Two murders, a child abduction and drug-fuelled mayhem, all within the first hour of curtain up on High Street in Wexford promises a gritty opening to the 67th opera festival.
L’oracolo by Franco Leoni, premiered in Covent Garden in 1905 and despite enthusiastic reviews dropped out of the repertory soon after.
Mala Vita (Wretched Life), a one act opera by Umberto Giordano (better known as the composer of Andrea Chenier) makes up the second half of a verismo double bill on opening night.
The creative duo behind the production are two women who are well known to Wexford.
Director Rodula Gaitanou and designer Cordelia Chisholm return after their 2016 production of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa which was hailed by some critics as one of the best-staged works in the festival’s history.
Gaitanou happily reminisces when we meet during a break in rehearsals.
“That was a very special production for us. You create a world with a particular atmosphere. We lived in the world of Vanessa and it wasn’t easy to leave it.
"Coming back to Wexford — it feels a bit like coming home. The people are like a big family. When I smell the sea air, it feels familiar.
"The whole town feels as if it is involved in the festival. It is extraordinary.”
First born
Gaitanou was so enamoured with Wexford, she gave it as a middle name to her first born son now 14-months-old and travelling with his mother.
“I brought Wexford back to Wexford!” she quips.
Both Chisholm and Gaitanou have had a similar trajectory in their professional careers.
Both come from a families of professional musicians. Both were on track to become serious violinists before changing tack and taking the theatre route.
As a child, Gaitanou spent many evenings of her childhood at the Greek National Opera where her father was director.
It was the most formative experience of my life but I didn’t realise the impact of this experience until much later. Opera for some people is very intimidating but for me it was normal. It was just what people did.
While a music student in the Sorbonne in Paris, she took courses in opera staging and theatre, and made the difficult call to commit to the life of a director.
A round of internships in Paris houses lead on to a stint at the Covent Garden Young Artist Programme in 2010.
It has been non-stop in a busy career that has taken her across continents.
Recent engagements include projects in China and Australia. This is her fourth back to back show in the last six months.
Gaitanou is one of a small but growing club of female opera directors but there are no anecdotes of being hard-done-by or overcoming misogyny in her career.
If anything she muses that there may have been an element of positive discrimination at play.
“It is an issue in the opera world in general that needs to be addressed and discussed openly. There is a growing awareness that we need more female creatives.
"We are a minority but I believe with every step I take in my career, I and my colleagues have opened the way for the next generation of creatives to come.”
Rarely heard
The opportunity to work on rarely heard works has a particular appeal for both of them.
“It is one of the great pleasures of Wexford to be wrestling with work that doesn’t have this huge operatic history. It is great to come to something afresh as you do in here,” says Chisholm.
“The challenge of presenting a Traviata or Boheme is that the audience tends to come with a preconceived idea of what they want to see.
"While I am not trying just to please, you always take into consideration the expectations of your public,” Gaitanou adds.
She is reticent about revealing too much detail about the staging. The original settings of these operas were San Francisco Chinatown and the back streets of Naples.
“We tried to find a common world for both of them — to connect the pieces while being faithful to the unique characteristics of the works.
"L’oracolo is very cinematic — a big community celebration becomes the public platform for something violent and life-threatening.
"Mala Vita is much more down to earth — much more raw as a piece and the emotion pours out more easily.
“Like Vanessa, both these pieces are gems and I feel very lucky to be presenting them to an audience who don’t necessarily know them. The music is fantastic.
"Opera is not complicated. If the storytelling is clear and the spectacle is extraordinary, what is not to like.”
Shorts, longs, streams and a fringe: Wexford Festival Opera
Watch from the comfort of your sofa as in addition to the traditional radio broadcasts, RTÉ will livestream at this year’s Wexford Festival Opera as part of its collaboration with European public service channel, ARTE.
The collaboration will see a production of Mercadante’s Il Bravo livestreamed internationally on RTE.ie/culture on Oct 27 and available later on demand.
The composer William Balcom and librettist Mark Campbell will be in Wexford for the European premiere of this co-production with Minnesota Opera.
Featuring more mainstream operatic fare, the afternoon presentations in Clayton White’s Hotel running at about an hour or so are an attractive option for those with less hearty appetites.
Bernstein a la Carte, a tribute to the famous American composer on his centenary directed by festival stalwart Roberto Recchia.
The other works are Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Puccini’s La Faniculla del West.
The daily lunchtime recitals feature the principal artists singing their favourite repertoire in the 18th century St Iberius Church.
WFO are offering a package of short work, recital and lunch for €65.
Rachel Kelly and Fiachra Garvey perform a programme based on French song at the National Opera House.
The most recent winner of the Dublin Piano Competition, Sae Yoon Chon gives a solo recital.
Renowned British baritone, Thomas Allen will sing as well as part of his talk at St Iberius Church.
Local playwright Eoin Colfer is featured for a second year, with his play, Holy Mary, described as a “hilarious and heart breaking tale of Communion, confusion and consternation”.
Running almost as long as the opera festival, the 66th fringe festival offers a vibrant smorgasbord of artistic fare which includes art exhibitions, drama and music.
For those with less highbrow tastes, the Singing and Swinging Pubs competition runs in various pubs around the town.