DISCOVER A HIDDEN GEM WEXFORD FESTIVAL OPERA 19 OCTOBER – 5 NOVEMBER www.wexfordopera.com OUR 2017 SEASON BOOK NOW Wexfordopera.com OR CALL 053 912 2144 OPERA OPERA OPERA MEDEA MARGHERITA RISURREZIONE Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) Jacopo Foroni (1824–1858) Franco Alfano (1875–1954) Medea is a fierce work, and not simply because of its subject Following the success of Cristina, regina di Svezia at Wexford in 2013, Risurrezione tells of the young aristocrat, Nekhlyudov, who while matter; plenty of uncompromising plots have been watered down acclaimed by many as one of the most worthwhile rediscoveries in the serving on a jury recognises the prostitute Katerina Maslova as the before reaching the operatic stage. As the New Grove Dictionary festival’s long history, we return to another of Jacopo Foroni’s operas. young girl he had once seduced, and how he rejects his former of Opera explains, ‘In its unmitigated horror, this opera has few Margherita is a delightful comedy in which a solider and his betrothed life and follows her to Siberia, trying to undo past wrongs. Tolstoy’s equals. Its savage fury ties it closely to its Greek ancestry.’ It is all are kept apart by confusion, duels, mistaken identity, treachery and complex critique of Russian society was particularly unsparing in its the more astonishing, then, to remember that it was written a mere jealousy. Roberto wishes to marry Margherita, but she is in love with gaze on the Orthodox Church, so much so that it led to the writer’s six years after Die Zauberflöte. Cherubini, who composed over 30 Ernesto. Ernesto and Margherita decide to marry the day after he formal excommunication. Ironically, given the adaptations that operas as well as large quantities of church and chamber music, discovers his battalion is shipping out. Ernesto’s Colonel is attacked have been made of his work for the lyric stage, Tolstoy hated opera was himself fully cosmopolitan and stands apart from other Italian and Ernesto is blamed. All seems lost until the Count clears everything because he thought it superficial. Alfano’s opera concentrates on the composers of his day. Having moved to Paris early on in his career up. Ernesto and Margherita are reunited and marry. drama of personal relationships, and Risurrezione quickly became a hit and enjoyed aristocratic patronage, he had some trouble adapting in operatic capitals from Paris to Chicago. O’REILLY THEATRE | NATIONAL OPERA HOUSE to post-Revolution conditions, though not enough to stop him being TICKETS €20 – €150 O’REILLY THEATRE | NATIONAL OPERA HOUSE appointed Napoleon’s director of music in Vienna in 1805–6. TICKETS €20 – €150 Friday 20 October – 8 p.m. O’REILLY THEATRE | NATIONAL OPERA HOUSE Thursday 26 October – 8 p.m. Saturday 21 October – 8 p.m. Thursday 2 November – 8 p.m. TICKETS €20 – €150 Sunday 29 October – 3 p.m. Friday 27 October – 8 p.m. Sunday 5 November – 5 p.m. Thursday 19 October – 8 p.m. Saturday 28 October – 8 p.m. Wednesday 1 November – 8 p.m. Monday 30 October – 8 p.m. Sunday 22 October – 5 p.m. Friday 3 November – 8 p.m. Saturday 4 November – 8 p.m. 26 OCTOBER 4 NOVEMBER 21 OCTOBER PERFORMANCE SUPPORTER 21 OCTOBER PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE 28 OCTOBER PERFORMANCE SUPPORTERS 3 NOVEMBER SPONSOR SPONSOR SPONSOR PERFORMANCE Stephen Vernon SPONSOR Terry and Marjorie Neill SHORTWORK SHORTWORK SHORTWORK LA SCALA DI SETA DUBLINERS RIGOLETTO Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Andrew Synnott (1970–) Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) While some of Rossini’s operas count among the best loved in World premiere of two new short operas based on stories Dating from the very middle of Verdi’s middle period, and occupying the repertoire, there are still many corners of his output worthy of (Counterparts and The Boarding House) from Dubliners by James first place in the famous early 1850s trilogy that includes Il Trovatore exploring at a festival devoted to operatic rarities. In the context Joyce, which are given a fresh new treatment in this operatic double- and La Traviata, Rigoletto is one of the best known of all Verdi’s of this year’s programme, he can be seen both as coming from a bill. Just over 100 years after they were first published, composer operas. Indeed, it is the first of his operas to have remained popular generation or two before that of Foroni and from a generation or two Andrew Synnott and librettist Arthur Riordan combine perfectly to and firmly in the repertoire without interruption, since its premiere after that of Cherubini, both Italians who sought their fortunes abroad. capture the world of the original stories and bring Joyce’s unique at La Fenice in Venice