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Opera for the masses

Wednesday, 04 June 2008

The talented musician responsible for the upcoming inaugural opera gala to be held on the Southside next month has spoken of her vision for Dublin’s first full blown opera festival planned for next year.
The Glasthule Opera Company’s gala day scheduled to take place in the Pavillion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire on Sunday, June 15, will offer a tantalizing taste of what’s to come in the first annual Festival of Opera in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown next year.
In the intimate setting of the Pavilion, the audience will next month hear some of the country’s finest young singers in a concert of arias and ensembles from such classics as ‘Carmen’, ‘La Traviata’, ‘Rigoletto’ and much more.
The entire focus of the festival will be on featuring the best talent from all over Ireland performing in a manner which is accessible to all music loving people.
As a resident of Glasthule, the founder of the opera company and the brainchild behind the event, Anne Marie O’Sullivan deems it a great privilege to declare Glasthule Opera as the name of the festival.
Anne Marie is currently the head of Vocal, Opera and Drama studies at the Dublin Industry of Technology.
She was born into a family of musicians and began her musical studies with piano and cello but on leaving school decided to become a singer and trained in some of the most highly esteemed musical institutes in Austria.
Speaking to Southside People, she said Glasthule did not get a lot of press and that she wanted to promote the sleepy middle class area by associating it with the city’s first opera festival.
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“I have been thinking about this for such a long time,” she said. “Glasthule is such a lovely place and I just felt that the area is in need of an opera festival. This is the name I came up with but the event will take place only a stone’s throw away in Dún Laoghaire.
“The festival will be held for a week next year and the opening opera will be Puccini’s La Boheme, which is a terrific favourite. I will be bringing back some young Irish singers who are making names for themselves.
“I will also be doing Vaughan Williams’ take on the John Millington Synge play ‘Riders To The Sea’ because I think it is very appropriate to where we are. Synge lived for part of his life in Dún Laoghaire. There will also be a recital for Bloomsday and a midsummer gala.”
Anne Marie added that she was going to attempt to attract a wide range of people from various age groups and social backgrounds.
“There is not enough opera in Ireland and people here love going,” she added. “I want the people around here to be involved. I want them to feel ownership of this. I want them to feel the festival is theirs and not just mine.
“Traditionally well heeled people go to the opera but I am going to highlight the fact that these young singers who are involved are just ordinary kids.
“They are all aged from about 21 or 22 and do all the same things that people of that age group do. They go to the gym, they get their bodies pierced, they go to parties and they wear outrageous clothes.”
The Glasthule Opera gala day will take place in the Pavilion Theatre on Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire on Sunday, June 15 at 8pm.
Tickets are now on sale priced e30/e27. To contact the box office tel 2312929 or for more information log on to: www. paviliontheatre.ie

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