(Photo: Padraig Grant) The Wexford Factory Academy is a program offering young singers the opportunity to take part in workshops, masterclasses and performances in the weeks leading up to and during the festival. The highlight of the program is a fully staged production on the festival’s main stage, in which all the roles are performed by the Factory singers. The {…}
The up-and-coming British soprano Jane Burnell recently made her role debut as Countess Cortese in “Il Viaggio di Reims” at the Wexford Festival Opera. OperaWire was lucky to meet up with her for a quick interview to get to know more about her. OperaWire: What was the first opera you went to see? Jane Burrell: I was about 11 years {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) In 1786, Mozart broke off from composing “La Nozze di Figaro” to pen a short ‘comedy with music,’ called “Der Schauspieldirektor,” for Emperor Joseph II at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Consisting of a mere five musical numbers connected by a copious amount of spoken text that pokes fun at the behavior of singers and the theatrical {…}
(Photo credit: Hugo Glendinning) The Buxton International Festival has unveiled its 2025 season. This article features opera and choral events only. A full cast list will be announced at a later date. Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet” stars Gregory Feldmann in the title role. He is joined by Alastair Miles, Yewon Han, Richard Woodall, and Allison Cook, among others. Jack Furness directs {…}
(Photo: Pádraig Grant) In 1907, J.M. Synge’s play “The Playboy of the Western World” caused rioting when it premiered at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. It was not so much the portrayal of its central character, Christy Mahon, who turns up in a Mayo town, claiming to be on the run for killing his father, but the reaction of the local women, {…}
