Approx. running time: 2 hours and 16 mins (plus 30 minutes interval)
Production Sponsor
Grand-opéra in four acts
Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez French libretto by Émilien Pacini Music by Giuseppe Verdi
First performance of the French version Opéra de Paris - Salle Le Peletier, Paris 12 January 1857
Sung in French with English surtitles
A rare chance to hear the French version of Il Trovatore, with the addition of ballet music of extraordinary quality as well as adjustments to the score. Following the successful presentation of Il Trovatore in Paris, the director of the L’Opéra de Paris proposed that Verdi revise the work for Paris as a Grand Opèra.
Le trouvère will also be available to watch on Opera Vision from 7pm, Sunday 2 November until 2 May 2026. Watch online at Opera Vision.
Le trouvère | In Rehearsals
"It's a typical Verdi, and one of the best!"
Le trouvère | Director Interview
Hear from director Ben Barnes and designer Liam Doona about their approach to staging the production as part of the 74th Wexford Festival Opera.
‘It's kind of a great place to start, actually, this piece. The music is fantastic, absolutely fantastic, incredibly engaging and I think really accessible as a piece as well.’ — Liam Doona, Stage Designer
Originally from Torreón, Eduardo is currently an Emerging Artist with Opera for Peace. Recent performances include Pinkerton/Madama Butterfly (Gran Teatro Nacional, Lima), Don José/La Tragédie de Carmen (Al Bustan Festival, Beirut) and Des Grieux/Manon (2024). He has appeared at major venues including Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Bunka Kaikan. A 2022 Laffont Competition winner, he makes his Wexford Festival Opera debut.
Lydia’s recent engagements include Donna Anna/Don Giovanni (Arizona Opera), Tatiana/Eugene Onegin (Opera Columbus) and Juliette/Roméo et Juliette (Palm Beach Opera). Other roles include Nedda/Pagliacci (Utah Opera), Anne Trulove/The Rake’s Progress (Glimmerglass Festival), Anna Bolena/Anna Bolena and Tatiana/Eugene Onegin (Academy of Vocal Arts). A fourth-year Resident Artist at AVA and Grand Finals Winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, she makes her Wexford Festival Opera debut this season.
Giorgi studied at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire before joining the Tbilisi State Opera Theatre in 2016, where he continues to appear. From 2018 to 2020, Giorgi studied at the Teatro Alla Scala Academy, gaining experience alongside renowned artists such as Leo Nucci, and has successfully competed in several international competitions.
A former member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Kseniia has sung Suzuki/Madama Butterfly (Royal Opera House), La Cieca/La Gioconda (Teatro di San Carlo) and Amneris/Aida (Oper im Steinbruch). Other roles include Maddalena/Rigoletto, Olga/Eugene Onegin and Mary/Der fliegende Holländer. Upcoming appearances include The Princess/Suor Angelica (Edinburgh Festival and Proms).
Trained by Paride Venturi and winner of the 14th Mattia Battistini Competition, he recently appeared as Ramfis/Aida (Amman Opera Festival), Timur/Turandot (Sondrio) and Geronte/Manon Lescaut (Fidenza). In 2017, he performed as Grand Inquisitor/Don Carlo (Circolo Musicale Mayr-Donizetti). His other roles include Colline/La Bohème, Commendatore/Don Giovanni, Sparafucile/Rigoletto, as well as appearances in Lucia di Lammermoor and Macbeth. Upcoming performances include Zuniga/Carmen (Sulmona), Basilio/Il barbiere di Siviglia (Pinerolo) and Handel’s Messiah (Rovigo). This is Luca’s Wexford debut.
Conor was a member of the first Wexford Factory. Here he performed as Fritz (Edmea, 2021) and Dr. Cajus (Falstaff, 2020). His recent roles include Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Beppe (Pagliacci), Moser (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). In 2024 he will be the Defendant (Trial by Jury).
A lyric soprano from Ireland, Jade is an alumna of the Wexford Factory and Irish National Opera Studio. At Wexford, Jade has sung Rosetta/La ciociara (2023), Ariele/La tempesta (2022) and Giulieta/I Capuleti e i Montecchi (2021). Other credits include Iris/Semele (Opera Collective Ireland), First Orphan/Der Rosenkavalier, Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus (Irish National Opera) and Modestina/Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini Opera Festival). Jade is a prize-winner at the Feis Ceoil and Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition.
Baritone Philip Kalmanovitch, an alumnus of the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, is gaining recognition for his vibrant voice and dynamic stage presence. He has recently performed as Bill Jones in the North American debut of Brokeback Mountain with New York City Opera, and in Tosca with Gulfshore Opera. Philip’s work with l'Opéra de Montréal includes acclaimed roles such as Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro. He has also performed with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and other notable ensembles.
Romanian tenor Vladimir Sima, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, has performed with Wexford Festival Opera (Bardolfo in Falstaff and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi), Irish National Opera, and Northern Ireland Opera. He was part of the inaugural Wexford Factory Young Artist Programme and has also worked with the Grange Festival, covering roles in Macbeth and The Yeomen of the Guard, and will return in 2024 to sing Spoletta in Tosca.
