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Irish National Opera

Salome Jicia, Sinéad Campbell Wallace, Celine Byrne & Mario Chang Lead Irish National Opera’s 2025-26 Season

The Irish National Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with a darkly comic new opera, “MARS,” a commissioned work from Jennifer Walshe and Mark O’Connell. The work will star sopranos Nina Guo and Jade Phoenix, and mezzo-sopranos Doreen Curran and Sarah Richmond. Performance Dates: July 25–27 & August 7–9, 2025. The company will present “Viva Verdi, Viva Wagner” with Irish soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace, US {…}

Q & A: Soprano Giselle Allen on ‘Der Fliegende Hollände’ & the Repertory She Prefers to Sing

(Photo: courtesy of Giselle Allen) Later this month, Irish National Opera will be staging a new production of Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer,” conducted by Fergus Sheil and directed by Rachael Hewer, with baritone Jordan Shanahan as the Dutchman. OperaWire recently met up with the Northern Irish soprano, Giselle Allen, who is currently preparing for the role of Senta, to talk {…}

Irish National Opera 2024-25 Review: Mary Motorhead / Trade

(Photo: Ros Kavanagh) (WARNING: This review features explicit language.) Irish National Opera recently completed its tour of a pairing of operas by the exciting Irish composer Emma O’Halloran and librettist and playwright, Mark O’Halloran. Both works contain intimate psychological portraits of characters who find themselves in emotionally difficult situations. The first, entitled “Mary Motorhead,” focuses on a young woman jailed {…}

Q & A: Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Richmond on Her Forthcoming Role as Olga for Northern Ireland Opera

(Photo: Ross Kavanagh) This September, Northern Ireland Opera premieres its new production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”, with its quality cast members directed by Cameron Menzies, and conducted by Dominic Limburg. This production looks certain to be another hit with local audiences, following its sell-out productions of “La Traviata” and “Tosca.” OperaWire met up with one of its stars, mezzo-soprano Sarah {…}

Q & A: Emma O’Halloran on ‘Mary Motorhead’ & ‘Trade’ at Irish National Opera

(Photo: Alex Dowling) During the pandemic, the composer, Emma O’Halloran, and librettist, Mark O’Halloran, produced a piece for Irish National Opera’s hugely successful and innovative “20 Shots of Opera.” The work, entitled “The Wait,” is an impressive opera that brilliantly showcased O’Halloran’s compositional skills, in which OperaWire drew attention to her “wonderfully evocative score, with its contrasting densities and textures, {…}

David Portillo, Michael Chioldi, Claudia Boyle & Soraya Mafi Lead Irish National Opera’s 2024-25 Season

The Irish National Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. The company will open with a double bill featuring “Mary Motorhead” and “Trade.” Naomi Louisa O’Connell, Oisin O’Dalaigh, and John Molloy star in the production. Elaine Kelly conducts and Tom Creed directs. Performance Date: August 8–Oct. 23, 2024 Paula Murrihy and David Portillo lead Berlioz’s “Béatrice and Bénédict,” alongside Anna Devin, {…}

Irish National Opera 2023-24 Review: L’Olimpiade

(Photo: Ros Kavanagh) Intricate and convoluted plots are not exactly rare in operas of the 17th and 18th centuries. Usually revolving around mistaken identities, complex love triangles, misunderstandings and deliberate deceptions that precipitate extreme emotions, their narratives career forward, plunging the protagonists into life-threatening and life-changing situations in which the gods, heroes and mythical characters often play their part. Vivaldi’s {…}

Q & A: Soprano Rachel Redmond on Her Forthcoming Role as Aminta in Vivaldi’s ‘L’Olimpiade’

(Photo: Christopher Wallace) In 2021, OperaWire reviewed a splendid concert presentation of Handel’s “Ariodante” at the Göttingen Handel Festival. With a strong cast, which included star names such as Marie Lys and Emily Fons. Quality performances were certainly expected, and they did not disappoint. However, it was soprano Rachel Redmond, whom I had previously never heard sing, in the role {…}

Nicholas Brownlee, Sinéad Campbell-Wallace, Amanda Woodbury Lead Irish National Opera’s 2023-24 Season

The Irish National Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Éna Brennan’s “Breathwork” will star Andrew Gavin, Michelle O’Rourke, and Kelli-Ann Masterson. John McIlduff directs. Performance Dates: Sept. 28-30, 2023 Duke Kim sings the title role of Gounod’s “Faust” alongside Nicholas Brownlee, Jennifer Davis, Gyula Nagy, Mark Nathan, and Gemma Ní Bhriain. Elaine Kelly conducts the production by Jack Furness. Performance {…}

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