Next October's Wexford Festival will include more than 50 performances and for the second year will feature the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus.
The festival's 51st programme was announced on Thursday by Ms Patricia Quinn, director of the Arts Council. The programme includes rare operas by Mercadante (Il giuramento), Auber (Manon) and Martinu (Mirandolina), as well as Opera Scenes and concerts. It takes place from October 17th to November 3rd.
Last year's festival was one of the most successful yet, according to the event's chairman, Mr Ted Howlin. The main opera performances were fully sold out for the sixth successive year, and 38 of the 40 other events last year were also booked to capacity.
The festival, which has received the promise of Government support for a major capital development programme, is planning to increase the seating capacity of the Theatre Royal by over 36 per cent to 751; to build a second performing space with a capacity of 400 seats (which will accommodate many of the events which now take place in White's Hotel); and open a major public art gallery.
The feasibility study for the new developments has been completed, and an application for planning permission is expected to be ready in the second half of 2003. The new facilities will function on a year-round basis as a receiving venue for touring theatre and music, according to the chief executive, Mr Jerome Hynes. If the circumstances were right "we would not rule out producing new work ourselves", he added.
The festival is already engaged in fund-raising activities for the project, for which it expects to have to find €7 million, in addition to the funds supplied by the Government.
The building work will have to be phased to take account of the builder's needs, the festival's income stream and the festival events themselves . "We are not prepared to lose a festival, but one festival may not take place in the theatre," Mr Hynes said.
The extremely negative response from British critics to last year's productions has not dented the festival's confidence. "We feel that the audience has spoken, both verbally and by the high level of initial inquiries for this year's events," he said.