Here for the Opera
Of course, much as we loved simply spending time with our friends in Wexford, we were really here to hear some singing. We’d planned the three “main events”, that is, the evening performances of three rarely seen, full theatrical productions on the theme of “Theatre within Theatre”.
Photo: Andreas Praefcke
We’d learned from Volker and Sabine that people here dress up. Volker was certainly intending to wear his Smoking and Sabine said she would be bringing a few dressy outfits for the evenings. So, my Hero and I followed suit and wore our best bib and tucker too! Our fellow opera-goers had done the same and we loved the glamour and glitter as well as the kilts, oriental wear and a group dressed in quite stunning Bohemian garb. Wonderful! We looked for them each evening and sure enough, they were regulars, always in style and wearing a different variation every time.
We had great seats on each of the three evenings, if rather less foot room than we’d have preferred. Never mind, the fab view more than made up for that, First up was Le Maschere , next evening, we saw The Critic and lastly, Le convenienze ed inconvenienze. All three were imaginatively staged and had something to interest and delight - though I’ll admit, not all were “my cup of tea”.
But the Festival isn’t only about the large opera performances. The programme is filled with other events: presentations and recitals, short “pocket operas” and pop-up performances in surprising places. On our first afternoon, we went to the “Impossible Interview”. It’s impossible, because the subject of the interviewee, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, has been dead for a hundred years, so his part was played (very well!) by an actor. He put on a good show, related some interesting details about his early life in Dublin and it proved a great start to our Festival.
The following day, we agreed to meet Volker and Sabine around lunchtime at a venue downtown, where an upstairs gallery was set up for a pop-up performance. No tickets, but right on time, a young woman appeared and sat down at the piano, followed shortly afterwards by another holding a book, who began to sing.
Boy, did she sing! The relatively small space was filled with the most lovely sound followed by enthusiastic applause. As the applause subsided, there was heard another voice from somewhere…”Che gelida manina…” Well, ok, he’d remarked on her icy cold hand before he’d got anywhere near her, but he sang so beautifully as he joined in the fun that he was immediately forgiven and surely her hand melted as swiftly as our hearts. She replied with “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” and from there, they drew the performance to a close with the La Boheme duet, “O suave fanciulla”, wandering off as they sang and leaving so many of us with a tear in the eye. Well, I, for one, never leave a performance of La Boheme dry eyed!
Another pop-up was scheduled for Barkers, on the Main Street in town. We turned up there on time and looked around for a while before someone came along and put out the board.
So, should we go inside or what? Soon afterwards, the street musician said he was drawing his set to a close to make room for a proper singer, “You know, the sort who don’t need amplification”.
As he completed his final song for now, we noticed the windows above the shop had been removed and the crowd was beginning to gather, including several members of the Wexford Tidy Town Volunteer network.
Once again, right on cue, the performance started to an appreciative audience of all ages. We chatted to yet more new friends, for every time we stopped moving, whoever was standing next to us would greet us with “Hullo", how are you?” following up with gentle queries about what we thought about the operas we’d seen and where we called home.
Standing waiting outside St Iberius church without tickets for the recital there, we found ourselves standing next to a single chap, whom we carefully ensured was at the front of the queue for returns (we were next in line). These things are important, aren’t they? When he thanked us, I recognised his accent and asked from where in Germany he came - near Frankfurt, he answered. So the conversation continued auf Deutsch and when Volker and Sabine arrived, the Frankfurt/Stuttgart crew shared thoughts and discovered they were all planning to visit the Doninzetti Festival in Bergamo in a couple of weeks. These Opera fans, well!
The recital was possibly the highlight of our week and the tenor Alberto Robert gave a magnificent performance to bring the house down.
So, what with these pop-ups, a couple of recitals and the pocket opera on our last afternoon, Pagliacci, performed by young singers from the Wexford Factory there was so very much more to the Festival than the three Main Stage operas and next time we find ourselves here, we’ll plan our time rather more efficiently in order to make the most of every opportunity!
As we stood and joined hands with Volker and Sabine on one side and a couple from Bern, Switzerland on the other, to sing Auld Lang Syne at the end of the final performance on Saturday night, we agreed, it had been a fabulous experience and yes, we hope that we will be back!
