INO_Werther_2023_programme_165x210_WEB 2

MASSENET
WERTHER

JULES MASSENET 1842–1912
WERTHER
1887
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
PRINCIPAL FUNDER
DRAME LYRIQUE IN FOUR ACTS
Libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann, based on Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe’s 1774 novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The sorrows of young Werther).
First performance, Hofoper, Vienna, 16 February 1892 (in German); Grand Théâtre,
Geneva, 27 December 1892 (in French).
First Irish performance, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 11 December 1967 [with principals of
Bucharest Opera].
SUNG IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES
Performed in a new arrangement by Richard Peirson.
Running time 2 hours, including one 20-minute interval after Act II.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Fabienne Clérot and Christine Weld at
Alliance Française Dublin, Eric Haywood, Gus Dewar,
Brian Mullen, Eimer Murphy and Adam O’Connell;
and to all at Artane School of Music.
#INOWerther
PERFORMANCES 2023
Saturday 22 April An Grianán Letterkenny
Tuesday 25 April Solstice Arts Centre Navan
Thursday 27 April Town Hall Theatre Galway
Saturday 29 April Lime Tree Theatre Limerick
Tuesday 2 May An Táin Dundalk
Thursday 4 May Glór Ennis
Saturday 6 May The Everyman Cork
Tuesday 9 May Theatre Royal Waterford
Thursday 11 May Watergate Theatre Kilkenny
Saturday 13 May Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire
Sunday 14 May Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire
03

THE JOYS OF OPERA
ON TOUR
FERGUS SHEIL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
One of the aspects of my job that I most enjoy is attending
multiple performances of our touring opera productions at venues
around the country. I particularly enjoy the immediacy of the
performances in smaller venues, the sense of connection between
performers and audience, and the different dynamic that a new
venue brings to each night of the tour. Every performance feels
like a fresh adventure, with each audience seeming to come with a
different set of expectations.
Touring is central to what we do. It’s been a key part of operatic life
in Ireland for nearly 60 years, but it’s not the norm for major opera
companies. Many of Europe’s larger companies are great institutions
with wonderful and imposing opera houses located in the centre of
their cities. Often they have infrastructure that we can only dream
of in Ireland – dedicated opera houses, full-time orchestras and
choruses, together with technical facilities beyond our reach, and
a turnover of up to 25 times what we have here. Our best option
as a company has always been to try to turn our limitations into
advantages. Our structure without a permanent home allows us to
be lighter on our feet and to bring opera to a wide variety of locations.
In our first five years we have performed in 30 different venues in
Ireland, as well as in a number of outdoor spaces.
Werther is our 11th production conceived and designed
specifically to be taken on the road. Previous touring productions
have included baroque repertoire suitable for smaller venues as
well as contemporary works designed specifically at a scale that
makes it effective in multiple and varied locations. But we also
present creatively reimagined larger operas in smaller format. We
have done this previously with Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann
(2018), Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (2020) and Donizetti’s
Don Pasquale (2022–23).
Werther may be an opera with big emotions, but it is really a story
about two people – Werther himself, a poet who falls headlong
in love, and Charlotte, the object of his desire, who finds herself
having to choose between her heart and her head. Our production
features two outstanding singers in these roles. Italian tenor
Paride Cataldo makes his INO debut alongside one of our favourite
artists, Cork mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan, whose voice is
made to sing this role.
Our director Sophie Motley and designer Sarah Bacon have
chosen to tell this story through the prism of 1950s Ireland
during the country’s post-war rural electrification programme.
This was a time of change, of new possibilities, but also of strict
societal expectations, particularly for women. It’s a setting
that gives Charlotte’s choices a terrifying feeling of realism
and consequence. Werther, on the other hand, emerges as a
complete outsider – somebody who can admire the simplicity and
innocence of this society, but can never be part of it.
In addition to our cast of ten singers (seven adults and three children)
we have an orchestra of 12 musicians under the musical direction of
Philipp Pointner, performing a new arrangement of Massenet’s score
prepared by Richard Peirson. Werther was premiered in Vienna in
1892, in German, and was not seen on stage in Paris until 1893.
It took much longer to make it to Ireland, through a Dublin Grand
Opera Society production with principal singers of Bucharest Opera
in 1967. Now it’s being seen in ten venues around the country. As I
said, touring is central to what we do and works we brought to London
after tours in Ireland were nominated for three Olivier Awards in the
last two years and won one. Which just shows you can get the best
of opera in Ireland before it transfers to the West End.
Enjoy the show.
04 05

FROM GOETHE TO ROSEMARY
KENNEDY AND ISOLDE
DIEGO FASCIATI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The plot of Werther, in comparison to many other operas, is
unusually straightforward: Werther’s passionate but apparently
unrequited love for Charlotte leads to a tragic ending. What makes
this opera compelling is Massenet’s music, which so powerfully
evokes the inner turmoil of the central characters and juxtaposes it
with the everyday life that continues around them. It contains two
world-famous arias, audience favourites at concerts and recitals:
Va! Laisse couler mes larmes (Go, let my tears flow) and Pourquoi
me réveiller? (Why awaken?), both from the pivotal third act.
The opera is based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows
of Young Werther, the novel that launched his career and made
Goethe, then only in his mid-twenties, famous across Europe. The
stunning success of this novel can perhaps be ascribed to the
emotional immediacy it generates, a classic example of the Storm
and Stress literary movement. That immediacy is intensified in
Massenet’s interpretation.
The story also resonates as true, in part, because it is based
on Goethe’s own experience of unrequited love. In 1772, while
working as an apprentice lawyer, Goethe met Charlotte (Lotte)
Buff and was smitten. Like the Charlotte of the opera, she had
been taking care of her younger siblings since their mother died
years earlier. And, in parallel with the plot of the opera, Lotte
was engaged to another man, Johann Kestner. Goethe spent a
summer with them until his deep passion for Lotte led him to a
fateful decision. Unlike his (anti-)hero Werther, Goethe left early
one morning without warning or good-byes. Instead, in true poetic
fashion, he left letters. To Lotte he wrote “I am now alone and may
weep. I leave you happy, and shall remain in your hearts.”
Werther is a fine example of French romantic opera and stands in
stark stylistic contrast to our previous tour, Donizetti’s comic opera
Don Pasquale. The Don Pasquale was nominated as Best Opera at the Irish Times Irish Theatre
Awards (an award we won last year for Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, a co-production with
Theatre Lovett and the Abbey Theatre).
After a premiere at Galway International Arts Festival in 2019, and a national tour in September
2021, we presented our original commission, Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like The
Other, Searching For Rosemary Kennedy at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre in London
last January. In a five-star review for The Observer, Fiona Maddocks remarked “Least Like The
Other demonstrates the versatility of Irish National Opera who triumphed with Vivaldi’s Bajazet
at the Linbury last year and whose online project 20 Shots of Opera remains a highlight of that
dismal pandemic year 2020.”
We were particularly pleased that this production gave soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh, a member of
our 2018–19 Opera Studio, her London debut. And to top it all off, we received an Olivier Award
nomination for Best New Opera Production. The Olivier Awards are London’s highest theatre
accolade and we still can’t quite believe that we now have three Olivier Awards nominations, one
win and nominations for Best New Opera Production in two consecutive years.
All the work that brings us awards and critical praise is actually directed at you, our audience.
We are currently getting ready to launch our first software, the Isolde App. It will both simplify
and improve the quality of our outdoor performances, and make it possible for us to bring opera
to you in a larger number of public spaces and with better sound quality than before. It actually
puts opera in your hand, allowing you to listen through your own mobile phone. Sign up to our
newsletter at www.irishnationalopera.ie to be kept up to date on this exciting project.
The ongoing bout of inflation has increased the cost of everything. Opera is suffering from the
escalating prices of materials, labour and travel and accommodation in particular. Our touring
work is becoming substantially more expensive and we are having to adjust our plans and budgets
accordingly. We are therefore particularly grateful to the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon for
their continued support as principal funder of the company. Arts Council funding is what enables
us to bring our excellent and exciting productions to audiences like you around the country.
Thank you for being here tonight and enjoy Werther.
06
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08
07

