Cast Announced for Daytime ShortWorks Operas at Wexford Festival Opera

The cast and creative teams performing in the popular daytime ShortWorks operas have been announced for this year's Festival. Intimately staged and approximately one hour in length, the ShortWorks operas are presented in the nearby Clayton Whites Hotel and offer audiences the opportunity to enjoy a one-act opera or a condensed version of a more familiar opera. The ShortWork operas are sung by soloists who are also performing in the main-stage productions, giving them the opportunity to further showcase their talent.

Three daytime productions are on offer this year including:

Dubliners by Irish composer Andrew Synnott, with adaptation and text by Arthur Riordan, two one-act operas: Counterparts and The Boarding House from James Joyce's Dubliners, will receive its world-premiere with four performances only. The opera is written for a cast of six singers, accompanied by piano and string quartet, and features a predominately Irish cast including soprano Emma Nash, tenor Andrew Gavin and Baritone David Howes. Composer Andrew Synnott will also serve as Music Director, while celebrated theatre director, Annabelle Comyn will direct. Dubliners is a co-production with Opera Theatre Company.

La Scala di seta by Gioachino Rossini, one of his lesser-known works, is a fast-moving comedy. Its title translates as 'The Silken Ladder' - in this case, a stairway to the heaven of various nocturnal rendezvous. The cast includes Bulgarian soprano Galina Bakalova and Korean tenor Ji Hyun Kim, a former Jette Park Young Artist, as the resourceful lovers, Giulia and Dorvil, and American tenor Chase Hopkins sings Dormont, Giulia's guardian. The somewhat confused servant is sung by Italian bass Filippo Fontana, who most recently performed in Wexford in 2014, singing the title role in Don Bucefalo. Canadian répétiteur, Tina Chang, will act as Music Director, with stage direction by American Nathan Troupe.

Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi is a tragic story of the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's beautiful daughter Gilda, and contains some of opera's most beloved arias including 'la donne é mobile'. Wexford veteran Roberto Recchia will direct this condensed version of the popular opera, with Wexford new-comer, Giorgio D'alonzo, as Music Director. Leading the cast is the Anglo-French baritone Charles Rice in the title role, with Italian soprano Giuliana Gianfaldoni as his love-stricken daughter Gilda, and British tenor Aidan Coburn as the Duke.

Audiences can enjoy a special daytime package for €65 which includes a Lunchtime Recital or Thomas Moore Songbook concert, lunch in Clayton Whites Hotel and a ShortWorks opera. Timings allow audiences to travel easily to and from Wexford by car, bus or rail within a day. Seating is allocated for all of these performances.

For details and tickets of all events, including the three evening operas, Medea by Cherubini, Margherita by Foroni and Risurrezione by Alfano, as well as the many recitals, talks and concerts, visit www.wexfordopera.com Tickets are selling quickly. Book online 24/7 or call the box-office on +353 (0)53 912 2144 Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The 66th Wexford Festival Opera is supported by grants from the Arts Council, Wexford County Council and Fáilte Ireland/Ireland's Ancient East.

To post a comment, you must register and login.