Festival seeks to promote opera among young people

RENOWNED IRISH mezzo-soprano Bernadette Greevy said it was a "great honour" to leave her handprints outside Dublin's Gaiety Theatre yesterday.

"It's just so much part of Dublin and I'm a real Dubliner . . . I've a huge feeling for this wonderful old theatre," the singer said, as she made a brass imprint of her hands, joining the palms of others such as Niall Tóibín, Maureen Potter, Ronnie Drew, Luciano Pavarotti and John B Keane on the pavement of South King Street.

Ms Greevy performed her first operatic part at the theatre at the age of 18, when she played Siebel in Faust, but she has been coming to the Gaiety "since I was a child to see pantomimes".

She described how, as young teenagers after school, "we used to fly down here" and join the queue for the "Gods" - the cheap upper-tier seats - "and look for the autographs of Paulo Silveri and Virginia Zeani".

She is now trying to encourage an interest in opera among young people as founder and artistic director of the Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival. The festival has a school coming to a performance on each night of its forthcoming festival.

"Everything in life needs a champion and if they have one in school it encourages them . . . we are having some success and we are thrilled about that.

"People will go to a Shakespearean play but when they come to the opera they can see a huge drama or comedy with an added dimension of music," she said. "You won't hear better singing in this city for a long time," Ms Greevy said of the forthcoming opera festival, which will star Polish baritone Mikolaj Zalasinski in Verdi's Rigoletto and Russian singer Anna Viktorova in Samson et Dalila.

Samson et Dalila has not been performed at the theatre since Ms Greevy had the lead role over 20 years ago. "It's those sort of moments that are there forever . . . I sang all over the world but it was nice when in my own place," she said.

The festival begins this Sunday, September 7th, and runs until September 14th. Tickets from €12.50 to €75 can be booked online at www.dublinopera.com or at 01-6617544.