Opera festival keeps its eccentricities as it turns 50

The Wexford Opera Festival celebrated its 50th birthday last night with a now-traditional first night fireworks display bringing Halloween early to the south-east.

One of classical music's more eccentric events, the festival opened with a trademark rare opera, The little-known Friedrich Flotow's even lesser-known Alessandro Stradella. But in other respects Wexford marked its first half century with some radical departures from past form.

The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus replaced its Irish equivalent, with which negotiations are continuing about a renewal of contractual relations next year. More dramatically, the introduction of surtitles in English above the Theatre Royal stage allowed opera goers the opportunity to understand fully what was going on for the first time.

Given the plot of last night's opera, which was implausible to start with, and then gradually stretched credibility.

Security was tight at the 480-capacity venue, although this was mainly aimed at preventing any repeat of previous opening-night incidents in which starlings were scared into the theatre by the fireworks and performed their own operatic works from the rafters all night.

The 18-day festival had been formally opened earlier in the evening by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey. The waterfront ceremony culminated with the fireworks display, mounted, to the accompaniment of selected arias, by the group responsible for the Eiffel Tower Spectacular on Millenium night in Paris.

Occasional bird invasions apart, the Wexford Festival is a well-oiled machine 50 years on, boasting 100 per cent ticket sales for the 6th year running, according to chief executive Jerome Hynes, and filling hotels and guest houses well beyond Wexford.

The accompanying fringe festival has become almost as big an attraction as the main one, with the daytime recitals also sold out.

One of the most popular fringe happenings is the "Singing, Swinging Pubs Of Wexford", a vocal competition marked as much by enthusiasm as much as talent and a bigger risk to your ears, apparently, than the full hurleys of Wexford ever were.

For more information on travel and festivals around Ireland, see the Irish Times website, Explore Ireland, at www.ireland.com/explore