Earlier this year Irish National Opera won a competitive process held by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon to become the council’s ‘preferred provider of main-scale opera in Dublin from 2018’. The council’s declared goal is to effect ‘the return to the Dublin stage, after a gap of some eight years, of regular Irish productions of the great operatic repertoire’.
In tonight’s programme we celebrate the launch of Irish National Opera with the voices of leading Irish singers Orla Boylan, Claudia Boyle, Sharon Carty, Jennifer Davis, Anna Devin, Imelda Drumm, Máire Flavin, Ben McAteer, John Molloy, Miriam Murphy, Gavan Ring and Padraic Rowan. Featuring the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fergus Sheil, with music by Wagner, Catalani, Korngold, Saint-Saëns, Verdi, Gluck, Wallace, Gounod, Tchaikovsky, Giordano, Rossini, and Verdi from operas Lohengrin, La Wally, Samson et Dalila, Aida, Orfeo ed Euridice, Maritana, Roméo et Juliette, Eugene Onegin, La Cenerentola, La Traviata and Falstaff. This concert was recorded at the National Concert Hall on January 9th 2018.
Wagner: Prelude to Act III Lohengrin (Orchestra)
Catalani: Ebben? Ne andrò lontana La Wally (Máire Flavin)
Korngold: Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen Die tote Stadt (Ben McAteer)
Saint-Saëns: Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix Samson et Dalila (Imelda Drumm)
Verdi: O patria mia Aida (Orla Boylan)
Gluck: Addio, addio, o miei sospiri Orfeo ed Euridice (Sharon Carty)
Wallace: The Mariner in his Barque Maritana (John Molloy)
Gounod: Amour, ranime mon courage Roméo et Juliette (Anna Devin)
Tchaikovsky: O! Kak mnye tyazhelo (final scene) Eugene Onegin (Jennifer Davis, Gavan Ring)
Giordano: La mamma morta Andrea Chénier (Miriam Murphy)
Rossini: Là del ciel nell’arcano profondo La cenerentola (Padraic Rowan)
Verdi: Ah fors’è lui…sempre libera La traviata? (Claudia Boyle)
Verdi: Tutto nel mondo è burla Falstaff (All singers)
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Fergus Sheil, conductor
RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 20th January, 7pm-10pm