The Arts Council’s new opera strategy made four major production awards and gave a jolt of energy to the sector. Here, four company leaders give their opinions on what’s in store for Irish audiences
MICHAEL BARKER-CAVEN
Artistic director of the Everyman Palace Theatre, co-director of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
Long-term goals for opera in Cork:My ambition would be that opera is again centrestage in Cork as a core element of its dramatic life. I would like to see a renaissance in the city and in Irish opera production. There is an ambition among the new generation of artists to make opera an accessible artform. Our Pagliacci [which ended its run at the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork last night] puts opera out into the community instead of on a pedestal, remote and untouchable. Cross-fertilisation produces something really exciting. That vision for opera exists in Cork. That vibrancy is the future of opera in Ireland.
The best thing about working in opera:The music. I'm a theatre artist by background, and have been drawn to theatre as a medium that involves music. I love being able to sit back and enjoy the high technical skill of musicians and singers. The music demands that you produce a transcendent experience. Music allied to the theatre is still the greatest single artform.
The worst thing about working in opera:The hardest challenge is financial. The music, the artists give you the joy. The money gives you a headache, the production costs are so high. Opera doesn't make economic sense, but it does make cultural sense.
The future of opera in Ireland is .. . John O'Brien [co-director of Pagliacci].
Should Ireland have a national opera company?It's imperative. We should look for a new model, like the National Theatre of Scotland – an idea with a purpose, but flexible in the way it produces the highest quality of work.
FERGUS SHEIL
Founder of Wide Open Opera, and conductor of Tristan und Isolde
Top reasons to go to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde:It's one of the absolutely best operas ever written. It hasn't been performed in Ireland in almost 50 years, so it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. And the real-life experience of Wagner in the theatre is unquantifiably different to what you get from a CD or a DVD.
Long term goals for Wide Open Opera:As the name suggests, we want to do lots of different types of opera. I don't want to sound too grandiose about it, but I want to contribute to changing people's view about opera. Opera can be big or small, new or old. There are no boundaries for it. We'd like to think that 10 years down the road we would have presented lots of different and unexpected things, and particularly to have given audiences experiences that they haven't had before.
The best thing about working in opera:The artistic richness and reach of people involved: singers, theatre directors, designers, orchestra, chorus. I find it very energising when I'm in a rehearsal room or in a performance. The whole world is there.
The worst thing about working in opera is: It's difficult to be spontaneous. Operas involve a lot of people. Diaries get booked up, you need to plan so far in advance. One of the first things I did for Tristan was to make an almost minute-by-minute rehearsal schedule. If anything unforeseen comes up, it can be very difficult to change course.
The future of opera in Ireland . . .To be honest, I don't know. We're in a very volatile situation, but potentially a very positive one. Lots of people are coming forward with ideas. What the Arts Council has done is give a huge stir of the pot. How it will settle is not known. It's created a huge energy in the sector, there's more opportunity to do things, and it's really up to the sector now to convince the public that opera is worth taking seriously.
Would you like to see Ireland have a national opera company?I would. But I would be very careful how you would model it. I would like to model it on the National Theatre of Scotland, a company that doesn't have large overheads, a large staff, or huge fixed costs. It doesn't run a theatre. It uses its funding to work with others, to seize opportunities. They make things happen sometimes on their own, sometimes in collaboration with others. If there is to be a national opera company in Ireland, it needs to be along those lines.
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin on Sept 30, Oct 3 and 6. bordgaisenergytheatre.ie, 0818-719377
VIVIAN COATES
Artistic director of Lyric Opera Productions
Top reasons to go to Aida:The music of Verdi has a great interest for Irish audiences, and Aida is a fantastic piece, a glorious work on a grand scale. It has also got some of the most intimate moments in opera. It's being created by an Irish team, Conor Murphy designing sets, Joan O'Clery the costumes, and Paul Koegan the lighting. It's the first time we've been able to afford to use a team like that. And the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the DIT Conservatory have singers in the Lyric chorus, which will number about 60.
Long-term goals for Lyric Opera Productions: To continue to nurture Irish talent, people like John Molloy and Claudia Boyle. Lyric Opera doesn't want to just stay in Dublin We want to go down to Cork and other places, once the finances are available. And we hope the Arts Council will help and nurture what we do. We want to get involved in various festivals, and we're also looking at commissioning an opera for the celebration of the Easter Rising.
The best thing about working in opera?The passion that emanates from whatever work you're working on. You begin with dots on a page, and you end up with something incredibly beautiful.
The worst thing?The lack of finance in general to do what I really want to do. We are so grateful to the Arts Council for what they have given us. I just hope we live up to what they expect and we hope that they will continue to look on our work and help us continue it.
The future of opera in Ireland is . . .Seeing an increase in the the number of young people who have come to opera for the first time in the last couple of years who walked out smiling.
Should Ireland have a national opera company?Absolutely, it it was organised in the right fashion, if it incorporated a lot more of our Irish nationals, so that it was truly an Irish national opera.
Verdi's Aida is at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on Oct 14, 16 and 17. lyricoperaproductions.com, 0818-719388
OLIVER MEARS
Artistic director of NI Opera, director of Hansel and Gretel
The three top reasons to go to Hansel and Gretel: It's got a fantastic, mainly Irish cast. It's a production which is accessible to all ages, which is very rare in opera. It's a mix of colour, spectacle and great music, and there's even a chorus of gingerbread children.
My long term goals for NI Opera:To continue what we've been doing, promoting young talent, excellence in opera, diverse and imaginative programming, a risk-taking approach to productions, and also the use of unusual and iconic spaces in Northern Ireland. We want to make sure we remain ambitious. We may be regional but we're not provincial.
The best thing about working in opera:Working on an extremely demanding form with extremely talented people. It really is a form like no other. It is what Wagner said, the complete artform. And the joy of working with music is one of the most immediate reasons.
The worst thing about working in opera: Its scale. There's a huge amount of work on logistics required. It's painstaking, methodical work, it's not gripping, and it has to be done.
The future of opera in Northern Ireland . . .Hopefully it's a continuing excitement for the form on the part of the audience and the people who are creating it.
Would you like to see Ireland have an all-island national opera company?It would either involve NI Opera or make it redundant, so that's difficult for me. The more opera companies in the world the better, so I would support a national company if there were demand for it and support on the ground for it.
Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel is at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on Nov 7, 9 and 10. niopera.com, 0818-719388
