14/10/2026
The 75th Wexford Festival Opera to open with a bang tomorrow Thursday 15th October.
The excitement is building as the countdown to the opening ceremony and fireworks celebrations for the 75th Wexford Festival Opera is on. The opening ceremony will commence at 7:15pm tomorrow Thursday 15th October marking the official opening of the Festival’s milestone 75th anniversary Festival. This will lead into the much-loved fireworks display that will light up the harbour.
The special guest opening the 75th Festival will be Anna Murphy (.murphy1), the ‘Faithful’ who successfully played her way to the recent nail-biting finale of the Irish Traitors season 2 and was ultimately declared joint winner alongside Brazilian Diego Caixeta. Anna will be accompanied to the opening opera performance after the ceremony by her father, who lives in Wexford.
The fireworks will be followed at 8pm by the opening main stage opera, Mascagni’s Iris, in the National Opera House. Directed by the Festival’s artistic director, Rosetta Cucchi,Iris is a sensory feast and a rare opportunity to experience Italian opera at its most atmospheric and emotionally raw. Production sponsor for Iris is British Airways. Earlier that evening at 5pm the world premiere of the Community Opera, Still, life…by the Festival’s composer-in-residence, Ailís Ní Ríain, will have its first of six performances.
Opening Night Schedule:
🎭5pm: Still, life... – Community Opera at The Grain Store
🎆 7:15pm: Opening Ceremony and fireworks on the Quay
🎭8pm: Mascagni | Iris – main stage opera at the O’Reilly Theatre
Dive into the full line-up on the Festival’s website www.wexfordopera.com and don’t miss out on 75 events over 17 extraordinary days from 15- 31 October.
We are grateful to our Festival partners and sponsors for their generous support of our opening night productions: for its support of Iris, and for Still,life... (production sponsor), and (venue partner).
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