A beautiful book celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Wexford Festival Opera, written by Wexford’s wife, Dr Karina Daly, has been published by Four Courts Press.
The History of Wexford Festival Opera, 1951 – 2021 â€contains a large number of photographs taken by world renowned photographer Sir Clive Barda with an epilogue by writer Colm TóibÃn and a letter from President Michael D Higgins, sponsor of the Festival.
Karina who grew up in Ferrycarrig and studied modern history at UCD, is also the author of “Tom Walsh’s Opera – The History of the Wexford Festival 1951 – 2004”, also published by Four Courts Press, for which she had exclusive access to premieres the archives.
His latest book traces the history of the Festival from its inception in 1951 to the present day – the extraordinary event began as an informal gathering of friends listening to gramophone music and has grown into one of the main gatherings of classical music in Europe.
The man whose ambitious idea was to launch the opera festival was TJ Walsh, an amateur doctor and musician, opera connoisseur and historian with great knowledge of the genre.
While completing a doctorate at UCD on British influence on Irish cultural life after independence, Karina was given access to Dr Walsh’s papers through her daughter Victoria Walsh Hamer who lives in the UK.
The founder had taken the archival documents with him when he withdrew from the Festival in 1966, believing that it was taking a different direction from that initially planned, as the organization had difficulty moving from amateur status to an organization. more professional.
He never fully reconciled with the new regime and left to make way for the growing professional team. The difficult transition continued through the 1970s and into an even more difficult financial period in the 1980s, but the primary focus remained on producing an incredibly high standard of opera.
“I was fortunate that Victoria decided to give me access to these archives which allowed me to write history,” said Karina, a daughter of the retired detective of Garda Mick and Irene Daly. She works with WWETB and lives in Crosstown with her husband John Hegarty. and their four children aged 12 to 3.
“I approached it from a historical point of view, how a cultural organization begins and how it maintains and survives. “
“When I went to see Jerome Hynes (former Festival Managing Director) he supported writing the book but said we didn’t have an archive. They had been talking about it for several years and started to compile an archive. about this time, hiring a Dublin company to catalog for them â€.
“Victoria was confident that because it was a PhD, I was going to research it properly. It was at a time when she felt she could open it up and give me access.”
Festival regular Victoria and Karina became friends and attended various opera events together in the years that followed.
Karina’s previous Festival experience was attending dress rehearsals with her mother Irene.
“When I first started going to the opera myself, I was looking at the orchestra pit because I was playing the violin. Going to dress rehearsals with my mom, I remember the music sounded very dramatic. there weren’t too many opportunities to see a first-class professional symphony orchestra in Wexford at this time â€
His doctoral thesis was on the Glyndebourne Opera which supported the creation of the Wexford Festival Opera and the BBC Symphony Orchestra which supported the development of the RTE Symphony Orchestra.
“I obtained my doctorate in 2001. I was still working at UCD at the time. Four Courts Press decided it would be a good idea to publish the research and asked me to write the book. Dr Walsh left the Festival and I continued until 2004 when the book was published.
She was 27 when “Tom Walsh’s Opera” came out. “It was a very surreal experience. There were great opportunities that resulted. It was an important year. I was invited to attend the Festival and was asked to write about it for magazines and other publications.
The next chapter of the Festival’s journey saw the replacement of the original High Street Theater Royal with a purpose-built opera house, now the National Opera of Ireland.
As Karina points out, the Wexford Festival Opera is a truly unique cultural event that has successfully overcome major challenges over the past 70 years and has continued to thrive, thanks to the incredible efforts of those at the helm and at the helm. spirit of resilience which is synonymous with Wexford. community.
“Wexford has such a story to tell. There have been so many changes over the past 16 years.
“In 2005 Jerome Hynes was on stage with President Paul Hennessy, hosting the opera company in Wexford, as is tradition every year, when he collapsed and passed away. It was a devastating loss. He and the President had made a commotion for an Opera House to be built in Wexford.
“The government gave the green light and then Jerome died. They had to go ahead without him.
“In 2008 the new Opera House opened and the Late Late Show was broadcast from the building (only the third time it has ventured outside of RTE), with Brian Cowen there to open the Festival. Ten days later, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and the world went into economic shock.
“Now you have an opera that cost millions and you have to make ends meet. If this had happened earlier, there would have been no opera.
The new book was delivered to publishers in March of this year, when Ireland was still stranded against the coronavirus and when the next chapter in the history of the opera festival is written, it will surely include the response from the Wexford event to the global pandemic.
“2020 has been such a difficult time for the Festival. The resilience of our new artistic director Rosetta Cucchi has been phenomenal. Last year, she put a festival online and this year, without knowing if it was going to take place, she concocted this incredible program. We have succeeded and we are able to organize the Festival this year.
Not knowing what the situation would be at the time of publication of the book, Karina wrote in the last chapter that “we still believe in miracles in Wexford”.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen this year, but we were convinced that everything would be fine.”
“The people of Wexford are very positive. We believe the Wexford Festival Opera is built to last, but as a community we all need to support it. We can’t take it for granted, â€said Karina, who was invited to become a member of the Festival’s board in 2018.
She is president of a sub-committee set up to develop the Festival’s community involvement.
“The Festival was born out of the community and it is really important that the community knows how important it is to the success of the Festival. For the Festival to prosper, the community must be involved, â€she said.
The Festival brings a huge benefit to the city’s economy – visitors arriving from all over the world don’t just come for the opera, they also talk about the experience, the people, the hospitality, the vibe from the city.
The 360-page large-format illustrated book costs 40 € and is available in bookshops, at the National Opera and directly from Four Courts Press.