Opera in Ireland - general discussion thread on all things opera in Ireland

scream

I'm new to opera and would like to attend a performance, probably later in the year, maybe for my Birthday in November, and have a few questions. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

1. Is there a specific Opera Season and when does it run?
2. Is there a good website somewhere that might list upcoming performances?
3. Is there a National Opera House here like the Royal Opera House in London?
4. What operas would you recommend for a beginner, or what are you're favourites?

Sorry about the long list of questions but I thought it best to just get them all out there and hope for the best. Thanks in advance.

McLoughlin

scream wrote: »

I'm new to opera and would like to attend a performance, probably later in the year, maybe for my Birthday in November, and have a few questions. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

1. Is there a specific Opera Season and when does it run?
2. Is there a good website somewhere that might list upcoming performances?
3. Is there a National Opera House here like the Royal Opera House in London?
4. What operas would you recommend for a beginner, or what are you're favourites?

Sorry about the long list of questions but I thought it best to just get them all out there and hope for the best. Thanks in advance.

Wexford Opera Festival in the National Opera House in late October and first few days of November is probably tour best bet

westtip

scream wrote: »

I'm new to opera and would like to attend a performance, probably later in the year, maybe for my Birthday in November, and have a few questions. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

1. Is there a specific Opera Season and when does it run?
2. Is there a good website somewhere that might list upcoming performances?
3. Is there a National Opera House here like the Royal Opera House in London?
4. What operas would you recommend for a beginner, or what are you're favourites?

Sorry about the long list of questions but I thought it best to just get them all out there and hope for the best. Thanks in advance.

Four very big questions Scream - How long have you got?

Ireland used to have a national opera company called opera ireland - although the output of the company was only 4 operas a year, with a spring and winter season in the last decade of its existence - the noughties it's artistic quality of output had become variable - but with lack of funding and the best will in the world the company tried to stick delivering as varied a diet as they could of what us opera goers would call the mainstream repertoire of 18th 19th and 20th century operas, That company came out of a long operatic tradition that used to exist in a company called the Dublin Grand Opera company, google this company for a list of references. Opera Ireland was a victim of the bankruptcy of this country bought about by the mismanagement of this countries finances by the last administration. However, to their credit that same administration did give us the national opera house - as it is now called in Wexford, which was actually built to house the Wexford Festival Opera (google this) the festival takes place in late october/early November each year. There was talk at one stage of actually building a national opera house in Dublin, now touring companies tend to land in the Bord Gais theatre (which the state refused to buy for a song as a national theatre when it became available) Wexford can be quirky, its raison d'etre is to revive operas that have been lost from the repertoire, Quite often for good reason. The festival do 3 productions of these opera at the festival, it can be hit or miss. Looking at this years three on offer I would be inclined to recommend Gugliemo Ratcliff by a composer called Mascagni for a total beginner. It seems to be the most heavily booked so far at Wexford which implies others think it might the hit of the three this festival season. At Wexford during the day they do matinees of mainstream operas in Whites hotel, Tosca would be a good one for a first time opera goer in fact I would highly recommend it for a complete novice mind you it is a 3.30 matinee if you are looking more for a night out at the theatre go for the Mascagni one Gugliemo Ratcliff for a first time opera goer it is probably the best Wexford Festival has to offer this year. If you want to try to get the flavour of grand opera the various cinema showings of opera from the big international opera houses are worth it to get a flavour of it all. Finally and not least of all we do have a small national touring opera company called Opera Theatre company, they try to put out about two operas a year and do some special one off events for Festivals and Venue based operatic events - some of which have been very memorable. An opera based in a jail Fidelio - Beethovens only opera, was performed in Kilmainham jail about ten years ago - to stunning effect and critical acclaim; they tour one or two operas around the country to small venues and operate on a very limited budget with restricted orchestra size (or sometimes just piano). They do their best and sometimes come up some gems of performances. Look up the website opera.ie they are performing two rarely performed operas at the Kilkenny festival. Be warned though if you really fall for the viral infection called opera you are going to have to start getting used to travelling - our operatic output is sadly not what it used to be in this country. Hope this is helpful.

scream

westtip wrote:

Ireland used to have a national opera company called opera ireland - although the output of the company was only 4 operas a year, with a spring and winter season in the last decade of its existence - the noughties it's artistic quality of output had become variable - but with lack of funding and the best will in the world the company tried to stick delivering as varied a diet as they could of what us opera goers would call the mainstream repertoire of 18th 19th and 20th century operas, That company came out of a long operatic tradition that used to exist in a company called the Dublin Grand Opera company, google this company for a list of references. Opera Ireland was a victim of the bankruptcy of this country bought about by the mismanagement of this countries finances by the last administration. However, to their credit that same administration did give us the national opera house - as it is now called in Wexford, which was actually built to house the Wexford Festival Opera (google this) the festival takes place in late october/early November each year. There was talk at one stage of actually building a national opera house in Dublin, now touring companies tend to land in the Bord Gais theatre (which the state refused to buy for a song as a national theatre when it became available) Wexford can be quirky, its raison d'etre is to revive operas that have been lost from the repertoire, Quite often for good reason. The festival do 3 productions of these opera at the festival, it can be hit or miss. Looking at this years three on offer I would be inclined to recommend Gugliemo Ratcliff by a composer called Mascagni for a total beginner. It seems to be the most heavily booked so far at Wexford which implies others think it might the hit of the three this festival season. At Wexford during the day they do matinees of mainstream operas in Whites hotel, Tosca would be a good one for a first time opera goer in fact I would highly recommend it for a complete novice mind you it is a 3.30 matinee if you are looking more for a night out at the theatre go for the Mascagni one Gugliemo Ratcliff for a first time opera goer it is probably the best Wexford Festival has to offer this year. If you want to try to get the flavour of grand opera the various cinema showings of opera from the big international opera houses are worth it to get a flavour of it all. Finally and not least of all we do have a small national touring opera company called Opera Theatre company, they try to put out about two operas a year and do some special one off events for Festivals and Venue based operatic events - some of which have been very memorable. An opera based in a jail Fidelio - Beethovens only opera, was performed in Kilmainham jail about ten years ago - to stunning effect and critical acclaim; they tour one or two operas around the country to small venues and operate on a very limited budget with restricted orchestra size (or sometimes just piano). They do their best and sometimes come up some gems of performances. Look up the website opera.ie they are performing two rarely performed operas at the Kilkenny festival. Be warned though if you really fall for the viral infection called opera you are going to have to start getting used to travelling - our operatic output is sadly not what it used to be in this country. Hope this is helpful.

Thank you very much for all the info. I shall certainly follow up on it when I have more time. Thanks again.

marienbad

I went to see Handel's Agrippina Tuesday night in the Lime Tree Theatre Tuesday night . It was quite simply magnificent , much better than anything I have seen at Wexford in the last five years ( with the exception of A Village Romeo & Juliet).

Staged by Irish Youth Opera and The Irish Chamber Orchestra , with Marie Flavin as Agrippina ,Anna Devin as Poppea , Rachel Kelly as Nerone and Alan Ewing as Claudio . Just outstanding performance all round and the best opera presentation I have seen in Ireland in years .

It is on a very limited run and the remaining dates are as follows

Black Box Theatre Galway Thursday 10th September.
O'Reilly Theatre Dublin Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th September Dublin
The Market Place Theatre Armagh Saturday 19th September .

Unbeatable value at around 20 odd euro. Don't miss it

The Green Pixie

Will be there on Saturday night.
Their Rape of Lucretia last year was brilliant too.

marienbad

I know it is not opera , but anyway ..... the New Ross Piano Festival begins
tonight and as it is the 10 th anniversary we have a very special opening concert with the NSO and piano concerti by Beethoven Mendelssohn and Scriabin .

And further treats all day tomorrow and Sunday , Can't wait .......

marienbad

Just back from the Wexford Opera Festival and after some doubts over recent years my faith has been restored . This year was simply astonishing , the best I have ever seen .

And in Guglielmo Ratcliff one of the best opera productions I have ever seen anywhere anytime . Simply breath-taking . Last chance to see it this Saturday , if you have to beg steal or borrow to get a ticket do so , one of those once in a lifetime productions .

Some small quibbles over some things but that can wait , I am just too exhilarated after last night .

westtip

marienbad wrote: »

And in Guglielmo Ratcliff one of the best opera productions I have ever seen anywhere anytime . Simply breath-taking . Last chance to see it this Saturday , if you have to beg steal or borrow to get a ticket do so , one of those once in a lifetime productions .

Some small quibbles over some things but that can wait , I am just too exhilarated after last night .