in 1851 to the present day. There were, Rossini was not as quick as Cherubini to head to Paris, then the world’s characters vividly to life. nevertheless, impediments to early performances, both from the operatic capital, but he eventually did so – indeed, like Cherubini (and official censors and self-censorious audiences, appalled by what they This double-bill is scored for piano, string quartet and a cast of Chopin), he was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, though his saw as the ‘immorality’ and ‘obscene triviality’ of the Victor Hugo six singers. The music is both contemporary and entertaining, remains would later be taken home to his native Pesaro. La Scala di play on which Verdi and his librettist Francesco Maria Piave based affectionately offering a new way to experience Joyce’s celebrated seta belongs firmly to his early Italian years, and indeed is a key work their masterpiece. It is also essentially an intimate drama, something and popular stories of his native Dublin. in his development, even if it is only more recently that its jewel-like that lends itself to the adaptations also required in a pared-down qualities have come to be fully appreciated. CLAYTON WHITES HOTEL | TICKETS €30 performance such as that presented here in the ShortWorks series. CLAYTON WHITES HOTEL | TICKETS €30 Friday 20 October – 3.30 p.m. Sunday 29 October – 11 a.m. CLAYTON WHITES HOTEL | TICKETS €30 Thursday 26 October – 3.30 p.m. Wednesday 1 November – 3.30 p.m. Saturday 21 October – 3.30 p.m. Monday 30 October – 3.30 p.m. Sunday 22 October – 11 a.m. Thursday 2 November – 3.30 p.m. Tuesday 24 October – 3.30 p.m. Friday 3 November – 3.30 p.m. Wednesday 25 October – 3.30 p.m. Saturday 4 November – 3.30 p.m. The Festival ShortWorks are made possible by the generous support Friday 27 October – 3.30 p.m. Saturday 28 October – 3.30 p.m. of The Lord Magan of Castletown The Festival ShortWorks are made possible by the generous support The Festival ShortWorks are made possible by the generous support of The Lord Magan of Castletown of The Lord Magan of Castletown CONCERT RECITALS LECTURE THE THOMAS MOORE LUNCHTIME RECITALS DR TOM WALSH The very popular Lunchtime Recitals provide an insight into the SONGBOOK artistic personality of some of the principal singers of the Festival LECTURE ‘The poet of all circles and the idol of his own’ – the words are and are a way to ‘meet’ them in an informal setting. In the beautiful The 2017 Dr Tom Walsh Lecture will be given by Fiona Shaw, Irish Lord Byron’s, inscribed on the tall Celtic cross erected above and acoustically excellent eighteenth-century church of St Iberius in actress and theatre and opera director, known for her role as Petunia Thomas Moore’s grave one hundred years ago. Byron adored the the centre of Wexford, audiences appreciate the musical versatility Dursley in the Harry Potter films and her role as Marnie Stonebrook Irish Melodies: he told Moore ‘I have them by heart ... they are my of solo singers who perform a wide variety of music from across the in season four of the HBO series True Blood (2011). She has worked matins and my vespers’; Ireland’s national song writer was similarly repertoire, including operatic arias, lieder, oratorio, concert and extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National revered in the land of his birth. He moved easily in the privileged popular songs. Theatre, twice winning the Olivier Award for Best Actress; for various circles of London’s salons where he was celebrated for singing and One of the delights of attending a Lunchtime Recital is that the roles including Electra in 1990, and for Machinal in 1994. She won the accompanying songs such as The minstrel boy’, Believe me, if all those programme is not advertised beforehand, so everyone shares the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for The endearing young charms, The meeting of the waters, The harp that same degree of anticipation and expectation. Unsurprisingly, the Waste Land. Her other stage work includes playing the title role in once through Tara’s halls, and particularly, The last rose of summer Lunchtime Recitals sell out very quickly. Medea, both in the West End and on Broadway (2001–02). She was which quickly became the anthem of every great soprano of the day. awarded an Honorary CBE in 2001. As a result of their popularity, the Irish Melodies were continually The artists and their performance dates will be announced at the Born in County Cork, Miss Shaw trained at the Royal Academy of updated; some, such as Frank Lambert’s She is far from the land beginning of the Festival. Dramatic Art (RADA) in London and was part of a ‘new wave’ of became even more famous than the original.