2022 Blackwater Valley Opera Festival launches in Lismore
The Blackwater Valley Opera Festival 2022 launched last week at Lismore Heritage Centre, with the festival returning to a full programme from May 31 until June 6.
Speaking with TheAvondhu, festival director Eamonn Carroll, said that the team are ‘delighted’ to return to the summer festival once again, with the opera ‘Orfeo ed Euridice’ by Gluk taking centre stage for the festival in the grounds of Lismore Castle.
“We’re delighted. It’s hard to believe it’s just over a month away now from the festival. We have our first public performance, the gala opera in June so we’re delighted to welcome people here and to look forward to something after a couple of years when we haven’t had a lot of activity,” Mr Carroll said.
“We’re back to a full festival, we have twenty events over seven days including free events all over the region and music events in all of our usual venues, including the opera at Lismore Castle, so it’s a great pleasure to bring back audiences to a full programme and we really can’t wait now”.
As part of the programme, events are set to take place across West Waterford venues including at St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, the Millennium Park in Lismore, Salterbridge House in Cappoquin, Villierstown Church, Tourin House, Dromore Yard in Aglish, and more besides.
BRINGING PRIMARY SCHOOLS ON BOARD
This year has also seen the launch of a new ‘Discover Singing’ programme in conjunction with Music Generation Waterford for local primary schools, which is an addition to the ‘Discover Opera’ education programme trail for schools that began in 2021.
Shauna McCullogh of Music Generation Waterford said that the organisation is ‘delighted’ to be working with the festival once again for the 2022 programme.
“Music Generation Waterford had the opportunity to work with the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in our Discover Opera project and more recently in our Discover Singing project, which is where we work with a number of primary schools across Waterford City and county to bring the children into the world of opera.
“It’s a very immersive participatory project and they learn about the costumes, stories, set design, cast and crew and they get to come in at the end of the experience to the Lismore Castle Gardens to the Opera Festival set,” she said.
MAKING OPERA ‘ACCESSIBLE’
At the launch, which took place on Thursday last, April 28, Mealla Fahy, manager of Lismore Heritage Centre, welcomed the return of the festival to the area.
“It’s amazing for a small town like Lismore to be able to have such wonderful festivals. For a small town, there are great volunteers and great support here for them. It has opened up more and more people to opera and has made opera so accessible to everyone in the local area,” she said.
Those in attendance at the launch were also treated to four recitals by Music Generation Waterford from the same harpists who performed for the Prince of Wales during his recent visit to Waterford.
The Blackwater Valley Opera Festival will take place from May 31 until June 6 with tickets available through the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Box Office on (087) 407 9250.