Wexford Festival Opera’s Factory concert to showcase rising young singers and pianists

This Factory Concert is a unique showcase featuring the singers and repetiteurs who participate in the Festival’s Wexford Factory programme. The special concert is taking place at the O’Reilly Theatre in the National Opera Hosue on Sunday September 17 at 7pm. (Tickets available from wexfordopera.com and the National Opera House)

The Wexford Factory participants are now in their second year. Having developed and refined their skills through masterclasses and performance opportunities, the artists, both singers and pianist repetiteurs, unite in this concert showcase. The Wexford Factory is supported by PwC, who have supported the Wexford Festival Opera since 2015 and has been steadfast in their support of emerging future leaders in the worlds of art, sport, and business.

This concert is a wonderful opportunity to see and hear these artists perform ahead of this year’s festival.

Speaking on Monday, Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi said: “Once again, I am so thrilled to present the result of the intense work that we have done in the past two weeks. The Factory concert is the first springboard for our young Irish singers and pianists on a long journey in the artistic world.”

Wexford Festival Opera has a long history of being a springboard for many young singers at the beginning of their careers, helping them move onto the international stage. The Wexford Factory, which was the brainchild of Rosetta Cucchi, and is open to young Irish or Irish-based singers and pianists/repetiteurs builds on this tradition.

The Wexford Factory will once again be an international collaboration with TUD (Technological University Dublin), RIAM (Royal Irish Academy of Music), and the Rossini Opera Festival “Alberto Zedda” Academy, Pesaro.

The Factory Concert is dedicated to Prof. Sarah Rogers who passed this year and was a great supporter of the Factory.

The 2023 Wexford Festival Opera (WFO) promises a packed programme comprising of three mainstage opera rarities, two pocket operas, the Wexford Factory opera, 11 lunchtime recitals, an immersive community opera – a first for WFO – a choral recital with New Dublin Voices, the annual gala concert of festival favourites, film screenings, an impossible interview, the Dr Tom Walsh lecture, a myriad of joyous free pop-up events all around the town and an exuberant opening night.

The three mainstage operas are: A modern premiere of Zoraida di Granata by G. Donizetti 1822 in co production with the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo; French rarity L’Aube rouge by Camille Erlanger 1911; La Ciociara 2015, in a new orchestration for WFO by original composer Marco Tutino.

The Festival also includes the return of the Wexford Factory – including performances of L’italiana in Algeri; Pocket Operas/ Opera Beag: La fille du régiment by Gaetano Donizetti 1840 and Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini 1918 and for the first time WFO will present an opera which features a professional and community cast, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, set in Wexford and performed in the Grain Store, Wexford.