Visit Ireland for Wexford Festival Opera

Southern Irish Town Attracts Music Lovers

The 58th Wexford Festival Opera opens on 21 October 2009 with an exciting programme of rare and neglected operas. The 12-day long festival also features orchestral concerts, lunchtime recitals, street theatre and many colorful fringe activities.

Wexford, a sleepy seaside town in southeast Ireland, seems an unlikely setting for an opera festival, but Wexford Festival Opera, which specializes in rarely performed or forgotten operas, has been attracting music devotees for more than half a century. Indeed, the annual autumn festival has become a must for opera buffs and talent spotters from around the world.

Wexford Festival Opera - Theatre Royal - a Lure for Opera Connoisseurs

Until 2008, Wexford Festival Opera centred around the charming but tiny Theatre Royal, which was probably the only opera house in Europe where the conductor had to take his place in the pit by way of a sprint through the stalls, and nip out onto the street and back through another door to get on stage to take his bow.

The stage was tiny, and the theatre seated a mere 450 in cramped conditions. Yet the Theatre Royal became a lure for opera connoisseurs and collectors of rare operas. Black tie was de rigueur and, for the ladies, it was a question of showing as much flesh as they dared and as many diamonds as they possessed. Performances were even more sparkling, but tickets were like gold and many opera lovers were disappointed. Finally, although the historic theatre was greatly loved, it was decided after much deliberation, to demolish it, and replace it with a modern state-of-the-art building on the same site.

The new Wexford Opera House has two theatres - the 771-seat O'Reilly Theatre and the flexible Jerome Hynes Theatre which seats up to 176. The first opera in the new building opened in October 2008 to general acclaim.

Visit Ireland for Performances of Rare Operas - Wexford Festival Opera - 2009 Productions

This year's festival opens with The Ghosts of Versailles, by American composer John Corigliano (born 1938). It was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera of New York and is set in the milieu of the French Revolution. Renée Fleming and Teresa Stratas sang at the première in 1991.

Donizetti's opera Maria Padilla is a work of the composer's maturity, commissioned to open the season at La Scala in Milan. A tragic tale of family honour, it contains music of great intensity.

A double bill of Chabrier's Une Education Manquée (A Defective Education) and Rossini's La Cambiale di Matrimonio (The Marriage Contract) completes the festival's main operatic menu: two enchanting portrayals of the consequences and comedy of young love promise a perfect marriage.

Wexford Festival Opera - Eating and Drinking in Wexford

Post-opera merrymaking in Wexford continues into the small hours, thanks to extended festival licenses. Opera-goers can enjoy creamy pints of Guinness (which for mysterious reasons tastes better in the Emerald Isle) in Wexford's many traditional pubs. Sometimes the Guinness is mixed with Champagne for the classic Black Velvet cocktail - which marries well with local oysters and mussels. There are excellent restaurants in the Wexford area. One of the most popular amongst festival visitors at lunchtime is The Lobster Pot, a gorgeous pub and seafood bar near Carnsore Point, about five miles from Rosslare Ferry.