About the Wexford Factory
Wexford Festival Opera has established the Wexford Factory to offer professional and financial support to young singers and pianists in the early stage of their careers.
Wexford Festival Opera’s aim in creating the Wexford Factory is to offer one of the world’s most formative experiences for young opera singers and pianists who are about to take the biggest step of all into a fully professional career. Working closely with our partner opera companies, the Rossini Opera Festival ‘Alberto Zedda Academy’ in Pesaro, we will help them hone their musical and professional skills to start a brilliant journey into the industry. PwC are the current sponsor of the Wexford Factory and supports Wexford Festival Opera in providing this platform for young talent
Wexford Festival Opera is about opening up the world of opera to everyone - communities and artist. Introducing new and emerging talent, while discovering some forgotten masterpieces along the way, the Festival has historically served as a springboard for many young artists at the beginning of their careers; an introduction to an international stage.
The Wexford Factory, a professional development programme for young Irish or Irish-based artists builds on this tradition. The Wexford Factory provides robust mentoring and gives individual participants the creative space, mentoring and time to develop their craft. It also enables young and emerging talent to learn from some of the world's most internationally recognised artists, coaches and opera professionals.
The Wexford Factory, an academy for young opera singers, was established in 2020 by Rosetta Cucchi with continued support from PwC Ireland.
In 2022 the Festival introduced a repetiteur pianist programme, which is supported by The Community Foundations for Ireland.
Each programme provides vital support for young artists in Ireland who may not otherwise be able to access training and tutoring by world-class specialists in the field and offers a formative experience to those about to take the big step into their professional careers.
Factory participants embark on a two-year journey which sees them take part in a professional development academy each September. In addition to performing at the Festival each year, participants also have the chance to take part in an international exchange.
“…the academies I attended in my youth is where I learned the true meaning of professionalism and how I could continue to challenge myself as an artist.”
- Rosetta Cucchi, Artistic Director.
