Wexford Festival Opera 2024 on RTÉ lyric fm

This October, Wexford Festival Opera and RTÉ once again join forces to bring a taste of the magic of Wexford Festival Opera to audiences at home and abroad.

In the lead up, RTÉ lyric fm will broadcast a special Lyric Feature programme, Magic on a Winter's Night. With the 73rd edition of the Wexford Festival Opera opening next Friday, a chance to hear this fly on the wall documentary which was the first Irish audio programme to be selected at the Tribeca Festival.

Mary Brophy goes behind the scenes at the 71st Wexford Festival Opera as Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi and her teams orchestrate their particular brand of alchemy. Featuring live excerpts from RTÉ lyric fm's recordings of the 2022 opening opera La Tempesta, location recordings and input from the talented cast of performers and crew, the listener is brought from stage rehearsals to opening night in this portrait of creativity in action. Listen back to the programme here.

Plus on Friday 18th October, join Marty Whelan live from the National Opera House as RTÉ lyric fm prepares to celebrate Wexford Festival Opera 2024. With over seventy events taking place across sixteen days, this year's festival explores the theme of 'Theatre within Theatre' and Marty meets with the creative minds, world-class performers and local volunteers, who are vital to this unique international festival.

For the main event itself, audiences in Ireland can tune into RTÉ lyric fm or log onto RTÉ Culture to experience the three mainstage operas this year:

Wexford Festival Opera presents Le maschere by Mascagni

Well, it's opening night at the WFO 2024 and Paul Herriott is there to bring us Mascagni's Le maschere the title of which is a reference to the masks of the commedia dell'arte. In the Prologue the players and their impresario present the characters they are about to play. The cast includes: Brighella (sung by tenor Gillen Munguia), a travelling salesman; Dr. Graziano, a man of law performed by Irish baritone Rory Musgrave; Columbina, his maidservant (in love with Brighella) sung by Ioana Pipelea; Pantalone a wealthy resident sung by bass baritone Mariano Orozco; his daughter Rosaura (in love with Florindo) sung by Lavina Bini; a stuttering Tartaglia sung by Giorgio Caoduro; Capitan Spaventa sung by Matteo Mancini and his servant Arlecchino performed by Benoit Joseph Meier. Principal guest conductor Francesco Cilluffo returns to conduct the Wexford Festival Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Wexford Festival Opera presents The Critic by Charles Villiers Stanford

The Critic takes place on the stage of a theatre, where a new opera, The Spanish Armada, is in rehearsal. The composer, Mr. Dangle (performed by Jonathan White) and the librettist and impresario, Mr. Puff, have invited the eponymous critic, Mr. Sneer performed by Arthur Riordan, to attend. Mr. Puff launches into a discussion of his profession, the theatre and the many merits of his new piece. The rehearsal begins, and we are transported to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The cast conducted by Ciaran McAuley includes Rory Lynch, Rory Dunne, Ben McAteer and Ava Dodd

Wexford Festival Opera 2024 presents Donizetti's Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali

Paul Herriott brings us Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage), a two-act farce that shines an exaggerated spotlight on the behind-the-scenes working of a theatre and the rehearsal process, showing what can go wrong when the egos of the performers get in the way of putting on a good show. A regional (and mediocre) operatic troupe is rehearsing a new work and faces numerous obstacles. The prima donna acts every bit the diva, refusing to rehearse. The tenor finds himself in the wrong production and quite out of his depth. The Seconda Donna's mother (played by a baritone) demands that her daughter be given a more prominent role, before deciding to take on several roles herself. Not be outshone, the Prima Donna's husband takes to the stage too. When the show eventually collapses and the company tries to flee under cover of night, rather than pay back all the investors (whose money has already been spent), the Impresario has other plans... Danila Grassi conducts the Wexford Festival Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Catch the live stream of opening night on RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Culture, and live to Europe via the EBU

Wexford Festival Opera runs from 18th October – 2nd November - find out more at this year's programme here.