Wide Open Opera – Producer

Wide Open Opera produces unique operatic productions for audiences in Ireland and internationally. Founded in 2012, the company began with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, the first Irish performance of this opera in fifty years. It has subsequently presented the Irish premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China as well as Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin.

Wide Open Opera has also championed new operas by Irish composers. It co-produced Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest with NI Opera and it gave the world premiere of Raymond Deane’s The Alma Fetish in 2013. The company produced two operas by Brian Irvine and John McIlduff in 2014 – Things We Throw Away, an outdoor public art project for Dublin City Council, and The Oldest Woman in Limerick for the 2014 Limerick City of Culture programme. In 2015 Wide Open Opera co-produced The Last Hotel by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh with Landmark Productions. This opera appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival, Royal Opera House, London, Dublin Theatre Festival, St Ann’s Warehouse, New York and Les Théâtres de la Ville, Luxembourg.

Wide Open Opera’s performances have been broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm. Many of its productions have been webcast, including The Barber of Seville on The Opera Platform. A film version of The Last Hotel was made for broadcast on Sky Arts and the opera has been recorded for future release on Cantaloupe Music.

In its short history, Wide Open Opera has received many awards, including Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for Best Costume Design (The Importance of Being Earnest), Best Set Design (The Barber of Seville) and Best Opera Production (The Last Hotel and The Barber of Seville). The company also won the Best Large Sponsorship award at the Allianz Business to Arts Awards for the Sky Arts version of The Last Hotel in collaboration with Brink Films and Landmark Productions.