The Blackwater Valley Opera Festival (formerly the Lismore Opera Festival and Lismore Music Festival) is a classical music and opera festival held annually in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland. Founded in 2010 by Jennifer O'Connell and artistic director Dieter Kaegi, the festival was re-launched as the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in February 2018. Previous events have consisted of three opera nights performed in Lismore Castle's stable yard. Concerts and recitals have also been staged in Lismore and in historic homes located along the banks of the Blackwater River downstream to the parish of Cappoquin. These venues have included Salterbridge House,

Cappoquin House Cappoquin House also known as Belmont is an 18th-century classical-style mansion overlooking the town of Cappoquin in County Waterford, Ireland. The house is the seat of the Keane Baronets of Belmont and of Cappoquin. Previous castle It is ...

, Tourin House, Dromore Yard and

Lismore Cathedral St. Moluag's Cathedral is located on the Scottish island of Lismore just off the coast of Oban. As a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the present-day parish church of 1749 stands on the site of the choir of the ab ...

. In 2012, Irish President Michael D. Higgins inaugurated the festival's annual school's access programme. Marco Zambelli was the conductor of the festival for several years, except in 2016, when Killian Farrell conducted ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

'', and in 2019 when Darren Hargan conducted '' Don Pasquale''. The 2019 festival presented two operas for the first time, with 15 performances in total, including a solo recital by

Giovanni Bellucci Giovanni Bellucci (born Rome, 31 August 1965) is an Italian pianist. After having inadvertently discovered the piano, when he was already fourteen, he started studying at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome under the direction of Franco Medori. ...

. While the 2020 event was cancelled as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival's organisers ran outdoor concerts for residential care home residents. By March 2021, this concert series was described as "the largest arts and health intervention supported in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland" and had included 350 live classical music concerts involving artists like Anthony Kearns,

Des Keogh Desmond Keogh (born 27 February 1935) is an Irish actor. He was born in Birr, County Offaly. He was trained as a lawyer before entering the theatre in his twenties. He has toured widely in a one-man show called ''The Love-Hungry Farmer'', an ...

, Celine Byrne and

Iarla Ó Lionáird Iarla Ó Lionáird (born ) is an Irish singer and record producer. He sings in the traditional Sean-nós singing, sean-nós style. He was a member of the Afro Celt Sound System and is a member of the Irish-American supergroup (music), supergroup ...

. The 2021 program was also modified due to COVID-19 restrictions, and included a number of free open air recitals in Lismore,

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

, Youghal and Waterford. The 2022 event included a free open air concert in Fermoy, as well as concerts from

Maurice Steger Maurice Steger (born 1971 in Winterthur, Switzerland) is a Swiss recorder player and conductor, mostly in Baroque music. Career Maurice Steger is a frequent guest soloist with leading Baroque ensembles such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Ber ...

, and

Irish Baroque Orchestra The Irish Baroque Orchestra is an early music ensemble based in Ireland. Irish Baroque Orchestra is Ireland’s only professional period instrument orchestra. It was established in 1996 by Mark Duley and Thérèse Timoney. The artistic director ...

Past productions

* 2010 ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' by Georges Bizet * 2011 ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * 2012 '' The Barber of Seville'' by Gioachino Rossini * 2013 ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * 2014 '' The Magic Flute'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * 2015 '' La Cenerentola'' by Gioachino Rossini * 2016 ''

'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * 2017 ''

L'elisir d'amore ''L'elisir d'amore'' (''The Elixir of Love'', ) is a ' (opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's ' (1831). The opera premiere ...

'' by Gaetano Donizetti (with tenor Anthony Kearns) * 2018 '' L'italiana in Algeri'' by Gioachino Rossini * 2019 '' Don Pasquale'' by Gaetano Donizetti and ''

The Sleeping Queen ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' by Michael William Balfe *2021 '' Gianni Schicchi'' by Giacomo Puccini *2022

Orfeo ed Euridice ' (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on Orpheus, the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the ''azione teatrale'', mea ...

by Christoph Willibald Gluck

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Opera festivals Classical music festivals in Ireland Music festivals established in 2010 Music festivals in Ireland Lismore, County Waterford 2010 establishments in Ireland