SYNOPSIS
ACT I
THE BAILIFF’S HOME, THE IRISH
MIDLANDS, JULY 1952
The recently widowed Bailiff is, oddly,
rehearsing a Christmas carol with his young
children on a warm summer evening. Since the
death of his wife, his eldest daughter, Charlotte,
has been looking after the family with the
help of her younger sister Sophie. Johann and
Schmidt, two of the Bailiff’s friends, stop by on
the way to the pub and discuss young Werther,
a writer who lives near their village. The Bailiff
has arranged for Werther to escort Charlotte to a
party in a nearby village that evening. They also
ask about Charlotte’s fiancé Albert, the man
she had promised her late mother she would
marry. He is a travelling salesman, who is away
selling appliances to homes recently connected
to the ESB network. Werther arrives and reflects
on the natural beauty of the area, before being
introduced to Charlotte and setting off for the
ball. Left behind to mind the children, Sophie
is surprised by the arrival of Albert, who has
returned after a long absence. Albert wants to
surprise Charlotte, he will return in the morning.
Later that evening, Werther and Charlotte return
from the ball. Werther praises Charlotte’s beauty
and devotion to her family; she remembers
her mother. Werther passionately declares his
love for her, but is interrupted when the Bailiff
reminds Charlotte that Albert has returned. The
spell is broken. Werther is devastated.
ACT II
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE VILLAGE,
LATE SEPTEMBER
The village is preparing to celebrate the
electrification. Charlotte and Albert have
been married for three months. Werther has
remained close to Charlotte and her family,
but is tormented knowing that she is married
to another man. Albert understands why
Werther is so depressed: he knows all too well
what it would mean to lose Charlotte. Werther
assures him that he feels only friendship for
them both. Sophie invites Werther for a dance
but he evades her. When Charlotte appears he
cannot prevent himself from speaking of his
love and recalls their first meeting. Charlotte
reminds him of her duties as a wife. For both
of their sakes, she says, he must leave town
and not return until Christmas. Alone, Werther
gives in to his despair, musing on the idea of
suicide. Sophie returns to invite him to the
festivities but he brusquely replies that he is
departing forever and rushes off, leaving her in
tears. The electricity connection is turned on
by the local priest.
ACT III
CHARLOTTE AND ALBERT’S HOME,
CHRISTMAS EVE
Charlotte, home alone, obsessively re-reads
Werther’s letters, admitting to herself that
she still loves him as much as he loves her.
Sophie arrives and tries to cheer her up, but
Charlotte gives in to her despair. Werther
arrives at the house, utterly desolate, still in
love with Charlotte. He becomes increasingly
wild and she becomes fearful, torn between
giving in to him and escaping from him. She
panics and runs from the room, telling him
they will never meet again. The hopeless
Werther says she is sentencing him to death,
and leaves, taking Albert’s shotgun. Albert
returns, knowing that Werther has been
there. He discovers Werther’s suicide note
and tells Charlotte to leave.
ACT IV
A DESERTED FARM YARD
Charlotte finds Werther mortally wounded.
He asks her not to call for help, happy to
finally be united with her. She admits that she
has loved him since they first met. Werther
dies in her arms as the children’s Christmas
carol is heard in the distance.
10
11

DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Werther is a unique and beautiful opera, and each day I have
the privilege to sit in rehearsal and let the romantic beauty of
Massenet’s music flow over me as our arranger and répétiteur
Richard Peirson plays the piano. I enjoy imagining how our
chamber orchestra will relish the swells and silences of this story
when we get to hear it on the stage.
SOPHIE MOTLEY
DIRECTOR MASSENET’S
WERTHER
As part of the journey, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting two
groups of teenagers who will be responding to the opera before
performances in Ennis and Cork. The story of Werther is very clear
to them. The pain of unrequited love is well known to teenagers. It
is something that they inherently understand. Along with the pain
of being in love with your friend’s girlfriend. And also the fear that
your partner can see that you are in love with someone else. Young
people are anything but immune from the huge emotional ebbs
and flows of depression associated with lost love.
Werther is an outsider. This is also something that our teenagers
understand inherently. He does not fit in in his community. He is a
loner. He doesn’t like to drink. He observes and reads and writes,
and his artistic tendencies lead to him being ostracised from his
rural community.
I grew up in a rural community, and the performance of
masculinity expected from young men means that, even today, it
is difficult for them to engage with their emotional or artistic sides.
Suicide remains a heavy presence in contemporary rural Ireland.
It is this which drew me to this work of Massenet and Goethe.
Werther, like other young men unable to truly express themselves,
ends up in a spiral of failing mental health where he sees no exit
beyond taking his life.
Charlotte’s quandary is also sadly ever-present in rural communities.
She marries out of duty, is never happy, lives in a space where her
husband is often away, and writes letters to her former love. She ends
up moving away from all her domestic duties, caring for her siblings, from her home to Albert’s silent
and reflective home. She ends up in not one, but two toxic relationships.
Our production chooses to exacerbate this sense of loneliness and being an outsider. Set and
costume designer Sarah Bacon, lighting designer Sarah Jane Shiels and myself have chosen
to set the piece in rural Ireland. There’s a specific time where it fits well, the height of the Rural
Electrification Scheme which had begun in 1946.
This was a time of great change, where many were left behind. Rural communities were abuzz with
outsiders, the “Wire Men” who spent periods of time in villages, uncoiling electric cable, putting
up electricity poles. Our Wire Men are Johann and Schmidt, and our ESB salesman, who travelled
around the country selling electricity to these communities, is Albert.
Act II sees a great celebration, the great switching on of the electricity in our village, and the
blessing of the electric kettles, ovens, and irons by the local priest. The electrification in our
production only serves to sadden and alienate Charlotte even further. Electric machines are
performing the domestic duties that once filled her days.
It is winter by Act III. Even her younger sister Sophie cannot bring Charlotte out of the
melancholy she experiences, alone in her beautifully electric home, with Albert away.
It is only the return of Werther, and his existential, eventual doom, that brings her to the precipice of
another choice – Werther and his death or Albert and a life devoid of love. Act IV then becomes one
of the most lonely (and sadly frequent) places to die – between the barns in a deserted farmyard.
Our new adaptation of the score, fantastically arranged by Richard, is incredibly focused and clear, and
tells the story of these ill-fated lovers with alacrity, accessible for a smaller orchestra yet remaining
true to Massenet’s intention. It brings a feeling of intimacy to this exciting and important opera.
12
13

