Out raking

A rake of celebrities turned out at the RDS on Thursday for the gala premiere of Stravinsky's opera, The Rake's Progress. Leading the charge forward at the Dublin leg of the Opera Theatre Company's touring production was Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Sile de Valera. Joining the Minister at this latest performance of Stravinsky's masterpiece were Gemma Hussey, Harold Fish, director of the British Council, the show's designer Joe Vanek, Audrey Conlon of the Opera Theatre Company, who also happens to be the deputy film censor, the Abbey Theatre's artistic director, Patrick Mason, and chief executive of Hibernian Insurance, Adrian Daly. After the premiere, a post-show reception was held in the Members' Rooms in the RDS, hosted by the show's sponsors, Hibernian.