravagante is a wonderful choice for our 2026 Festival. We can't wait to bring this beloved opera back to the stage in a brand new production directed by award-winning director Max Hoehn and designed by Darko Petrovic.”
In the meantime, preparations are in full swing for this year’s 74th Wexford Festival Opera, which starts next month on October 17th. This year’s festival will feature 16 days of captivating performances, operas, concerts, talks, and free pop-up performances. The 2025 festival explores the theme of Myths and Legends, inviting audiences to journey into the worlds of imagination and symbolism, where timeless stories remind us of the power of art to illuminate both the past and the present.
The full programme for the 75th Festival, will be unveiled by Rosetta Cucchi during this year’s 74th Wexford Festival Opera, running from 17 October - 1 November.