JOHN CORIGLIANO's The Ghosts of Versailles, an opera written for the centennial of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, will open the 2009 Wexford festival, which runs from Wednesday, October 21st, to Sunday, November 1st.
The work, which was premièred in 1991, was a huge success, and has since been presented at the Lyric Opera in Chicago and the Staatsoper Hannover in Germany. With a cast that lists Marie Antoinette and Beaumarchais, as well as characters from Beaumarchais's play The Marriage of Figaro, the opera comes to Wexford in a co-production with the Opera Theatre of St Louis, who will present the work in June.
The Wexford cast will include two Irish singers, Paula Murrihy as Cherubino and Owen Gilhooly as the British ambassador. Murrihy also appears in Une éducation manquée( A Defective Education), the first work by 19th-century French composer Emmanuel Chabrier to feature in the festival. It shares a double bill with Gioachino Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio (The Marriage Contract).The final work is Maria Padillaby Gaetano Donizetti, the only composer to have had more than a dozen operas performed at Wexford.
The 2009 programme was officially launched in Wexford last night by Arts Council chairwoman Pat Moylan. She praised the €33 million Wexford Opera House, which opened its doors last October.
“The quality of the building exceeded all expectation and received unanimous praise during its inaugural festival last October. Coupled with a marked increase in production standards, a continuation of the festival’s unique approach to programming and impressively high audience attendances, the national and international reputation and appeal of the festival reached new heights.”
Festival chairman Paul Hennessy touched on the reduction of this year’s festival from 18 to 12 days. “While the current difficult economic environment has resulted in a reduced festival programme,” he said, “there will be no compromise on quality. Our 2009 festival will be as exciting, enjoyable and memorable as always”.
The programme will include the long-established series of lunchtime concerts in St Iberius Church, performances by the Prague Chamber Choir, a recital by the winner of the Axa Dublin International Piano Competition, and an appearance by Anúna. However, late night concerts and the popular piano-accompanied ShortWorks productions have had to be shelved. The festival is the fifth to be planned by artistic director David Agler.