A very grey day here in Wexford, with the rain pouring down, but there is plenty of things going on indoors. The lunchtime concert at St. Iberius was given by the Italian mezzo-soprano Manuela Custer, who took us to warmer climes with a tour of her native country, with songs from a variety of Italian composers. The favorite would have {…}
(Photo: Gerard Collett) It was an early start this morning to what proved to be a long day. At 10:30 a.m. Rosetta Cucchi held a press conference to announce next season’s program along with her vision for the future of Wexford Festival Opera which, to put it mildly, is very exciting and includes many new initiatives, which is certain to {…}
The Wexford Festival Opera has announced its 2020 season. This season, the festival will present a program inspired by Shakespeare and will present three main stage operas as well as a number of concerts and pocket operas. Main Stage Goldmark’s “Ein Wintermarchen” will get a production by Dmitry Bertman with conductor Markus Bosh leading the work. Performance Dates: Oct. 20-29, {…}
RTÉ and the Wexford Festival Opera will team up to stream a performance of “Dorilla in Tempe” on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, making history in the process. The stream will be broadcast in two fashions. First off, audiences can watch the showcase at the three movie theaters starting at 8 p.m. local time: the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin, the Pálás {…}
The Wexford Festival Opera has unveiled casting for most of its operas. The company revealed that the role of Admento in “Dorilla in Tempe” by Vivaldi will feature tenor Juan Sancho. The ShortWork operas also got full cast lists. In “Le Docteur Miracle,” audiences will see Lizzie Holmes as Laurette, Kasia Balejko as Veronique, Guy Elliott as Dr. Miracle, and {…}
In 1995, a young Rosetta Cucchi first walked through the door of the Theatre Royal in Wexford, home of the Wexford Festival Opera, beginning an association, which almost 25 years later, is still going strong, having just been been appointed as the company’s Artistic Director. Cucchi will take over the running of the festival from 2020, replacing David Agler, who {…}
Those who missed out on the famed performances of “Il Bravo” from the Wexford Festival will get a chance to check the work out via ARTE.Tv starting on Easter Sunday. The stream will remain on ARTE’s digital streaming channels as part of its 2019 Opera season. The work received tremendous accolades, winning the award for Best Opera Production from The {…}
The recent revival of Mercadante’s “Il Bravo” was a major coup for the Wexford Festival Opera. Not only did it garner strong reviews, but it is not the winner of the “Best Opera Production” at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. The production was directed by Barbe & Doucet with musical direction by Jonathan Brandini. The production was broadcast globally {…}
The Wexford Festival has made some changes to its 2019 slate. At the 2018, the festival noted that it would be showcasing “Der Freischütz,” “Adina” and “Don Quichotte” as the major works to lead the event. However, a recent press release, issued on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, has stated that the festival will not perform the Carlo Maria von Weber {…}
The Wexford Festival Opera has announced that Rosetta Cucchi will be its next artistic director. She will initiate her six-year tenure after the 2019 festival when current artistic director David Agler steps down. “I am happy and honored to be appointed Artistic Director of the Wexford Festival Opera. I have a great passion for the Festival and the people who {…}
Polish baritone Simon Mechlinski and Venezuelan baritone Gustavo Castillo are winners of an artistic bursary from the Wexford Festival Opera. The prizes, given to violinist and conductor Cillian O’Breacháin as well, were given on the final weekend of the festival. Castillo received The Aria Friends’ Bursary, Mechlinski was the recipient of The Gerard Arnhold Award, and O’Breacháin was honored with {…}