The only I got to see this year, after careful research decided it was the pick of the bunch, completely concur. A magnificent production and performance. Yes a once in a lifetime production so well thought through. Stunning.

garancafan

I had to miss Guglielmo but if it was better than the other two and the mini-Tosca then it must have been something very special. I had very interesting seats for le Pré - circle single seats at the sides. These allowed a good view of most of the orchestra and a revealing perspective of the depth of the stage. I was in "the Gods" for the gala concert. I had misgivings about the sound as we sat down and saw the distance from the stage but it turned out to be absolutely superb. Does sound rise like heat?

In my view, Wexford is now on a par with ROH and Glyndebourne. My friendship for next year is assured.

marienbad

garancafan wrote: »

In my view, Wexford is now on a par with ROH and Glyndebourne. My friendship for next year is assured.

Steady on lets not lose the run of ourselves , and besides we are not comparing like with like . Gheorghiu - Kaufmann -Terfel in Tosca a few years ago is unlike anything you will ever see in Wexford .

Guglielmo Ratcliff was a glorious achievement but how many have there been like that in the last number of years ?

Wexford has its niche and in that area I would say it is unrivalled , but if they were to depart from that strength their shortcomings would be quickly discernible .

On the Tosca and the other 'shorter works' I have to say this is where my main quibbles lie . Why do Tosca and Hansel& Gretel ? These are so well known that any reduced score must be a disappointment , Tosca without the Te Deum ? Hansel & Gretel without the orchestral dream sequence ?
Le Portrait de Manon is much more suited , a score with which we are probably unfamiliar , but even here why drag in the episode from Manon as a prologue ? It would have been more productive to get the surtitles working .

McLoughlin

Tosca felt rather rushed but enjoyable, Portrait de Manon was ok but no surtitles left me confused at times.

The main opera's Guglielmo Ratcliff was excellent Koanga interesting but not as great as the Opera House were promoting it as.

I will see the other 2 works this weekend

garancafan

marienbad wrote: »

Steady on lets not lose the run of ourselves , and besides we are not comparing like with like . Gheorghiu - Kaufmann -Terfel in Tosca a few years ago is unlike anything you will ever see in Wexford .

Guglielmo Ratcliff was a glorious achievement but how many have there been like that in the last number of years ?

Wexford has its niche and in that area I would say it is unrivalled , but if they were to depart from that strength their shortcomings would be quickly discernible.

Wellll - OK, (at the time of posting I was still on a high following Ms Eunhee Kim's Vissi d'arte), but what would life be without losing the run of ourselves occasionally? Certainly we are not comparing like with like in the area of the quality of the principals but I feel that sometimes undue emphasis is placed on this at the cost of not enough consideration being given to the overall quality of the production. It is in this realm that I proffer my view of Wexford's ranking.

marienbad

garancafan wrote: »

not enough consideration being given to the overall quality of the production. It is in this realm that I proffer my view of Wexford's ranking.

The overall quality of the production is always of paramount consideration in any opera house worth its salt - it is never glossed because of the 'star' quality of performers . It just isn't .

Let just appreciate Wexford for what it is and leave the ranking system to our sporting brethren .

The Rape of Lucretia

Thats good news on Guglielmo (which I didnt see), because Le Pre aux Clercs was also very well worthwhile.

The key ingredient, which has been missing from many a Wexford offering in recent years being fundamental musical quality. The Herold is lightweight stuff, but high quality lightweight stuff. Its second rate. But that can be entertaining. What is not, is the third rate music best left in the archives no matter how imaginative the staging or skill of the musicians. Its not fun watching someone trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Orchestra an voices all very good, and there was sufficient music quality there to reward their efforts. Unlike some other in-one-ear-out-the-other they have dabbled in, this was one score I would be happy to listen to again.

So hopefully a sign of things to come in Wexford - mining the rarities or the neglected is a worthy pursuit - but a certain level of musical worth must be maintained to make the venture worthwhile.

westtip

What was your operatic highlight (in Ireland) for 2015, for me it was the Guglielmo Ratcliff at Wexford.

any other offers.

marienbad

westtip wrote: »

What was your operatic highlight (in Ireland) for 2015, for me it was the Guglielmo Ratcliff at Wexford.

any other offers.

Without question Westtip followed in close second by the ICO co-production of Agrippina .

westtip

Anyone going to Angela Gheorgio onSaturday....looking forward to it

marienbad

westtip wrote: »

Anyone going to Angela Gheorgio onSaturday....looking forward to it

I am not going , but let us know how it works out .

westtip

marienbad wrote: »

I am not going , but let us know how it works out .

