Performer: Laura Margaret Smith

Fabio Ceresa returns to Wexford Festival Opera in flamboyant style with a production of Vivaldi's pasticcio. 

Dinner at Eight, William Bolcom and librettist Mark Campbell's 2017 opera, had its European première at Wexford Festival Opera on Saturday under conductor David Agler. The opera is based on the 1932 play by George S Kaufman and Edna Ferber, in turn adapted into a movie by George Cukor (1933).

Hirda is a Shetland name for a serious mess.  A forbidden love triangle with two ghosts to crank up the tension, this dazzling new opera mixes Shetland fiddle tunes with the classical and a sextet of clear passionate voices. 

Annilese Miskimmon sets Janáček's powerful tale in rural Ireland, bringing this blistering drama of a close-knit rural community closer to home.

Claudio Monteverdi was employed by Victor Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, but was dismissed from the court when his son Francesco Gonzaga took title in 1612. Monteverdi moved to Venice to take up the appointment of Director of Music at St Mark’s Basilica.