IR23 Visit the Opera

The students had a guided tour of the opera house. This is a recent construction (2008) and replaces an old building that has become obsolete. The peculiarity of this opera is the use of walnut wood for the production of rooms. Indeed, this wood isrenowned for its acoustic qualities. In addition, Wexford called on the architects and acoustic engineers who performed the Copenhagen opera, which was then known as the world’s best acoustics. Thanks to this wood, and to the work of the acousticians, Wexford’s opera is world-renowned.

With a busy, year round, schedule and home to the world-renowned Wexford Festival Opera The National Opera House of Ireland is a custom built Opera House with state of the art technology. The horse-shoe shaped balconies give all visitors better contact with the stage.

Just 1.5 hours from Dublin the award-winning National Opera House is Ireland’s first custom-built, multi-purpose operahouse built in Wexford. The building was opened on the footprint of the old Theatre Royal which had been the home to the Wexford Festival Opera for over 50 years. The National Opera House is a world-class venue presenting Irish and international events, opera, music, family events, comedy, theatre and dance. It is one of the leading opera festivals in the world, and each yearattracts audiences from home and abroad who come to experience this unique celebration of this dramatic art. Wexford Festival Opera prides itself in giving new life to unjustly neglected works, and introducing artists and audiences to forgotten masterpieces. 

Wexford Festival Opera exists to breathe new life into overlooked gems in the opera repertoire. The Opera wants to build and enhance Wexford's welcoming reputation and its renown for producing rare operatic gems by attracting new audiences and accessible in ways they never were before.A programme of activities is initiated within the local communityincluding, family days, local charity concert, ‘My Opera Festival’ podcasts, school visits and fringe events. From 2021, it isintended to bring Wexford Festival Opera events into the community in a surprising and innovative way. Pop-up performances and a flash mob are among the plans to integrate the festival further into the local community. The idea is to seek to engage at board level with important local organisations such as Wexford County Council, The Chamber of Commerce and othersincluding business leaders to share vision and plans for the festival and to build towards shared objectives. The strategy is to Engage, inform and enthuse the unique mix of stakeholders who make Wexford Festival Opera possible and whose support is vital to our success, government bodies, the arts community, benefactors, sponsors, friends, the media and the citizens. 

Wexford Fringe Festival runs parallel with the Opera Festival and offers an eclectic mix of more than 300 events over 17 days.These include cabaret, comedy, circus, dance, film, theatre, puppetry, music, and the visual arts, many of which are free to attend.

Students discovered a new world unknown about shows and performances. The Festival is really a big event where each wouldlike to participate. The guide has got many knowledges and gave many anecdotes loniked with the place and the thinking architecture.