THE BIRTH OF WERTHER
AND THE LOSS OF
A BOHÈME
Jules Massenet’s Mes souvenirs, published in French
in 1912, the year of his death, appeared in English
in 1919 as My Recollections, “The authorised
translation done at the master’s express desire by his
friend H Villiers Barnett.” Chapter 17, A Journey to
Germany, is devoted to the background of Werther.
On Sunday, August first, Hartmann [Georges Hartmann, 1843–
1900, music publisher and one of the librettists of Werther] and
I went to hear Parsifal at the Wagner Theatre at Bayreuth. After
we had heard this miracle unique we visited the capital of Upper
Franconia. Some of the monuments there are worth while seeing.
I wanted especially to see the city church. It is an example of the
Gothic archi tecture of the middle of the Fifteenth Century and
was dedicated to Mary Magdalene. It is not hard to imagine what
memories drew me to this remarkable edifice.
After running through various German towns and visiting different
theatres, Hartmann, who had an idea of his own, took me to Wetzler,
where he had seen Werther. We visited the house where Goethe
had written his immortal romance, The Sorrows of Young Werther.
I knew Werther’s letters and I had a thrilling recollection of them. I
was deeply impressed by being in the house which Goethe made
famous by having his hero live and love there. As we were coming
out Hartmann said, “I have something to complete the obviously
deep emotion you have felt.” As he spoke, he drew from his pocket
a book with a binding yellow with age. It was the French translation
of Goethe’s romance. “This translation is perfect,” said Hartmann,
in spite of the aphorism Traduttore traditore, that a trans lation
utterly distorts the author’s thought. I scarcely had the book in
my hands than I was eager to read it, so we went into one of those
immense beer halls which are everywhere in Germany. We sat
down and ordered two enor mous bocks like our neighbours had.
Among the various groups were students who were easily picked out by their scholars’ caps and
were play ing cards or other games, nearly all with porce lain pipes in their mouths. On the other
hand there were few women.
It is needless to tell what I endured in that thick, foul air laden with the bitter odour of beer. But I
could not stop reading those burning letters full of the most intense passion. Indeed what could be
more suggestive than the following lines, remembered among so many others, where keen anguish
threw Werther and Charlotte into each other’s arms after the thrilling reading of Ossian’s verses?
“Why awakest me, breath of the Spring? Thou caresseth me and sayeth I am laden with the dew
of heaven, but the time cometh when I must wither, the storm that must beat down my leaves is at
hand. To-morrow the traveler will come; his eye will seek me everywhere, and find me no more...”
And Goethe adds: “Unhappy Werther felt crushed by the force of these words and threw himself
before Charlotte in utter despair. It seemed to Charlotte that a presentiment of the frightful project
he had formed passed through her soul. Her senses reeled; she clasped his hands and pressed
them to her bosom; she leaned towards him ten derly and their burning cheeks touched.”
Such delirious, ecstatic passion brought tears to my eyes. What a moving scene, what a
passionate picture that ought to make! It was Werther, my third act.
I was now all life and happiness. I was wrapped up in work and in an almost feverish activity. It
was a task I wanted to do but into which I had to put, if possible, the song of those moving, lively
passions. Circumstances, however, willed that I put this project aside for the moment. Carvalho
[Léon Carvalho, 1825–97, singer, impresario and stage director, director of the Opéra-Comique
1876–87 and 1891–97] pro posed Phoebé to me and chance led me to write Manon. Then
came Le Cid to fill my life. At last in the summer of 1885, without waiting for the result of that
opera, Hartmann, Paul Milliet [1848–1924, playwright and librettist], my great, splendid
collaborator in Hérodiade, and I came to an agreement to take up the task of writ ing Werther.
In order to incite me to work more ardently (as if I had need of it) my publisher – he had
improvised a scenario – engaged for me at the Reservoirs at Versailles, a vast ground floor
apartment on the level of the gardens of our great Le Notre. The room in which I was installed
had a lofty ceiling with Eighteenth Century panelling and it was furnished in the same period.
The table at which I wrote was the purest Louis XV. Hart mann had chosen everything at the
most famous antiquarians. Hartmann had special aptitude for doing his share of the work. He
14
Images: Jules Massenet (top), Georges Hartmann (bottom).
15

spoke German very well; he understood Goethe; he loved the German mind; he stuck to it that I
should undertake the work. So, when one day it was suggested that I write an opera on Murger’s
La Vie de Bohème, he took on himself to refuse the work without consulting me in any way.
I would have been greatly tempted to do the thing. I would have been pleased to follow Henry
Murger in his life and work. He was an artist in his way. Théophile Gautier justly called him a
poet, although he excelled as a writer of prose. I feel that I could have followed him through
that peculiar world he created and which he has made it possible for us to cross in a thousand
ways in the train of the most amusing originals we had ever seen. And such gaiety, such tears,
such outbursts of frantic laughter, and such courageous poverty, as Jules Janin said, would, I
think, have captivated me. Like Alfred de Musset – one of his masters– he had grace and style,
ineffable tenderness, gladsome smiles, the cry of the heart, emotion. He sang songs dear to the
hearts of lovers and they charm us all. His fiddle was not a Stradivarius, they said, but he had a
soul like Hoffman’s and he knew how to play so as to bring tears.
I knew Murger personally, in fact so well that I even saw him the night of his death. I was present
at a most affecting interview while I was there, but even that did not lack a comic note. It could
not have been otherwise with Murger. I was at his bedside when they brought in M. Schaune
(the Schaunardo of La Vie de Bohème). Murger was eating magnificent grapes he had bought
with his last louis and Schaune said laughing, “How silly of you to drink your wine in pills!” As I
knew not only Murger but also Schaunard and Musette, it seemed to me that there was no one
better qualified than I to be the musician of La Vie de Bohème. But all those heroes were my
friends and I saw them every day, so that I understood why Hartmann thought the moment had
not come to write that so distinctly Parisian work, to sing the romance that had been so great a
part of my life. As I speak of that period which is already in the distant past, I glory in recalling
that I knew Corot at Ville-d’Avray, as well as our famous Harpignies, who despite his ninety-two
years is, as I write, in all the vigour of his immense talent. Only yesterday he climbed gaily to my
floor. Oh, the dear great friend, the marvellous artist I have known for fifty years!
When the work was done, I went to M. Carvalho’s on the twenty-fifth of May. I had secured
Mme. Rose Caron, then at the Opéra, to aid me in my reading. The admirable artiste was beside
me turning the pages of the manu script and showing the deepest emotion at times. I read the
four acts by myself, and when I reached the climax, I fell exhausted, annihilated.
Then Carvalho came to me without a word, but he finally said: “I had hoped you would bring me
another Manon! This dismal subject lacks interest. It is damned from the start.” As I think this
over to-day, I understand his impression perfectly, especially when I reflect on the years I had
to live before the work came to be admired. Carvalho was kind and offered me some exquisite
wine, claret, I believe, like what I had tasted one joyous evening I read Manon...My throat was as
dry as my speech; I went out without saying a word.
The next day, horresco referens, yes, the next day I was again struck down, the Opéra-Comique
was no more. It had been totally destroyed by fire during the night. I hurried to Carvalho’s.
We fell into each other’s arms, embraced each other in tears and wept. My poor director was
ruined. Inexorable fate! The work had to wait six years in silence and oblivion.
Two years before the Opéra at Vienna had put on Manon; the hundredth performance was
reached and passed in a short time. The Aus trian capital had given me a friendly and envi able
reception; so much so that it suggested to Van Dyck [Belgian tenor Ernest Van Dyck, 1861–
1923, who created the role of Werther in Vienna in 1892] the idea of asking me for a work.
Now I proposed Werther. The lack of good will on the part of the French directors left me free to
dispose of that score. The Vienna Opéra was an imperial theatre. The management asked the
Emperor to place an apartment at my disposal and he graciously offered me one at the famous
Hotel Sacher beside the Opéra. My first call after my arrival was on Jahn [Wilhelm Jahn, 1835–
1900, conductor, and from 1860 to 1896 director of the Hofoper in Vienna] the director. That
kindly, eminent master took me to the foyer where the rehearsals were to be held. It was a vast
room, lighted by immense windows and provided with great chairs. A full length portrait of Emperor
Francis Joseph ornamented one of the panels; there was a grand piano in the centre of the room.
All the artists for Werther were gathered around the piano when Jahn and I entered the foyer. As
they saw us they rose in a body and bowed in salutation. At this touching manifestation of respectful
sympathy – to which our great Van Dyck added a most affectionate embrace – I responded
by bowing in my turn; and then a little nervous and trembling all over I sat down at the piano.
The work was absolutely in shape. All the artists could sing their parts from memory. The hearty
demonstrations they showered on me at intervals moved me so that I felt tears in my eyes. At the
orchestra rehearsal this emotion was renewed. The execution was perfection; the orchestra, now
soft, now loud, followed the shading of the voice so that I could not shake off the enchantment.
The general rehearsal took place on February fifteenth from nine o’clock in the morning until
midday and I saw (an ineffable, sweet surprise) in the orchestra stalls my dear publisher, Henri
Heugel, Paul Milliet, my precious co-worker, and intimate friends from Paris. They had come
so far to see me in the Austrian capital amid great and lively joys, for I had really been received
16
17

