The Limerick Opera Festival


Upcoming Events

Welcome to our events page, where you can discover all the news, updates and information on the upcoming events.

There's a lot in here, so be sure to scroll down.

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Planned Events 2024




Limerick Opera Festival
Saturday May 4th - 25th 


Take a look below at our fabulous list of events for our festival this year. We hope to see you all there and look forward to catching up with all our existing Limerick Opera Festival 
friends and patrons. 
We are really hoping to make many more new friends along the way.
So come along and join us to celebrate opera in our beautiful riverside city.
There is something there for everyone!



Lecture on the  life  of  Catherine Hayes
Thursday May 16th  2024
Laurel Hill School
South Circular Road



Kathryn talking about Catherine

Catherine Hayes, married name Catherine Bushnell (1818 – 1861) was a world-famous Irish soprano of the Victorian era. According to London’s Daily Express ‘Hayes was the ‘Madonna’ of her day. She was the 19th century operatic equivalent of the world’s most famous pop star’.


Our lecture will be delivered by Ms Kathryn Hayes, Lecturer and Course Director of the BA in Journalism and New Media programme, University of Limerick since 2016. Ms Hayes is responsible for the design, delivery and assessment of a number of modules in the BA in Journalism and New
Media program and the MA in Journalism, which focuses on news, reporting and writing skills for multimedia platforms.


The Opera Trail Historical Walk
Saturday May 25th

Start point ~ Merchants Quay Plaza
 Start time ~ 11am

Local historian Sharon Slater will take us on an amazingly interesting and informative walk around Limerick city showing us places of interest with an operatic theme. This walk & talk will be linked to our upcoming publication on the history of Limerick Opera which will be published in conjunction with our festival this year. An event not to be missed from Sharon & LOF!

This is a free event

Be sure to order your copy of River Notes ~ Opera in Limerick
This walk will highlight many of the interesting facts in the book.



Saturday May 25th  2024
Catherine Hayes Tribute Concert 
St Mary’s Cathedral

Jean Wallace (Soprano)
Ami Hewitt (Soprano)
 Pianist - Irina Dernova

This will is a concert performance highlighting the arias and classical songs performed by Catherine Hayes during her impressive career as the Hibernian Madonna.
In her lifetime as a Prima Donna, she met such historical figures as Manual Garcia, the famous tenor and singing teacher; Franz Liszt, the virtuosic pianist and Hungarian composer; Queen Victoria and Giuseppe Verdi himself. She sang everything from Moore’s Melodies to Italian songs and arias and was known from Australia to America and everywhere in between. 
We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Tickets now available at 

https://eventmaster.ie/event/nGy1CplH0v

You can also pay at the door

Hunt Museum Picnic Aria Evening
& Operatic Memorabilia Exhibition

We are collaborating with the Hunt Museum who are a well-loved and much visited museum which is centrally located in the city. The museum was established to house a global collection of 2000 works of Art and Antiquity collected by John and
Gertrude Hunt. The Hunt Museum provides opportunities to engage with the public locally and internationally and Limerick Opera Festival are delighted to be collaborating with them in this awesome event.
Enjoy a sumptuous offering of picnic food while you listen to a wonderful a selection of arias and song in the beautiful outdoors at the back of the museum on the banks of the River Shannon.
We also have our very interesting exhibition of Operatic Memorabilia for our guests to linger over.
Keep in touch for further details on this unique event!!

 





River Notes~Opera in Limerick

Our wonderfully interesting book is now available to pre-order at the following link ~ https://eventmaster.ie/event/6B85UEpT5G

This is a coffee table must and is the culmination of much research on behalf of Sharon Slater. Be sure to get your order in as soon as possible.

The Catherine Hayes Young Soloist Project 2025

This new event is being introduced to our ever-expanding Limerick Opera Festival events page.
Applications will be sought from young aspiring singers aged between 16 and 22 years from around
the country to apply for a number of days coaching with an international staff of singing teachers,
repetiteurs, language coaches and directors.
We will include solo/duet/trio and ensemble work culminating in a performance on the final day.
We will accommodate ten or twelve singers taking part and the Gala Concert at the end of the
coaching experience will be held in St Mary’s Cathedral.
Limerick Opera Festival are very excited about launching this new platform to further support and
enhance the flourishing musical talent in Limerick city and county.

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