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Wexford Opera Festival
With the Opera House now open again in its new and glorious incarnation, 2008 sees the Opera Festival return to its home, to the great joy of all Opera lovers.
This is the 57th annual festival and serves up 18 days and nights of both rarely explored and popular repertoire. There are three main productions in addition to three Short Works, Choral Concert, lectures, and Recitals.
First up in 2008 is The Snow Maiden by Rimsky-Korsakov, said to be Rimsky-Korsakov's favourite opera, it tells a tale based on ‘springtime fairy-tale’ and is full of genuine Russian folk melodies.Much darker is 20th century opera by Richard Rodney Bennett, The Mines of Sulphur, set in an old, decaying West Country manor house where a cast of low-lifes tell a grim tale of murder, theft and amateur dramatics to a meloncholy score.
The final offering, Tutti in Maschera,or Everyone in Disguise is an opera about opera! Written by 19th century Italian composer Carlo Pedrotti, the location in this production is updated to the post-WW2 era Venice, where a new Opera company is planned and impoverished singers are faced with the problem of making an impression at a sumptous masked ball.
Each opera will be performed three times and more than 30 other events will take place during the festival There is also a vibrant fringe festival with many traditional music and other events taking place thoughout Wexford during the festival - it's quite possible to have a great time there without ever seeing an Opera.
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What else to do in Wexford?
For a look at some other activities and attractions that we recommend within reach of this event, including tour itineraries and articles of interest, see our South-East Area Guide.
