Extra date as Shaw-directed opera sells out four months in advance of Wexford Festival
UNPRECEDENTED demand for tickets to one of this year’s operas months ahead of the Wexford Festival Opera has prompted the addition of an extra night.
An extra performance of Luigi Cherubini’s Medea has been added to the programme for the 66th Festival.
Medea will now run to a fifth performance on Tuesday, October 31, alongside the previously scheduled performances on October 19, 22, and 28, and November 3, all four of which are already sold out.
Medea has attracted intense public and media interest since it was announced earlier this year as a cornerstone production of the 2017 Festival.
Huge excitement has been generated around the involvement in the project of acclaimed Irish actor and director Fiona Shaw and internationally-renowned soprano Lise Davidsen in the title role.
Shaw, who will direct the opera in Wexford, has previously played the lead in Medea, for which she was nominated for a Tony award.
Away from the opera and theatrical world, she is probably best known for her portrayal of Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films and for her role of Marnie Stonebrook in the HBO series True Blood.
It’s shaping up to be an extraordinary year for Wexford Festival Opera which was just recently named ‘Best Festival’ at the International Opera Awards in London.
The 2017 festival has been expanded from the 12 days of recent years to a full 18-day programme, running across three weekends, from October 19 to November 5.
Tickets for the extra Medea performance, and for the two other productions (Jacopo Foroni’s ‘Margherita’ and Franco Alfano’s ‘Risurrezione’) can be booked online 24/7 via www.wexfordopera.com or via the box office: Monday to Saturday 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.; by phone: (053) 912 2400 or LoCall 1850 4OPERA, or in person at The National Opera House, High Street, Wexford.