Wexford Festival Opera

Pocket Opera

The Rose of Castile (Michael William Balfe, 1857)

Libretto by Augustus Glossop Harris and Edmund Falconer, after the libretto by Adolphe d’Ennery and Clairville (alias of Louis-François Nicolaïe (1811–1879) for Adolphe Adam’s Le muletier de Tolède (1854) .

The opera chosen for the first festival in 1951 was by Balfe, who spent some time in Wexford in his youth. Although not as well-known as the composer’s The Bohemian Girl, the choice of opera was an early indicator of the programming philosophy that established Wexford on the international scene. Like all of Balfe’s operas, the piece is rarely performed today. The 75th Festival is the ideal opportunity to present an under-represented Irish composer to new audiences.

Much Ado About Nothing (Charles Villiers Stanford, 1901)

Libretto by Julian Sturgis after Shakespeare

Following the presentation of another Balfe opera at the 1963 festival, it became WFO’s stated intention to revive additional operas by Irish composers; hence this Stanford piece was staged in the following year. This new production of Much Ado About Nothing builds on the critical success of WFO’s staging of Stanford’s The Critic in 2024.

Creative Teams for both Pocket Operas will be confirmed later in 2025.

Factory Opera

The First Festival (Alberto Caruso, 2025)

Libretto by Colm Tóibín

Set in the local Tax Office in 1951, The First Festival celebrates the joy that erupts in Wexford as word spreads that an opera festival is starting in the town. When a motley crew of international singers and artists arrive in Wexford, singing arias of love and regret, long pent-up passions are unleashed on a town that will never be the same again.

Colm Tóibín, one of Ireland’s leading artistic figures, has a long history with WFO that began when he attended a dress rehearsal of The Pearl Fishers (1971) as a student in Wexford town (750 secondary school students will have a similar experience at the Public Dress Rehearsal of Il Viaggio a Reims in 2025). Colm has seldom missed a Festival since. His enthusiasm for, and enormous knowledge of, music and theatre has inspired Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi and her creative relationship with Colm is one of most important partnerships of Rosetta’s directorate.

This partnership has already given us the late-night opera Urban Legends (with composer Andrew Synott), scheduled for the 2025 Festival, and two pocket operas – The Master (2022) and Lady Gregory in America (2024)-both composed by Colm’s regular collaborator Alberto Caruso. In celebration of the 75th Anniversary Festival, Rosetta commissioned Colm and Alberto to conclude their trilogy (with reference to great operatic trilogies of the past including the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy and Puccini’s Il trittico) as a tribute to the Festival that Colm loves so much.

Written specifically for young voices on the Wexford Factory programme, The First Festival is an ensemble work for eight singers designed to showcase their emerging talents whilst challenging their developing skills.

Full Creative Team will be confirmed later in 2025.

Community Opera

Still, life… (Ailís Ní Ríain, 2026)

“A work about the quiet moments that hold everything. The piece is a meditation on what endures when everything else passes: relationships, emotions, landscapes, and time itself.” (Ailís Ní Riain),

First staged in 2023, the Community Opera allows the people of Wexford – children, adults, amateur, and volunteers – to become active participants in the Festival. They are not only spectators, but protagonists, creating a strong sense of belonging.

In 2025, WFO appointed Ailís Ní Ríain as composer-in-residence with a view to working with WFO’s community and Factory singers over two years to deliver an original work for the 2026 Festival. Inviting a composer to create an original opera marks a natural and exciting evolution of the Community Opera. An original work allows the participants to tell a story rooted in Wexford’s identity, while giving the community the pride of premiering a brand-new opera on an international stage. It is both a bold artistic leap and a celebration of how far the Community Opera has come.

Further details of the 2026 Community Opera will be developed during Ailís Ní Ríain’s residency during the 2025 Festival.

Plus recitals, concerts, lectures and so much more!  Visit wexfordopera.com for more information.