Conor is an alumnus of the David Seligman Opera School having previously achieved his MMus in Vocal Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Geoff Moses. Recent roles include Snug the Joiner/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Maestro Spinelloccio/Gianni Schicchi and Monsieur Javelinot/Dialogues des Carmélites. Recent engagements include the bass soloist in Petite messe solennelle (Swansea Bach Choir).
Founding Artistic Director of Opera Theatre Company and former Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre, Ben Barnes is an award-winning Irish director whose work spans theatre and opera worldwide. His opera credits include The Turn of the Screw, Carmen, Orfeo, La Bohème (OTC), Madama Butterfly (INO), La finta giardiniera and L’Ormindo, alongside premieres of Irish operas Vagabones and The Invader. He is Artistic Director of Four Rivers and author of Plays and Controversies (2005).
Making his Wexford Festival Opera debut in Ein Wintermärchen (2021), his recent engagements include Der Rosenkavalier (Innsbruck), Attila (Heidenheim), Die Zauberflöte (Saarpolygon) and Don Carlo (Staatstheater Wiesbaden). He is Chief Conductor of the North German Philharmonic (Rostock) and has led the Heidenheim Opera Festival since 2010, where he founded Cappella Aquileia. Under his artistic leadership, Opernfestspiele Heidenheim was honoured as Best Festival at the 2025 Oper! Awards. In 2026, he will conduct Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Beijing NCPA).
Liam’s previous Irish work includes She Stoops to Conquer, You Never Can Tell and Donegal (The Abbey) and Borstal Boy (The Gaiety), all directed by Conall Morrison. He also designed The Bloody Irish (PBS Television), directed by Michael Barker Caven. His publications include Collaborators (SBTD), A Reader in Scenography, Designers Shakespeare (Routledge) and Drawing the Curtain – Maurice Sendak’s Opera Designs (Morgan Library Press). He makes his Wexford Festival Opera debut.
Working across opera, theatre and dance, Libby’s credits include La Bohème and Orfeo (Opera Theatre Company), Madama Butterfly (Irish national Opera), King Arthur, La finta giardiniera and Ormindo (RIAM), Vagabones (Opera Collective Ireland) and The Invader and The Spanish Tragedy (Theatre Royal, Waterford). In theatre, she has worked on Re-imagining Beckett, Noël and Lights Out. She teaches at the Gaiety School of Acting, and she has also led the inclusive ensemble TRACES.
With credits across Europe and North America, Ullrich’s designs include La Cenerentola (Dublin), Faust (Theater an der Wien), Nabucco (Bolshoi Theatre), Carmen (Royal Swedish Opera), Die Zauberflöte (Royal Opera House), Aida (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía), The Turn of the Screw (LA Opera) and Salome (San Francisco Opera). Originally from the U.S., she is based in New York and will design the world premiere of Natasha (New National Theatre, Tokyo) in 2025.
Paolo began his career as a stage technician for concerts and events before discovering his passion for theatre and lighting design. In 2016, he started collaborating with renowned stylist Pierre Cardin as a lighting designer for musicals and by 2022, he was working at Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
Having studied violin in Florence, Filippo Barsali later focused on conducting with Alessandro Pinzauti. He debuted at 20 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and now trains in Munich with Marcus Bosch and Georg Fritzsch. Recent engagements include assisting on Falstaff (Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège), multiple Puccini operas (Festival Puccini) and Elektra (Mainfrankentheater Würzburg). He is passionate about Italian and contemporary repertoire and is delighted to be making his Wexford Festival Opera debut as assistant conductor.
Studio Director with Irish National Opera and co-founder of tasteinyourmouth, she directed Puccini’s Suor Angelica at Wexford Festival Opera, 2023. Recent credits include You’re Needy (…sounds frustrating) (Summerhall, Edinburgh & Dublin Fringe), Hysterically Shopping! (Dublin Theatre Festival), Narcissus (Dublin Fringe, Chiswick Playhouse) and Drop (Galway International Arts Festival). Formerly Associate Artistic Director of Pan Pan, she has collaborated with Dead Centre and OneTwoOneTwo, touring to BAM, Lincoln Center, Centquatre-Paris, and FFT Düsseldorf.
Luisa is a choreographer, director and author working in the fields of dance and theatre. She has worked alongside many prominent directors at Teatro alla Scala, Teatro La Fenice, Rossini Opera Festival, Sidney Opera House and many more. Recently she has collaborated with WFO on mainstage opera and she also took part in many Pop-Up events in past editions.
Miryam trained at the Ballet School of Tuscany and began her career in the Junior Dance Company BdT. Subsequently, she began working as a freelancer for various opera houses. Today she is constantly working at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan, Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa, Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari, Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Teatro Regio of Turin, plus many others.
October 2023
Andrea Carlotta Pelaia
The Plot
A story built around three sub-plots of War, Revenge and Love.
Two brothers, separated at birth under tragic circumstances, who unknowingly become enemies. Manrique, has been raised by the gypsy, Azucena, as a troubadour, while the other, the Comte de Luna, grows up as a nobleman.
Their rivalry leads to war and love triangles where both turn out to be in love with the same woman, Leonore. Tragically, the Comte’s determination leads him to order the execution of Manrique, before discovering his real identity.
Watch & Listen
Le Trouvère | Director interview
Hear from director Ben Barnes and designer Liam Doona about their approach to staging the production as part of the 74th Wexford Festival Opera.
