Wexford Festival Opera announced the outline of its 2011 programme online yesterday – a modest but inventive move in keeping with the challenges facing the arts, writes MICHAEL DERVAN
OPERA IN Ireland may be down, but it's not out. The new NI Opera has announced a short tour of Menotti's The Mediumfor February (a month that also sees a touring Don Pasqualefrom Opera Theatre Company and a Merry Widowfrom Lyric Opera), and the Perm State Opera has added a late-November La traviataat the Grand Canal Theatre to Scottish Opera's Rigolettoat the same venue at the end of June.
Wexford Festival Opera has at last gone public with its offerings for 2011. The festival broke with tradition last year, by leaving its fans in the dark about the repertoire for the 2011 festival. There was a tough Budget in the offing, creating uncertainties about Arts Council funding, and the festival understandably decided to hedge its bets.
The Arts Council suffered less than many people were expecting, and although it will be next month before Wexford learns of its 2011 Arts Council grant, the festival has decided to take a leap into the dark, and announce the broad outline of its 60th season.
The announcement was made in a two-and-a-half minute webcast by the festival’s artistic director David Agler, a procedure that not only cut costs, but also got the news out to the whole world, rather than a select media group invited to a formal reception. This could be the way of the future.
Wexford will present productions of Gaetano Donizetti's 1839 melodrama Gianni di Parigi, Ambroise Thomas's 1855 comic opera, La cour de Célimene, and Roman Statkowski's 1903 tragic opera, Maria. Donizetti is the most-performed composer in Wexford's repertoire. Thomas has featured only once, when his best-known work, Mignon, was produced in 1986. And Statkowski, a little-known Pole whose Mariawas given in concert by Polish Radio three years ago and subsequently released on CD, is being heard in Wexford for the first time.
Although the festival will run for 16 days, from October 21st to November 5th, there will only be four performances of each of the three operas rather than the pre-recessionary six, or the five that were offered last year. There will be a gala concert on Wednesday, October 26th, but there will be no performances on October 24th or 25th, and November 1st. The festival is concentrating its offerings on days of the week for which demand is highest.
Details of daytime events (which will include ShortWorks productions and concerts) will be announced before booking opens in May (for Friends of the festival) and June (for the general public).
