The Limerick Opera Festival 2023


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. You can also sign up to our Newsletter and we will keep you posted Remember to follow us on social media as well.





  An Evening of Opera 
&
Contemporary Music
The Abundant Life Centre

Eve Stafford - Soprano
Sarah Ellen Murphy - Soprano
Serhii Bozhenko
Valeriia Tkhchenko

Irina Dernova - Accompanist

Henry Street Limerick
November 23rd at 7.30pm

We are hosting this concert which is being funded under the Healthy Ireland Ukrainian Refugee Fund

Opera on The Lane
December 2nd, 9th & 16th 

Mother Macs Pub - High Street
In December we are helping to kick off the festive season with our second helping of “ Opera on the Lane “ with a fabulous mix of operatic arias, songs and seasonal delight

December 2nd ~   Gina Oberoi Engela - Mezzo Soprano          
                                Amy Hewitt - Soprano                                                                                     
                                Rebecca Warren - Pianist
December 9th ~   Deborah Bulgarelli - Soprano
                               Lucas Nogueira - Tenor
                               Irina Dernova - Accompanist 
December 16th ~ Eve Stafford - Soprano
                               Catherine O'Carroll - Mezzo Soprano
                               Irina Dernova - Accompanist

                              






Planned Events 2024


Thursday April 4th 2024 Festival and History of Opera Book Launch

We are delighted that our Festival Launch is taking place in The International Rugby Experience iconic building on O’Connell St in Limerick City. This is an iconic new experience that launched in
Limerick city centre. This amazing virtual sporting venue has brought thousands of visitors to the area and it is fitting that we have a musical event launch on this premises as it pays tribute to Limerick’s great history as sporting Limerick as well as our wonderful musical city. We look forward to having all our existing patrons, friends of opera and lovers of our opera festival to help us kick off our new list of events for the 2024 season.
We are also very excited about launching our first Limerick Opera Festival history of opera book. We have commissioned well-known local author and award-winning historian Sharon Slater to bring the history of opera in Limerick City and County to life. Limerick has a long andinteresting history of musical talent and has produced and abundance of internationally known composers and singers.
Sharon and Limerick Opera Festival are putting all this historical information together in one beautiful place which will make for a very interesting read and some wonderful images.

Saturday May 4 th 2024 On-street Opera

Saturday morning is a busy time for shoppers in the city. A big shopping day for families, singletons,
young people and generally a great day to meet for a coffee or lunch in one of the many excellent
cafes or restaurants in the city.
Our On-Street events are a really popular experience where we follow the Opera Trail around the
city with on-street performances of well-known and beloved arias and classical songs. Not only do
the public love our pop-up performances but our professional opera singers love the energy they get
from performing so closely with their audience and have so much fun with the public as they stop
and enjoy this free offering of beautiful music. This truly encapsulates the belief and purpose of our
Festival being Opera for All
Weather may sometimes drive us indoors but is no less enjoyable as the event remains impromptu
and a very personal experience for everybody who is lucky enough to be in the area.

Saturday May 11th 2024 Hunt Museum Picnic Aria Evening & Operatic Memorabilia Exhibition

This is a new addition to our Festival for next season. 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.
We will enjoy a sumptuous offering of picnic food while we enjoy 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.

Friday May 10th 2024 A Live Screening from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York

Further details are to be announced around this event in the new year.

Friday May 17 th 2024 Operatic Aria Extravaganza

Our Aria Evenings have become a much-loved event during our Festival week. Although we do not always confine these events to the festival week only. We have enjoyed aria evenings at Christmas and in Spring and these events book out very quickly.
Guests will sit in the comfortable friendly atmosphere of the Opera for All experience . You will be treated to wonderful food while you listen to an operatic duo performing arias, songs and delivering a spectacular performance which includes the guests in a most endearing fashion.

Saturday May 25th 2024 Lecture on the life of Catherine Hayes, Laurel Hill School, South Circular Road

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.

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

This will be a reprise of last year’s very successful concert 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 will have two operatic performers accompanied by the wonderful timbre of St Mary’s grand piano. This was a tremendous success last year, being extremely well received and enjoyed by all who attended. We are sure that this year’s event will be of even greater success.

The Catherine Hayes Young Soloist Project 2024

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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