All gathered in their finery at the Merrion Hotel; the champagne was uncorked. It was to be a night at the opera. A quick spin in the waiting buses and we arrived at the Gaiety Theatre. Soon the air filled with shouts of "Bravo! Bravissimo". The stars were there. Soprano Regina Nathan, counter-tenor Artur Stefanowicz and mezzo-soprano Anna Burford (who sings the title role) came out to bow and smile. The first Dublin performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare opened to a full house.
Earlier, Derek Keogh, chairman of Opera Ireland, had welcomed the patrons. The champagne was poured. Dieter Kaegi, Opera Ireland's artistic director, was on tenterhooks. "It's our first excursion into baroque opera," he says. "It was Handel's most popular opera."
Two visitors from Prague - Daniβl Dvorak and Jir∅ Nekvasil, of the Prague National Opera - came too, to enjoy the reception and the sumptuous production. Margaret McDonnell and her friend, Pauline Tierney, arrived in style. Also dressed for the occasion was Ruth Hickey, a clarinettist with the RT╔ Concert Orchestra, who was on a night off from playing in Don Carlo, which is playing at the Gaiety on alternate nights this week. Her partner, Sean Rocks, was with her.
Anne Cooke, James McLoughlin and Fiona and Barry Ruane, of Howth, were also at the performance. Mother and daughter Celine and Jayne Marah (who are not related to the famous PJ, they say) were resplendent too. Michael Hunt, director of the touring wing of Opera Ireland, told friends he'd just got engaged to Carmel Vesey from Galway; she is a teacher at Mount Bellew's Holy Rosary College.
Brigid Roden, chief executive of Business2Arts and her friend, Mona Curran, former principal of St Brigid's Primary School in Cabinteely, are ready to rock also.
Donal Mangan, director of the Luas Project, was there, talking to Dan and Mary Walsh. A Waterford contingent included Michael and Sheila O'Connell, Billy O'Keeffe and costumier Blβnaid MacCann.
Later, Eileen and John Brophy, Grania Willis and her twin sister, Megan, enjoyed discussing the production's many "trouser roles". In the absence of castratos, we philistines wondered how the the counter-tenors can have such beautifully high-pitched voices. One churlish wag suggested surgery, very tight underwear or clamps perhaps! "Absolutely not," said a good-humoured Simon Baker, who plays the part of Nireno. "A counter-tenor gets a lot of training in using part of the voice, the falsetto voice," he said. Ah, and all is revealed.