Image: Eugène Grasset’s poster
for the French premiere of
Werther in 1893.
there in the most exquisite and flattering manner. The performances that followed confirmed
the impressions of the beautiful first performance of February 16, 1892. The work was sung
by the celebrated artists Marie Renard and Ernest Van Dyck. That same year, 1892, Carvalho
again became the director of the Opéra-Comique, then in the Place du Chatelet. He asked me
for Werther, and in a tone so full of feeling that I did not hesitate to let him have it.
The same week Mme. Massenet and I dined with M. and Mme. Alphonse Daudet. The other
guests were Edmond de Goncourt and Charpentier, the publisher. After dinner Daudet told
me that he wanted me to hear a young artiste. “Music herself,” he said. This young girl was
Marie Delna! [1875–1932, contralto who sang Charlotte in the first performance of Werther in
France]. At the first bars that she sang (the aria from the great Gounod’s La Reine de Saba) I
turned to her and took her hands. “Be Charlotte, our Charlotte,” I said, utterly carried away.
The day after the first performance at the Opéra-Comique, in January, 1893, I received this
note from Gounod:
“Dear Friend:
“Our most hearty congratulations on this double triumph and we regret
that the French were not the first witnesses.”
The following touching and picturesque lines were sent me at the time by
the illustrious architect of the Opera.
“Amico mio,
Two eyes to see you,
Two ears to hear you,
Two lips to kiss you,
Two arms to enfold you,
Two hands to applaud you.
and
“Two words to give thee all my compliments and to tell thee that thy
Werther is an excellent hit – do you know? – I am proud of you, and for
your part do not blush that a poor architect is en tirely satisfied with you.
“CARLO.”
In 1903, after nine years of
ostracism, M. Albert Carré
[1852–1938, theatre
and opera director, actor
and librettist] revived this
forgotten work. With his
incomparable talent, his
marvellous taste, and his
art, which was that of an
exquisite man of letters, he
knew how to present the
work to the public so as to
make it a real revelation.
Many famous artistes have
sung the rôle since that
time: Mlle. Marie de l’Isle,
who was the first Charlotte
at the revival and who
created the work with her
fine, individual talents; then
Mlles. Lamare, Cesbron,
Wyns, Raveau, Mmes. de
Nuovina, Vix, Hatto, Brohly,
and...others whose names
I will give later.
At the revival due to M.
Albert Carré, Werther had
the great good fortune to
have Leon Beyle as the
protagonist of the part;
later Edmond Clement
and Salignac were also
superb and thrill ing
interpreters of the work.
MICHAEL DERVAN
18
19

BEING NIAMH O’SULLIVAN...
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE
FIRST OPERA YOU WENT TO?
I think the first opera I saw was Leoncavallo’s
Pagliacci in The Everyman in Cork. At this point
I think I was 17 and I still wasn’t sure whether I
wanted to be an opera singer. I was doing a lot
of musical theatre in Cork, because, you know,
my mom had kind of enquired about classical
training. And people had said you have to be
18. So I took it easy, and was studying with my
teacher in Cork, Mary Hegarty, when she said,
“Oh. Pagliacci is on with the Cork Operatic
Society” – at the time they were doing fullscale
productions. It was Cara O’Sullivan
singing Nedda, I think she was the only Irish
person in it. I just remember thinking, “This is
very similar to musical theatre. There was the
set, the costumes... I thought opera was boring
at that age. I’m not going to lie. I did. And so
I remember thinking this is actually more
interesting than I thought it was. Cara was a big
inspiration for me, anyway, before that. I kind
of went to everything that she was in. Yeah. It
was the turning point for me, I guess. I knew
that I had a classical voice. But I wasn’t sure if
I was interested in opera. And I then thought,
“Yeah. I think this is the thing that I’ll do.” I
guess I remember hearing for the first time
voices unamplified, and thinking, “Wow. This is
the difference, I guess. They’re singing with this
technique, and over an orchestra.” That really
stood out to me, the voices, the projection that
they could do as opera singers.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE
FIRST OPERA YOU WERE IN?
I was in the chorus of Gluck’s Orfeo ed
Euridice in Cork, with the Cork Operatic
Society. That was the year after Pagliacci.
And, actually – fun fact – I didn’t get into
the chorus for Pagliacci. I had auditioned
with a song from West Side Story, because
I didn’t sing arias then. I was in my school
uniform, I remember. They thought I was
young and kind of green. I got into the chorus
the following year, in Orfeo. I remember then,
really thinking I want to be in one of the leads
in this, and I don’t want to be in the chorus,
even though I had great fun. It was my first
time singing professionally. That was with
Majella Cullagh. I guess that gave me more
of a bug, actually being on stage in an opera,
feeling how my voice was with the orchestra,
even though it was with the chorus.
Then I started going to Ronnie [singing
teacher Veronica Dunne]. Orfeo was in May,
and I started with Ronnie in September. I
went up to Dublin and had a conversation
with her. I was thinking maybe I would go to
the academy [the Royal Irish Academy of
Music] to do my degree. And Ronnie said,
“Absolutely!” And that’s how that happened.
WHAT WAS THE BEST OPERA-RELATED
ADVICE YOU EVER GOT?
From Ronnie there were a lot of things. One
always stands out to me. I always used ask
about how I could build up my stamina,
because I felt I was getting so tired so quickly.
She used always say, “Niamh, it’s not the
singing that you need to worry about. When
you’re waiting, hours before the rehearsal,
and you’re sitting down, it’s the waiting, the
talking in between, it’s all that that’s tiring.
It’s not the actual singing.”
That really stuck with me. Because she’s
right. When we’re singing, we’re singing
with our technique. We could go for hours.
It’s the other things, the talking, the sitting
around, the waiting, the hanging about,
that’s the tiring thing. So, now, since she
said that I do really try to go home and take
care and, though I love to socialise, not
come too long before a rehearsal, and stop
talking with people. Of course we have to
be social, we’re social as opera singers. But
that really stuck with me. She’s right. The
singing part is not tiring. I’ve just finished a
tour and it was the travelling that was tiring.
It wasn’t the actual performances.
16
21

WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING
MISCONCEPTION ABOUT OPERA?
A cliché. That it’s elitist, that it’s only for a
certain audience. It really was great to see
when I was in Germany [as a member of the
opera studio of the Bavarian State Opera
in Munich] how much they do for kids and
the outreach in every opera house. Kids in
Germany know the whole of Mozart’s The
Magic Flute when they’re, like, five. It’s
amazing. So, from that age, they’ve seen
that it’s like this normal thing. Now, with the
modern productions that directors are doing,
it’s completely accessible. I find it kind of
annoying. Try it! Maybe you’re not going to
like it. But absolutely try it!
WHAT MOMENT DO YOU MOST LOOK
FORWARD TO WHEN YOU GO TO A
PERFORMANCE OF WERTHER?
I guess, of course, for me, it’s Charlotte’s
stuff. As a mezzo, Act III, when she has three
arias back to back, and they’re all quite
different. She’s quite moany in all of them.
But they show three really different parts of
the voice, I guess, and different emotions.
It’s interesting for me to see how people
navigate the journey of Charlotte from the
beginning to the end. It’s really difficult for
someone of her age. All she was kind of
doing was looking after the kids since her
mother died. The house things, everyday,
home, family things. Now she has this big
event in her life, Werther. She’s suddenly
going from a basic lifestyle into a situation
where her mind is absolutely gone mad. She
doesn’t know what to do. This basic young
girl turns into someone who is absolutely
distraught by the end. The journey is really
interesting. She takes such a big journey
from beginning to end.
WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING
ASPECT OF THE ROLE OF CHARLOTTE?
I guess it is that journey, being able to do
that. Also, vocally, Charlotte is quite lyric,
but there are also dramatic moments. So,
navigating the gears in the voice, I guess.
The role is also quite low and sustained, with
very heavy orchestration. With us in INO,
we’re only using a 12-piece orchestra, so
that’s not going to be an issue. And then, at
the end, when Werther is dying, there’s that
really tender music that you need really good
support, high notes, pianissimo. Vocally it’s a
huge challenge. And emotionally it’s a huge
challenge. The whole thing is a challenge for
me, and I’m excited that I get to do it so early
on in my career.
YOU GET A MAGIC WISH TO PERFORM
WHAT YOU WANT, WHEREVER AND
WITH WHOEVER YOU WANT? WHAT’S
YOUR CHOICE?
Charlotte would have been my choice. But,
as of now, I’m quite obsessed with Octavian
in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. I guess, I
think, at the Vienna State Opera. It’s a dream
house of mine. With... I was going to say Peter
Whelan, but I don’t know if he’d like to do
Strauss. So, maybe Kirill Petrenko, because I
did one of the Orphans in Rosenkavalier with
him when I was in Munich. To do Octavian
with him would be an absolute dream. Or else
to do Sesto in Handel’s Julius Caesar with
Peter at the Met. Reach for the stars! And
directors...I really liked working with Krzysztof
Warlikowski, a Polish director. I did a small
role with him in Munich and would love to do
something bigger with him.
IF YOU WEREN’T A SINGER, WHAT
MIGHT YOU HAVE BECOME?
To be honest, I think probably a teacher.
Because my whole family are teachers and
I thought that that was what I wanted to
do, to be a primary school teacher. Again,
I kind of grew up in schools. My mom, she
was a primary school principal until two
years ago, when she retired. I’m good with
kids, I know the school setting well. So I
think that, probably.
IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL DERVAN
22
23

