Limerick operas lay bare heartache and frustrations of life in rural area
WILD geese and wild priests will take to the stage in Limerick for a contemporary performance.
This May, Opera Workshop will bring the world premiere of a contemporary Irish opera The Ballybruff Trilogy to Limerick audiences.
The Ballybruff Trilogy is three short operas in one featuring The Proposal, Parochial House, and the original short opera which started it all, Bloody Murder.
A cast of six exceptional singers will be joined by a live five-piece ensemble, conducted by composer Luke Byrne, and directed by Opera Workshop artistic director Shirley Keane.
Wild geese, wild priests and wild goings-on in rural 1970s Ireland make for a wild Irish Opera Triptych opening on Wednesday, May 29 at Belltable and running on Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1.
The operas lay bare the heartache, the bitterness and frustrations of life in the rural parish of Ballybruff. Each short work is a self-contained story, but tales intertwine, passion turns to revenge and hate simmers with the ever-present strong, black tea.
Shirley Keane and Luke Byrne first worked together on Bloody Murder as part of Luke’s MA in Opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.
The show got its first outing there in 2022, followed by a scratch Opera Workshop performance in Limerick the following October. After calls for more from delighted audiences in both cities, the librettist and composer were happy to oblige with this new three-part performance.
A 1970s rural riot, The Ballybruff Trilogy features a host of compelling characters from the idyllic sounding Ballybruff, who go to extremes for their own ends, dropping in and out of each other’s stories with catastrophic consequences.
Working with Limerick-based production partners Honest Arts, the cast brings together some of the best of Irish opera talent including Limerick’s Owen Gilhooly Miles (baritone), Catherine Donnelly (soprano) from Northern Ireland, Kerry native Leanne Fitzgerald (mezzo-soprano), Dublin-based Rory Dunne (baritone), and Christopher Bowen (tenor).
Tickets are available via limetreebelltable.ie