47 AUTUMN 22 DESTINATION IRELAND
Music & magic merge at the Wexford Festival Opera
With an exciting programme of magically themed productions , the annual Wexford Festival Opera is set to transport audiences to another world .
WHAT ’ S HOT !
Running from 21 October to 6 November 2022 , the 71st Wexford Festival Opera will once again enchant thousands of opera fans as it plays out in the historic Viking city in Ireland ’ s Ancient East .
Famed for its friendliness and focus on forgotten gems , the festival will this year celebrate the theme of Magic & Music with highlights including revivals of three main stage operas , each running for four days .
La tempesta ( 1850 ), composed by Fromental Halévy with a libretto by Eugene Scribe after Shakespeare ’ s The Tempest , will open the festival in grand style .
Opera | Opera Beag : The Master based on the award-winning novel by Colm Tóibín and The Spectre Knight by Alfred Cellier .
There will also be a number of lunchtime recitals , gala performances , lectures , interviews , historical tours and pop-up events across the town .
The Wexford Festival Pop-Ups are a series of free multidisciplinary performance events featuring music , drama , singing and dance , performed in non-traditional settings around Wexford town . Enabling everyone to enjoy the world-class talent at the festival , the pop-up performances are staged in unlikely venues from cafes to shop windows .
The festival will come to a rousing conclusion with a final concert on 6 November performed at the piano and conducted by the acclaimed Barry Douglas and the Wexford Festival Opera Orchestra .
The exotic Lalla Roukh ( 1862 ), composed by Félicien David with a libretto by Michael Carré and Hippolyte Lucas , will transport audiences to India , while being based on a poem by the Irishman Thomas Moore .
The key events will be staged in the award-winning National Opera House in Wexford but the exuberance of the festival spills into the streets , pubs and restaurants which will be buzzing with life .
And Dvořák ’ s last opera , Armida , tying together many strands from across operatic history , will enjoy a much-deserved revival .
Other festival productions will include Cinderella , written by 17-year-old composer Alma Elizabeth Deutscher , and two Pocket
Just two hours from Dublin , Wexford town , with its winding medieval streets , historic buildings and pretty harbour is a delightful place to visit at any time of year . But across the 17-day Wexford Festival Opera , it will become an exceptional destination bursting with magic and music and offering the warmest of welcomes to opera fans from around the world .