CAST IN ORDER OF VOCAL APPEARANCE
Le Bailli Wyn Pencarreg Baritone
the Bailiff
Johann Owen Gilhooly-Miles Baritone
friend of the Bailiff
Schmidt Eamonn Mulhall Tenor
friend of the Bailiff
Sophie Sarah Shine Soprano
Charlotte’s sister
Werther Paride Cataldo Tenor
a young poet
Charlotte Niamh O’Sullivan Mezzo-soprano
the Bailiff’s eldest daughter
Albert Charles Rice Baritone
a young man, Charlotte’s fiancé
Children
Ethan O’Connor
Molly Verdier
Nora Verdier
CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor
Director
Arranger
Set & Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Children’s Chorus Director
Répétiteur
Assistant Director
Movement Director
Language Coach
PARTICIPATING INO STUDIO MEMBERS
Charlotte (cover)
Assistant Director
Studio Conductor
Philipp Pointner
Sophie Motley
Richard Peirson
Sarah Bacon
Sarah Jane Shiels
Medb Brereton Hurley
Richard Peirson
Chris Kelly
Jessica Kennedy
Caroline Moreau
Madeline Judge
Chris Kelly
Medb Brereton Hurley
24
25

IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA
PRODUCTION TEAM
First Violins
Sarah Sew LEADER
SecondViolin
Larissa O’Grady
First Viola
Andreea Banciu
Second Viola
Gawain Usher
A
Play by
Terence McNally
Cello
David Edmonds
Double bass
Dominic Dudley
Harp
Dianne Marshall
Flute/Piccolo
Lina Andonovska
MASTER
CLASS
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Myfanwy Price
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Conor Sheil
Bassoon
Sinead Frost
Horn
Hannah Miller
Smock Alley and Once Off Productions
in association with INO
An Audience with
Maria Callas
Smock Alley Theatre
11 TH – 27 TH May 2023
Tickets
smockalley.com / 01 677 0014
€25 / €22 Previews and Matinees,
Dinner + Show Ticket €50
Production Manager
Patrick McLaughlin
Company Stage Manager
Paula Tierney
Stage Manager
Anne Kyle
Assistant Stage Manager
Rachel Ellen Bollard
Technical Stage Manager
Danny Hones
Master Carpenter
Abraham Allen
Production Assistant
Eoin Hannaway
Chief LX & Programmer
Eoin McNinch
Chief LX & Programmer (Tour)
Alan Mooney
Stage Technicians
Martin Wallace
Peter Boyle
Wigs, hair, make-up
Supervisor
Carole Dunne
Costume Supervisor
Sinéad Lawlor
Costume Breakdown
& Dye Artist
Molly Brown
Costume Assistant
Niamh Kearney
Set Construction
Theatre Production Services
Scenic Artist
Sandra Bulter
Scenic Printing
Big Image
Plustec
Lighting Provider
QLX
Surtitle Operator
Maeve Sheil
Chaperones
Mairéad Cassidy
Elaine Hearty
ADDITIONAL THANKS
Photography
Emilija Jefremova
Patrick Redmond
Ste Murray
Rehearsal Video
Areaman
Mark Cantan
Promotional Video
Charlie Joe Doherty
Audio Recording
Ergodos
Graphic Design
Alphabet Soup
Programme edited by
Michael Dervan
Transport
Trevor Price
24
27

BIOGRAPHIES
PHILIPP POINTNER
CONDUCTOR
SOPHIE MOTLEY
DIRECTOR
SARAH BACON
SET DESIGNER
SARAH JANE SHIELS
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Philipp Pointner was born in Vienna
and received his education at the
Music and Arts Private University
of Vienna and the University of
Music and Performing Arts, Vienna,
studying conducting, coaching and
composition. After graduating with distinction in 1994,
he was conductor at the Cape Town Opera and also
appeared at the Civic Centre Johannesburg and at the
renowned South African Grahamstown Festival. Since
then he appears regularly in Cape Town and Pretoria.
His career has taken him to many centres of the
German, Austrian and Swiss theatre scene, including
Hamburg, Cologne, Mannheim, Braunschweig, Vienna
Volksoper, Innsbruck, Graz and Bern. He also conducts
regularly at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Belgium.
He was permanent conductor (1. Kapellmeister) at
the Nuremberg State Theatre until 2013. Orchestras
he has worked with in concert include the ORF
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-
Orchester, Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra,
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Philharmonic
Orchestra, Braunschweig State Orchestra, Bavarian
Chamber Philharmonic, Württemberg Chamber
Orchestra Heilbronn, Banatul State Philharmonic
Orchestra, Timișoara, Transylvania State Philharmonic
Orchestra of Cluj-Napoca, Nuremberg Symphony, Hof
Symphony, Brandenburg Symphony and Georgian
Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt. He makes his INO
debut in Werther.
Sophie is artistic director of The
Everyman, Cork. She was previously
artistic director of Pentabus
Theatre, associate director of
Rough Magic Theatre Company
and co-artistic Director of WillFredd
Theatre. She studied at Samuel Beckett Centre,
Trinity College Dublin, trained with Rough Magic’s
SEEDS and the National Theatre Studio, London.
She was staff director at English National Opera and
resident assistant director at the Abbey Theatre in
Dublin. Her directing credits include Letters of A
Country Postman (The Everyman), Here I Belong,
Wolves Are Coming For You, Crossings, The Tale of
Little Bevan and One Side Lies the Sea (Pentabus
Theatre), Millions of Years (English National Opera),
BEES!, Jockey, CARE, FOLLOW, FARM (WillFredd
Theatre), Tejas Verdes, Vincent River (Prime Cut),
Balfe’s The Sleeping Queen (Wexford Festival Opera
ShortWorks), Everything Between Us, Plaza Suite
(Rough Magic), Trans, Turning Points: Minimalism,
The Garden (London Sinfonietta). She makes her INO
debut with Werther.
Sarah trained on the Motley Theatre
Design Course in London, having
previously studied architecture
at University College Dublin. She
designs sets and costumes for
theatre, opera, dance and film.
Her recent work includes, Luck Just Kissed You
Hello (Peacock Theatre), production design on Irish
National Opera’s 20 Shots of Opera (filmed in the
Gaiety Theatre, November 2020), Mozart’s The
Abduction from The Seraglio (INO, cancelled due to
the pandemic), What did I Miss? (The Ark), set and
costume design on Drama at Inish, City Song (Winner
of the 2019 Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Set
Design), Anna Karenina, The Shadow of a Gunman
(Abbey Theatre, wnner of the 2016 Irish Times
Theatre Award for Best Set Design), Beginning/The
Children, ASSASSINS (Gate Theatre), Hecuba, Melt,
The Effect, Everything Between Us (Rough Magic), The
Water Orchard (Collapsing Horse), Tina’s Idea of Fun
(Peacock Theatre). Other costume designs include
Look Back in Anger (Gate Theatre), The Patient Gloria
(Peacock Theatre), The Rehearsal: Playing The Dane
(Pan Pan Theatre). She designed the ShortWorks,
at Wexford Festival Opera for four seasons between
2008 and 2013, and made her mainstage design
debut there with Cilea’s L’Arlesiana in 2012. In 2010
she was a Linbury Prize finalist, and exhibited her
work at the National Theatre, London.
Sarah Jane began designing
lighting in Dublin Youth Theatre,
completing an MSc in Interactive
Digital Media in 2021 and a BA
in Drama and Theatre Studies in
2006 (Trinity College Dublin), and
the Rough Magic SEEDS3 programme in 2006-8.
From 2010 to 2017, she was co-artistic director of
WillFredd Theatre. Previous work with INO includes
Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (a co-production
with Theatre Lovett and the Abbey Theatre) and
Evangelia Rigaki’s This Hostel Life. Other recent
lighting designs include This Shit Happens All The
Time (Lyric Theatre Belfast), SHIT, Conversations
After Sex (THISISPOPBABY), All the Angels (Rough
Magic Theatre Company), Book of Names (ANU
Productions), The Veiled Ones (Junk Ensemble),
Afterlove (Stephanie Dufresne, Galway Dance Project,
Galway International Arts Festival), One Good Turn
(Abbey Theatre), A Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings (Collapsing Horse).
28
29

