Salome 2024 Programme

OPERA ALL OVER –
AND FOR EVERYONE
Image: Students
watching the INO
film of Gerald Barry’s
Alice’s Adventures
Under Ground.
Photo by PJ Malpas.
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. Our site-specific productions and
outdoor screenings have taken our filmed productions to some of the most
remote corners of Ireland. And our Street Art operas, created for outdoor
projection, now use our Isolde app to work with mobile phones. Much of our
work is available online, partnerships with platforms like operavision.eu and
RTÉ lyric fm have expanded our international audience over 1 million and
counting. More info at Discover and Participate on irishnationalopera.ie
TRAILBLAZING DEVELOPMENTS IN THE COMMUNITY
In June 2022, our first youth opera, David Coonan and Carys D Coburn’s
Horse Ape Bird, explored relationships between humans and animals, and
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 was first seen at Kilkenny Arts
Festival and Dublin Fringe Festival in 2022 and continues to tour around
Ireland. The INO Schools Programme offers subsidised tickets to students for
INO performances and also provides free workshops that introduce young
people to specific works as well as the wider world of opera production. Through
our Open Foyer series we collaborate with local community groups, who
perform in the foyer before a performance, exploring connections with the
opera they’re about to see. We have worked with youth theatre groups in
Ennis, a hip collective in Cork and a group of singer-songwriters in Dundalk.
In our Explore and Sing initiative members of the public get to sing alongside
Image: Stephanie
Dufresne in an outreach
session with pupils of
St Peter’s, Dunboyne,
about INO’s production
of Cosí fan tutte.
Image, still from video
by Charlie Jo Doherty.
the chorus or orchestra in specially designed workshops. Our pre-performance
talks and online In Focus sessions 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. Through our partnership with TU Dublin,
we have created a répétiteur scholarship, which offers an opportunity for a
pianist to work on our productions across the season whilst also studying towards
a Masters in Music. We also provide workshops for third-level music students
designed to give them a fuller understanding of professional engagement with
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, University of Galway, TU Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy
of Music, DCU, Trinity College Dublin and the MTU Cork School of Music.
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 should have access and the opportunity to participate in opera.
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