It was OK not brilliant and not a patch on the Juan Diego concert last year, she still has a great voice, good to be so close to her, I was on on the front row on the side she sang from, too much from Carmen for my liking, wish she had done some of the big Verdi arias. The young Romanian tenor she had in tow is ok, don't ask me his name right now I have forgotten! but far too much of him singing in this concert to be billed as a sole gala concert with Gheorgiou. She short changed us a bit in the first half. A good night out, but not up there with stellar nights to remember.

garancafan

Delightful production of Il Barbiere in Wexford on Saturday by Wide Open Opera. Competent performances from the principals with Gavan Ring's Figaro a tour de force.

The Rape of Lucretia

I thought is was mediocre. Beggars can't be choosers and all that, so good that there was some fully staged opera on in Dublin. A positive.

But musically disappointing to me. No sparkle to it. And if you cant produce some spark from Il Barbiere, then something is wrong.
Franco era staging was fine - take it or leave it, and a bit too much on stage set spinning for me. The acting and comedy from all the principals was good - 1970s UK style sitcom stuff, but buffa as buffa should be. That was the best of it though.

Orchestra very dull (possibly also further muted by a poor acoustic in the GCT - it sounded a little like they were playing on the other side of a heavy curtain, but I think they were too staid anyway). Soloist were the real weakness. Figaro and Almaviva particularly - very second rate voices. Rosina was OK. But only OK, and while certainly superior to the two men, I expected better given the reputation. Bartolo, similarly lacklustre. That they didnt outshine the minor roles is telling - Basilio had better volume than the others which suited the theatre, although musically middling, and Berta and Fiorello were quite good.

westtip

Didn't go to Barber, I heard mixed reports, if I was I would have gone to Wexford, Box on the Docks is just too big. Opera is so far down the agenda now I wonder what the future is. Ryanair is the only saviour of opera goers in Ireland.

By the way if anyone is going to the live Royal opera house screening in various cinemas tonight save your money and go and buy a decent recording. I saw it at the ROH two weeks ago. Worst production I have seen at ROH in 40 years of opera going (or at least among the top 5 worst evers!) Go read what is being said about it on the ROH website blog/thread on this opera. It is simply dreadful, having said that Charle Castronovo is a great Edgardo and Diana Damrau a stunning Lucia, but never seen such bad stage direction in my entire opera going life!

marienbad

Just in from the MET cinema broadcast of Electra , what a grand night for 20 odd euro . The brilliant Patrice Chereau production conducted by Salonen

Nina Stemme was great in the title role ,but Waltrud Meier still going strong at 60 was magnificent as Klytamnestra .

And of course it is a straight run true opera ,thus saving us from those interminable intermissions the MET is so fond of .

Still hard to believe the first production was in 1909 !

westtip

Reminder folks that individual ticket booking opened for the NCH celebrity season next year. Joyce di donato on June 8th is the pick for me, you can get seats in the front three rows at decent prices at the moment - individual booking opened last week. Always worth booking in advance for these kind of concerts they always sell out and even if you cannot go the tickets are easy returns.

westtip

Anyone seen OTC Boheme yet, have heard good things.

garancafan

Caught it in Belvedere. Quite enjoyed a good effort. Ms Flavin maturing nicely. Impressed by the 13 piece orchestra built around a string quartet - minimalist but perfectly adequate. The production clipped some (in my view,surplus) pieces to good effect. A minor criticism of the theatre that could be addressed, perhaps, is that the surtitres board is a bit high for comfort.

westtip

garancafan wrote: »

A minor criticism of the theatre that could be addressed, perhaps, is that the surtitres board is a bit high for comfort.

Thanks, I won't need surtitles for Boheme.....seen it just a few times!

marienbad

westtip wrote: »

Thanks, I won't need surtitles for Boheme.....seen it just a few times!

Which is why I will give it a miss - if I see it one more time ....... maybe in another 10 years or so

westtip

marienbad wrote: »

Which is why I will give it a miss - if I see it one more time ....... maybe in another 10 years or so

Well yes I know your point, if I missed this Boheme it would not be the end of the world, but I do feel it is so important to support OTC as there is so little indigenous opera output these days in Ireland. In fact more important to go see this than a live Met broadcast. We haven't even got a Minister for the Arts these days. So if we can we should try and get to see this OTC output.