BIOGRAPHIES
RICHARD PEIRSON
RÉPÉTITEUR/ARRANGER
CAROLINE MOREAU
LANGUAGE COACH
NIAMH O’SULLIVAN
MEZZO-SOPRANO
CHARLOTTE
SARAH SHINE
SOPRANO
SOPHIE
Richard Peirson studied at
Cambridge University, the Royal
Academy of Music and the National
Opera Studio. He was on the
music staff of Scottish Opera from
1993 to 2001 where he worked
as répétiteur, played solo piano in Britten’s The
Turn of The Screw, Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and
harpsichord in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte
and The Marriage of Figaro. He was chorus master
for Gavin Bryars’s Medea and was music director
for Scottish Opera’s production of Puccini’s La
bohème. He joined the music staff of English National
Opera in 2005 and has worked with many leading
conductors including Charles Mackerras, Edward
Gardner, Richard Hickox, Richard Armstrong and
Mark Wigglesworth. He was music director of the
Norfolk-based Orange Opera from 2001 to 2006.
He has given numerous recitals with international
singers including John Tomlinson, Stuart Skelton,
Lisa Milne, William Dazeley and Mary Bevan. He
also works as a freelance coach and accompanist
and has given many lecture recitals for the Chelseabased
opera group Divas and Scholars. His setting
of WB Yeats’s He wishes for the cloths of Heaven is
published by Stainer and Bell. He made his INO debut
in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in 2020.
Caroline Moreau is a French singer,
performer, educator, composer
and researcher in vocal pedagogy.
She has a Premier prix de piano
(Conservatoire de musique de
Marcq-en-Baroeul) and a degree
of DUMI – Diplôme Universitaire des Musiciens
Intervenants – from the University of Strasbourg.
After five years performing French chansons in
venues across Ireland, the UK, France and Spain,
Caroline created French Singing In Schools, with the
support of the Embassy of France in Dublin, a project
that combines her singing skills and her passion for
teaching. She has worked with Irish National Opera
since 2022 as a French singing language coach for
cast and chorus on Bizet’s Carmen, Rossini’s William
Tell, and now Massenet’s Werther, She is currently
working on the Sisters of Sorrow project, involving
artists from Ireland, Portugal and France who wish to
explore and reinterpret the traditional rituals used by
female mourners to vocally lament the dead.
Irish mezzo-soprano Niamh
O’Sullivan, praised for her
“bewitchingly beautiful, dark vibrant
voice” (Süddeutsche Zeitung),
studied at the Royal Irish Academy
of Music in Dublin under Veronica
Dunne. She was a member of the opera studio at the
Bavarian State Opera in Munich from 2016 to 2018,
and her numerous Munich engagements include
Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Kate
Pinkerton Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the Secretary
in Menotti’s The Consul, Flora in Verdi’s La traviata and
Barena in Janáček’s Jenůfa. She also travelled with
the company to Carnegie Hall, New York, for a concert
performance of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier conducted
by Kirill Petrenko. Other appearances include her
2018 Irish National Opera debut as Tisbe Rossini’s
La Cenerentola, Third Maid in Strauss’s Elektra, and
Asteria in Vivaldi’s Bajazet and Merdédès in Bizet’s
Carmen for INO, and Cousser’s The Applause of Mount
Parnassus at the Wigmore Hall with Ensemble Marsyas
under Peter Whelan. In concert, she performed Elgar’s
Sea Pictures at the Prinzregententheater as part of the
Munich Festspiele in July 2019 and sang both Mozart’s
Requiem and Handel’s Messiah with the Münchner
Hofkantorei; she has also performed Cain in Alessandro
Scarlatti’s oratorio Il primo omicidio. She made her
Wexford Festival Opera debut as Paulina in Goldmark’s
Ein Wintermarchen, returning as as Mirza in Felicien
David’s Lalla Roukh, and her Zurich Opera debut as
Wellgunde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold. She also created
the role of Alva in Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s
The First Child at the Dublin Theatre Festival.
Irish soprano Sarah Shine created
the role of Karen in Donnacha
Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The
First Child in 2021 at Dublin Theatre
Festival (Landmark Productions/
Irish National Opera). Other recent
engagements include soprano soloist in Mozart’s
Mass in C Minor in France, a recital at the Irish
Cultural Centre in Paris and a debut at the Abbey
Theatre in the world premiere of Michael Gallen’s
opera about the Monaghan Soviet, Elsewhere. In
2020 she appeared at the Wexford Festival Opera
as Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff and also created the
role of Fran in Andrew Synnott’s What Happened
to Lucrece? She also appeared in Irish National
Opera’s much-praised 20 Shots of Opera in Linda
Buckley’s Glaoch. At the Salzburg Festival in 2019
she was a member of the Young Singers Project where
she performed the role of Angelika in Marius Felix
Lange’s specially-commissioned children’s opera Der
Gesang der Zauberinsel and sang a final concert with
the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg. From 2017-19
she was a singer in residence at Opéra national de
Paris, where she made her debut as Adele in Johann
Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, as Leocadia in Phillippe
Boesmans’s Reigen and participated in many
concerts in Paris and throughout France. In 2018
she won the Siemens Opera Contest France with a
prize of €10,000. Sarah graduated with a BA in Music
Performance and a Recital Artist Diploma from the
Royal Irish Academy of Music where she studied with
Veronica Dunne.
30
31

