The 72nd edition of Wexford Festival Opera will open tonight and is due to run for 13 days and bring thousands of visitors into the area.
Officially opening the festival will be the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the traditional fireworks display will take place on the quays before the first major production of the event in the National Opera House.
That opening night performance will be of Zoraida di Granata by Gaetano Donizetti, one of this year's three featured mainstage operas.
The theme of this year's festival is Women and War, with artistic director Rosetta Cucchi choosing a programme which highlights the challenges faced by women - in conflict, fighting prejudice, and in making their voices heard.
The other two mainstage operas, which like Zoraida di Granata will continue Wexford's tradition of highlighting long-neglected but important works, are L'Aube Rouge by Camille Erlanger from 1911, and a new orchestration of La Ciociara by the original composer Marco Tutino.
Meanwhile, the near-two week schedule will also include two pocket operas: the Wexford Factory opera showcasing new musicians and singers; and 11 lunchtime recitals and a choral recital with New Dublin Voices.
There will also be public interviews, talks and film screenings at a variety of venues throughout the Wexford area.
A new element to this year's programme is the Community Opera which will include local singers taking part in a full operatic production for the first time.
The participants, who have been preparing at a series of workshops in recent months, are joined by professional singers for a new version of Gianni Schicci by Giacomo Puccini, set in this iteration in Wexford.
The satirical work includes one of opera's most-loved arias, O Mio Babbino Caro, and it will be staged for the first time this evening at the Grain Store in Stonebridge, just off Wexford's quay front.
Organisers say Gianni Schicci is being presented as an immersive performance and the audience will "move with the action" around the venue.
Wexford Festival Opera will run until 5 November.
