THE NEW €33 million Wexford Opera House was formally opened by Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night.
He described the event as “a wonderful occasion in the history of the town and Wexford Festival Opera”. The festival, he said, was not only “one of Ireland’s most important cultural events,” but also “one of the most special opera festivals in the world”.
The new “landmark structure,” he said, will provide “a state-of-the-art opera house and a centre of cultural and artistic activity, worthy of the festival.” He praised the early decision by the Wexford festival board to keep the event’s home in the centre of the town, “in its rightful place at the heart of Wexford”.
And he suggested that although the new opera house is four-and-a-half times bigger than the old Theatre Royal, it has been designed with an intimacy which will enhance “the connection between artist and audience that is essential to live performance”.
“Brand new though it is, I have no doubt that it is infused with the spirit of the old Theatre Royal, which gave so much enjoyment to so many people down through the years.”
Festival chairman Paul Hennessy described the opening of the new house as “a defining moment” and suggested that the festival was “stepping into a bright new future”. After outlining the roles played by the various partners, from government to fundraisers, from creative and artistic teams to local volunteers, he said, “I fundamentally believe that this could not happen anywhere else, would not have happened anywhere else.”
The mayor of Wexford, Ted Howlin, who said he had spent most of his life as a festival volunteer, praised the support of the people of Wexford as the festival’s “greatest asset, its greatest strength”.
The festival’s chief executive, David McLoughlin, who introduced the speakers, was the first to highlight the contribution to the project made by the late Jerome Hynes, festival chief executive from 1988 up to his untimely death in 2005. Mr McLoughlin described his contribution as “an inspiration” The new opera house is built on the site of the festival’s long-time home, the Theatre Royal dating from 1832.
The acquisition of neighbouring properties, most importantly the printing works of People Newspapers in 1997, enabled a doubling of the new theatre’s footprint and the more than quadrupling of its square footage.
The main auditorium, named the O’Reilly Theatre after the festival’s president and major private benefactor, Sir Anthony O’Reilly of Independent News and Media, has seating for up to 780 for opera and 864 for events not using the orchestra pit. A second, highly-flexible space, named the Jerome Hynes Theatre, has seating for 175 and will also be used as a rehearsal space.
The horseshoe-shaped auditorium, with its dark walnut clad walls, and light purple leather seats, had its first work-out last night, not for an opera, but in a live broadcast of RTÉ’s Late Late Show. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra was there for the event, but playing directly on the stage rather than in the pit,
The gala opening, which will enable the opera-loving public to sample the new venue, takes place on Thursday, October 16th, and the 18-day festival will run until Sunday, November 2nd.