BIOGRAPHIES
PARIDE CATALDO
TENOR
WERTHER
CHARLES RICE
BARITONE
ALBERT
WYN PENCARREG
BARITONE
LE BALLI
EAMONN MULHALL
TENOR
SCHMIDT
Young Italian tenor Paride Cataldo
is quickly becoming recognised for
his rich, lyric voice and captivating
stage presence after winning the
Verdi Prize at the 2022 Tenor Viñas
International Singing Contest in
Barcelona, second prize at the 2021 Concorso Lirico
Internazionale Ottavio Ziino in Rome and first prize
at the 2018 L’Assoluta Virginia Zeani Royal Voice
Competition in Romania. Recent and forthcoming
engagements include making his La Scala debut as
Un Servo di Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera,
the tenor soloist in Ramírez’s Misa Criolla at Teatro
Carlo Felice, Genoa, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème
at the Festival Internazionale delle Arti, Gabriele
D’Annunzio in the world premiere of Willem Jeths’s
Ritratto at the Dutch National Opera, Alfredo in Verdi’s
La traviata at the Teatro Politeama Greco Lecce and
on tour in a special collaboration with the Teatro
Regio di Parma. He began his musical studies at the
age of eight, joining the children’s choir of Teatro di
San Carlo in Naples. After years of studying opera
singing with his father, in 2015 he met his current
teacher, the tenor Salvatore Cordella, who admitted
him to his Accademia Germogli d’Arte. There, he was
awarded best student of the Academy, which allowed
him to make his debut at the seventh edition of the
Festival Internazionale delle Arti, performing the role
of Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata under Sergio La Stella.
He makes his INO debut in Werther.
Charles Rice recently returned
to English National Opera as
Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème in
the 2021-22 season, followed by
Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (Opéra de Lille).
His engagements also included Oreste in Gluck’s
Iphigénie en Tauride (Angers Nantes Opéra, where he
earlier appeared in the title role of Thomas’s Hamlet),
and his debut in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni
(Opéra de Avignon). Other recent appearances include
Robert Cecil in Britten’s Gloriana Teatro Real, Oronte
in Charpentier’s Médée (Grand Théâtre de Genève),
Simonson in Alfano’s Risurrezione (Wexford Festival
Opera), Gabey in Bernstein’s On the Town, Demetrius
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hyogo Performing
Arts Center in Japan), Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
(Angers Nantes Opéra), Figaro in Rossini’s The Barber
of Seville and Maximmilian in Bernstein’s Candide
(The Grange Festival), Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter
Grimes (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Valencia),
Arthur Koestler in the premiere of Michel Tabachnik’s
Benjamin, dernière nuit and Procolo in Donizetti’s Viva
la Mamma! (Opéra de Lyon), as well as Hermann in
Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, which marked
his debut at the Royal Opera House in London. He
studied with Mark Wildman at the Royal Academy of
Music and the National Opera Studio. He makes his
INO debut in Werther.
Welsh baritone Wyn Pencarreg
studied at the Royal Northern
College of Music, gaining many
prizes and scholarships including
awards from the Countess of
Munster Trust, the Peter Moores
Foundation and the Wolfson Foundation. He was
also a winner of the Erich Vietheer Memorial Award
from Glyndebourne Festival Opera. His operatic
roles include Alcindoro in Puccini’s La bohème,
Padre Sansón in Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating
Angel and Flemish Deputy in Verdi’s Don Carlos
(The Royal Opera); Le Sire de Béthune in Verdi’s Les
vêpres siciliennes, Sir Walter Raleigh in Donizetti’s
Roberto Devereux, Alcade in Verdi’s La forza del
destino (Welsh National Opera); Cuno in Weber’s Der
Freischütz (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
conducted by Mark Elder); Surin in Tchaikovsky’s The
Queen of Spades (English National Opera); Sharpless
in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Royal Albert Hall);
Donner in Wagner’s Das Rheingold (Longborough
Festival Opera); and Music Master in Strauss’s
Ariadne auf Naxos (West Green House). He has also
performed many roles for companies including Opera
North, Glyndebourne, Grange Park Opera, Opéra
de Monte-Carlo and English Touring Opera. World
premières include Papin in John Browne’s Babette’s
Feast (Royal Opera House) and Lalchand in David
Bruce’s The Firework-Maker’s Daughter (The Opera
Group). Concerts appearances include Handel’s
Messiah (Ulster Orchestra); Voice of Neptune in
Mozart’s Idomeneo (Hallé Orchestra); Hermann Ortel
in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger (BBC Philharmonic
Orchestra) and Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem
and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast (St Albans Festival).
He makes his INO debut in Werther.
Wexford tenor Eamonn Mulhall
trained at the Royal College of Music
and the National Opera Studio in
London. He made his INO debut as
Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
in March 2018 and subsequently
sang Remendado in Bizet’s Carmen. He has performed
with many theatre companies, opera houses and
music festivals in productions including After Dido
(The Young Vic) and Amadeus (National Theatre),
Mariotte’s Salomé (Wexford Festival Opera), Rossini’s
La Cenerentola (Wexford Festival Opera ShortWorks),
Ľubica Čekovská’s Dorian Gray (Slovak National
Theatre), Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and a staged
Handel Messiah (English National Opera), the world
première of James MacMillan’s Clemency (ROH2
Covent Garden, and Scottish Opera at the Edinburgh
International Festival), Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie
(Capella Cracoviensis in Kraków), Wagner’s Tristan und
Isolde (Wide Open Opera), and Ullmann’s The Emperor
of Atlantis, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Robert O’Dwyer’s Eithne
and Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
(Opera Theatre Company). In concert he has appeared
at Kilkenny Arts Festival, Prague International Spring
Festival, Festivale Musica sull’Acqua at Lake Como, Italy,
and with numerous orchestras in Britain and Ireland. He
also sang Rev. Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes at Teatro
La Fenice in Venice.
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33

BIOGRAPHIES
MOZART
COSÌ
FAN TUTTE
TUE 23 – SAT 27 MAY 2023
OWEN GILHOOLY-MILES
BARITONE
JOHANN
Owen Gilhooly-Miles is a graduate
of the Royal College of Music and
National Opera Studio in London.
He made his Royal Opera House
debut singing the Fauré Requiem
for The Royal Ballet and in 2007
represented Ireland at BBC Cardiff Singer of the
World. He is also a Professor of Singing at the Royal
Irish Academy of Music. In opera he has performed
with Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company,
English Touring Opera, Lyric Opera Productions,
Scottish Opera, Opera North, Buxton International
Festival, The Opera Group and Musikwerkstatt Wien.
Additionally, he has appeared in many productions
for Wexford Festival Opera and the Blackwater Valley
Opera Festival. In 2014 he made his debut for The
Royal Opera singing the role of Robert in the world
première of Luke Bedford’s Through his Teeth. In
concert he has appeared with the RTÉ National
Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Irish
Baroque Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Ulster
Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra,
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra and London Philharmonic
Orchestra. He has performed at the BBC Prom in
Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and Janáček’s
Osud with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with whom
he also performed in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing
Bridegroom. He made his INO debut as Leuthold in
Rossini’s William Tell last year.
IRISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA
The Irish National Opera Orchestra is made up of
leading freelance musicians based in Ireland. Members
of the orchestra have a broad range of experience
playing operatic, symphonic, chamber and new music
repertoire. The orchestra plays for contemporary
opera productions – Thomas Adès’s Powder her
Face and Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like
The Other – as well as chamber reductions of larger
scores – Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and
Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. The orchestra,
which appeared in its largest live formation to date in
Rossini’s Cinderella/La Cenerentola at the Bord Gáis
Energy Theatre in Dublin in 2019, numbered even
more – 79 players – for the sessions to produce the
soundtrack for INO’s spectacular, site-specific, outdoor
production of Strauss’s Elektra at Kilkenny Arts Festival
in 2021. The Irish National Opera Orchestra has been
heard in 17 venues throughout Ireland.
TIMES: TUE 23, WED 24, THUR 25, FRI 26 MAY 7.30PM | SAT 27 MAY 2PM & 7.30PM
TICKETS FROM €15 | TICKETMASTER.IE
Internet bookings subject to 12.5% service charge per ticket (Max €6.85 per ticket). Agents €3.50 per ticket.
irishnationalopera.ie
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35

