When Stalin stormed out in disgust from one of the early performances of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1936, the composer had a premonition of doom. The sexual explicitness and nudity, along with the suggestion that life in rural Russia could be boring, did not find favour with the Soviet dictator and so, after an article attacking the morality of the tragic story appeared in Pravda, the play was withdrawn from theatres across the USSR.
Nearly three-quarters of a century later, the Irish opera audience finally gets to see what all the fuss is about when this Shakespearean-sounding production premieres on Sunday evening at Opera Ireland's winter season. It's a black-tie affair that begins with a champagne reception in Mornington House, part of the Merrion Hotel.
Having disregarded the dress code, Dublin-based Swiss director of the opera Dieter Kaegi is chatting to executive director of Opera Ireland David Collopy. Although pleased the Government is starting to take opera seriously, with plans to develop a new centre in the south docklands, Kaegi says he would prefer to see the Gaiety Theatre developed as the National Opera House.
Looking smart in his tux, Labour Party leader Ruairi Quinn, an architect by profession, points out the finer details of this handsome Georgian building.
The crowd includes Eileen O'Mara Walsh, chairwoman of Opera Ireland, opera lovers Claudia Nolan and Pauline Tilsman. Jessica Fuller of the IRMA Trust is here with her boyfriend, Stephen Murray. And then it's on to the waiting coaches and the Gaiety.