David Agler took his final bow on stage on Nov. 2, 2019, as Artistic Director at the National Opera House after the closing performance of the 68th Wexford Festival Opera.

During his final bow, Agler thanked both the company and the audience for their loyal support throughout the years, before formally handing over the reigns to the incoming Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi, the Festival’s eighth Artistic Director in its 68-year history.

This year’s festival ran for 13 consecutive days with 41 public events, most of which were sold-out. The festival included a live stream Vivaldi’s “Dorilla in Tempe” which was seen by millions and also live-streamed into three Irish cinemas, the Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin, Pálás Cinema, Galway and Century Cinema, Letterkenny, marking the first time ever that an Irish-produced opera was broadcast live into Irish cinemas.

This year’s productions of “The Veiled Prophet” by Charles Villiars Stanford, “La cucina” by Andrew Synnott and “Adina” by Rossini, and “Don Quichotte” by Massenet will be broadcast internationally to Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland, Canada, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany as part of the European Broadcasting Union Premium Opera Series which celebrates the best of Opera around Europe from La Scala to Vienna Staatsoper to the Wexford Opera Festival.

The 69th Wexford Festival Opera will run from Oct. 20 through Nov. 1, 2020.