PRESENTS
FOUNDERS CIRCLE
Ann Nolan & Paul Burns
F.X. & Pat O’Brien
James & Sylvia O’Connor
Verdi’s Falstaff on Saturday 1 April
3 SEASON
The Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live cinema transmissions returns this fall
with a lineup of ten spectacular stagings, including seven new productions.
STRAUSS
Der Rosenkavalier
APR 15
TERENCE BLANCHARD / LIBRETTO BY MICHAEL CRISTOFER
Champion
APR 29
For more information see
www.irishnationalopera.ie
MOZART
Don Giovanni
MAY 20
MOZART
Die Zauberflöte
JUN 3
The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by
a generous grant from its founding sponsor
Digital support of The Met:
Live in HD is provided by
metopera.org/hd
The Met: Live in HD
series is supported by
The HD broadcasts
are supported by
Anonymous
Desmond Barry & John Redmill
Valerie Beatty & Dennis Jennings
Mark & Nicola Beddy
Carina & Ali Ben Lmadani
Mary Brennan
Angie Brown
Breffni & Jean Byrne
Jennifer Caldwell
Seán Caldwell & Richard Caldwell
Caroline Classon, in memoriam
David Warren, Gorey
Audrey Conlon
Gerardine Connolly
Jackie Connolly
Gabrielle Croke
Sarah Daniel
Maureen de Forge
Doreen Delahunty & Michael Moriarty
Joseph Denny
Kate Donaghy
Marcus Dowling
Mareta & Conor Doyle
Noel Doyle & Brigid McManus
Michael Duggan
Catherine & William Earley
Jim & Moira Flavin
Ian & Jean Flitcroft
Anne Fogarty
Maire & Maurice Foley
Roy & Aisling Foster
Howard Gatiss
Genesis
Hugh & Mary Geoghegan
Diarmuid Hegarty
M Hely Hutchinson
Gemma Hussey
Kathy Hutton & David McGrath
Nuala Johnson
Susan Kiely
Timothy King & Mary Canning
J & N Kingston
Kate & Ross Kingston
Silvia & Jay Krehbiel
Karlin Lillington & Chris Horn
Stella Litchfield
Jane Loughman
Rev Bernárd Lynch & Billy Desmond
Lyndon MacCann S.C.
Phyllis Mac Namara
Tony & Joan Manning
R. John McBratney
Ruth McCarthy, in memoriam Niall
& Barbara McCarthy
Petria McDonnell
Jim McKiernan
Tyree & Jim McLeod
Jean Moorhead
Sara Moorhead
Joe & Mary Murphy
John & Viola O’Connor
Joseph O’Dea
Dr J R O’Donnell
Deirdre O’Donovan & Daniel Collins
Diarmuid O’Dwyer
Patricia O’Hara
Annmaree O’Keefe & Chris Greene
Carmel & Denis O’Sullivan
Líosa O’Sullivan & Mandy Fogarty
Hilary Pratt
Sue Price
Landmark Productions
Riverdream Productions
Nik Quaife & Emerson Bruns
Margaret Quigley
Patricia Reilly
Dr Frances Ruane
Catherine Santoro
Dermot & Sue Scott
Yvonne Shields
Fergus Sheil Sr
Gaby Smyth
Matthew Patrick Smyth
Bruce Stanley
Sara Stewart
The Wagner Society of Ireland
Julian & Beryl Stracey
Michael Wall & Simon Nugent
Brian Walsh & Barry Doocey
Judy Woodworth
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OPERA ALL OVER
– AND FOR EVERYONE
“Irish National Opera is one
of the great success stories...
it is a dazzling achievement.”
NICHOLAS PAYNE, DIRECTOR OF OPERA EUROPA
Image: Watching Peter Maxwell Davies’s
The Lighthouse at Hook Head
Opera is our passion. And we want to share that
passion. Not just through live events in cities and towns,
large and small, but also through educational initiatives
in schools and colleges, and community activities that
appeal to young and old alike.
OPERA WHEREVER YOU ARE
We take our productions to all corners of the land, from Dublin
to Galway, Tralee to Letterkenny, Wexford to Sligo. Projects such
as our site-specific production of Strauss’s Elektra in Kilkenny’s
Castle Yard offer a unique way of engaging with our work. INO
has developed its digital output and grown its online content. You
can come to us wherever you happen to be. Our innovative online
project 20 Shots of Opera was highly praised, as also were our film
productions of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,
Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse and Amanda Feery’s
A Thing I Cannot Name. Outdoor screenings take our filmed
productions to some of the most remote corners of Ireland and
our revamped Street Art projected operas will allow us to increase
our reach. Our partnership with Signum Records brings highresolution
recordings of our work to new audiences worldwide.
TRAILBLAZING DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE COMMUNITY
In June, our first youth opera, David Coonan and Dylan Coburn
Gray’s Horse Ape Bird, gave young people the experience of
performing in a professional operatic production. Our groundbreaking
virtual reality community opera, Finola Merivale’s Out of
the Ordinary/As an nGnách premiered at the Kilkenny Arts Festival
and was also seen at Dublin Fringe Festival. It’s a voyage into the
unknown and places people from diverse communities directly at
the heart of the creative process. In October our World Opera Day
pop-up chorus allowed 100 choristers and opera enthusiasts to workshop and perform with
a professional orchestra and soloists. Our pre-performance In Focus talks delve into varied
aspects of opera with opera makers, from the histories of specific works, the development of
the characters and the issues facing performers and composers.
NURTURING THE NEXT GENERATION OF OPERA TALENT
The professional development and employment of Irish artists are key to the success of Irish
National Opera itself. The Irish National Opera Studio is our artistic development programme.
It provides specially-tailored training, professional mentoring and high-level professional
engagements for singers, répétiteurs, conductors, directors and composers whose success
is crucial to the future development of opera in Ireland. We also work with third-level music
students through workshops designed to give them a fuller understanding of the inner workings
of the world of opera, that heady mixture of musical, artistic, theatrical and management skills
that make possible the magic that is opera. Colleges and universities we have worked with
include University College Dublin, National College of Art and Design, Maynooth University,
NUI Galway, TU Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
WE PURSUE AND EMBRACE INNOVATION
We are at the forefront of operatic innovation. Our award-winning virtual reality community opera
Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách uses new technologies to widen participation in the arts at
community level. It explores the cutting-edge relationship between opera and digital technology.
In 2023 we will bring this ground-breaking work on a national tour to all 32 counties. We recently
won a major grant from FEDORA to develop a cutting-edge Street Art Performance app that
has the potential to redraw the reach of performing arts and improve accessibility in the sector.
Watch out for its availability on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
WE PRODUCE GREAT WORK
Our commissioned works explore issues from climate change to mental health. We present opera
in thought-provoking and relevant ways. We nurture and develop emerging talent to ensure that
the Irish opera landscape provides equitable opportunities and pay. We champion gender equality
in the creative teams we work with. Opera is for everyone, and we are committed to inclusivity and
diversity. Everyone, regardless of socio-economic, ethnic or national background, or physical and
mental challenges, should have access and the opportunity to participate in opera.
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39

IRISH NATIONAL
OPERA STUDIO
Sarah Baxter, INO Opera Studio
member 2018–20, is directing
her first full-length opera
production, Verdi’s Macbeth, for
Blackwater Valley Opera Festival
from Wednesday 30 May.
STUDIO MEMBERS 2022–23
JADE PHOENIX SOPRANO
KATHLEEN NIC DHIARMADA SOPRANO
MADELINE JUDGE MEZZO-SOPRANO
EOIN FORAN BARITONE
KATIE O’HALLORAN DIRECTOR
CHRIS KELLY DIRECTOR
MEDB BRERETON HURLEY CONDUCTOR
ÉNA BRENNAN COMPOSER
The Irish National Opera Studio is key to delivering a core
aspect of INO’s mission, the development of the very best
operatic talent we can find in Ireland. The studio is the
company’s artistic development programme. The membership
is selected annually, and the studio provides specially tailored
training, professional mentoring and high-level professional
engagements for a group of individuals whose success will be
key to the future development of opera in Ireland.
Members of Irish National Opera Studio are involved in all
of Irish National Opera’s productions, large and small. They
sing onstage in roles or in the chorus, understudy lead roles
– enabling them to watch and emulate great artists at work –
and, for non-singing members, they join in the world of opera
rehearsals as assistants.
Studio members also receive individual coaching, attend
masterclasses and receive mentorship from leading Irish and
international singers and musicians. Brenda Hurley, Head of
Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, London, is the vocal
consultant who guides our singers throughout the year.
Other areas of specific attention are performance and
language skills, and members are assisted in their individual
personal musical development and given professional career
guidance. They benefit from Irish National Opera’s national
and international contacts and Irish National Opera Studio
also develops and promotes specially tailored events to help
the members hone specific skills and showcase their work.
Photo by Ste Murray of soprano Rachel
Croash (INO Opera Studio member
2018–19) in Hannah Peel’s Close
which Sarah directed in INO’s 20 Shots
of Opera in 2020.
For information contact Studio & Outreach Producer
James Bingham at james@irishnationalopera.ie
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45

INO TEAM
Pauline Ashwood
Acting Artistic Administrator
James Bingham
Studio & Outreach Producer
Sorcha Carroll
Marketing Manager
Gavin O’Sullivan
Head of Production
Fergus Sheil
Artistic Director
Sarah Thursfield
Marketing Executive
Irish National Opera
69 Dame Street
Dublin 2 | Ireland
T: 01–679 4962
E: info@irishnationalopera.ie
irishnationalopera.ie
Aoife Daly
Development Manager
Paula Tierney
Company Stage Manager
@irishnationalopera
Diego Fasciati
Executive Director
Lea Försterling
Digital Communications
Manager (Maternity Cover)
Cate Kelliher
Business & Finance Manager
Elaine Kelly
Resident Conductor
Audrey Keogan
Development Executive
Anne Kyle
Stage Manager
Patricia Malpas
Project Administrator
James Middleton
Orchestra & Chorus Manager
Robert Walters-Dorchak
Marketing Intern
Board of Directors
Jennifer Caldwell (Chair)
Tara Erraught
Gerard Howlin
Dennis Jennings
Gary Joyce
Sara Moorhead
Suzanne Nance
Ann Nolan
Bruce Stanley
Jonathan Friend
Artistic Advisor
@irishnatopera
@irishnationalopera
Company Reg No.: 601853
Registered Charity: 22403
(RCN) 20204547
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
RTÉ supports more than
120 arts events nationwide
every year.
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