Fiona Shaw to direct Medea at Wexford Festival Opera

A new version of Medea, the return of Foroni, and a Tolstoy adaptation are the main highlights of Wexford Festival Opera’s programme for 2017.

The biggest draw is likely to be a production of Luigi Cherubini's Medea, which will be conducted by Stephen Barlow and directed by Fiona Shaw. The Irish actor has previously played the lead in Medea, for which she was nominated for a Tony award.

In recent years, Shaw has successfully moved into opera direction, with productions including Riders to the Sea, The Marriage of Figaro for English National Opera, and The Rape of Lucretia for Glyndebourne and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. Shaw will also deliver 2017 Dr Tom Walsh Lecture at the festival on October 21st.

Also on the bill is Jacopo Foroni's Margherita, conducted by Timothy Myers and directed by Michael Sturm. Foroni's Cristina, regina di Svezia was performed at the 2013 festival.

The third main production is Franco Alfano's Risurrezione, which is conducted by Francesco Cilluffo and directed by Rosetta Cucchi. The latter is based on Leo Tolstoy's novel Resurrection.

The programme also features two new one-act operas called Dubliners, by Irish composer Andrew Synnott, with adaptation and text by Arthur Riordan, in a co-production with Opera Theatre Company. These are based on Counterparts and The Boarding House from James Joyce's novel.

The festival is now in its 66th year and in 2017 will extend to an 18-day festival, from October 19th to November 5th. This year, five of its six operas will be sung in Italian. Tickets go on sale to the public on April 15th. See wexfordopera.com for details.