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The Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in south-eastern Ireland during the months of October and November. The festival began in 1951 under Tom Walsh and a group of opera lovers who quickly generated considerable interest by programming unusual and rare works, a typical festival staging three operas. This concept has been maintained over the company's history under the direction of seven different artistic directors. From the beginning, the company embraced new and upcoming young singers, many of whom were Irish, but it also included new international names who made first appearances there. By the 1960s Czech and Russian operas entered the repertory, while the 1970s saw an interest in the operas of Jules Massenet under director Thomson Smillie, followed by an emphasis on Italian operas from the end of that decade. However, into the mix there appeared more modern operas by Benjamin Britten and Carlisle Floyd while Elaine Padmore's 12-year tenure resulted in more international singers making first appearances and the beginnings of commercial recordings and radio broadcasts. The current artistic director since 2005, David Agler, oversaw the creation of a new opera house with enhanced facilities on the site of the original theatre. ==Festival origins, growth and development== Under its founding director, Tom Walsh, Wexford began a steady climb to international success. He was succeeded by a variety of talented individuals who maintained and expendaded upon the festival's basic philosophy. ===Tom Walsh, 1951 to 1966=== The origins of the opera festival lie in a visit to Ireland in November 1950 by Sir Compton Mackenzie, the founder of the magazine ''The Gramophone'', and an erudite writer on music, who gave a lecture to the Wexford Opera Study Circle. Mackenzie suggested the group should stage an opera in their own theatre, the Theatre Royal (subsequently the Festival's permanent venue until 2005), a theatre which he felt was eminently suited to the production of certain operas. The result was that a group of opera lovers (including Dr. Tom Walsh who was to become the festival's first artistic director) planned a "Festival of Music and the Arts" (as the event was first called) from 21 October to 4 November 1951. The highlight was a production of the 19t-century Irish composer Michael William Balfe's 1857 ''The Rose of Castille,'' a little-known opera which had also been mentioned by James Joyce in ''Ulysses'' in a striking pun (Balfe is probably best known for ''The Bohemian Girl).'' Setting itself aside from the well-known operas during its early years placed Wexford in a unique position in the growing world of opera festivals, and this move was supported by well-known critics such as the influential Desmond Shawe-Taylor of ''The Sunday Times'', who communicated what was happening each autumn season. During its first decade, Wexford offered an increasingly enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience such rarities as Lortzing's ''Der Wildschütz'' and obscure works (for that time) such as Bellini's ''La sonnambula'' was staged, with Marilyn Cotlow as Adina and Nicola Monti as Elvino. Bryan Balkwill, Charles Mackerras and John Pritchard were among the young conductors, working with subsequently famous producers and designers like Michael MacLiammoir. For the time, the results were astounding, and the festival was soon attracting leading operatic talent, both new and established. Increasingly, it was possible to recruit singers like Nicola Monti, Afro Poli, Franco Calabrese and Paolo Pedani as well as rising British and Irish stars as Heather Harper, Bernadette Greevy, Thomas Hemsley and Geraint Evans. Due to the renovation of the Theatre, the 1960 season did not take place, but at its re-opening, Verdi's ''Ernani'' was presented in September 1961. Problems in obtaining the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra (now the RTÉ Concert Orchestra) led to the involvement of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for this one season, while in the next year the Radio Éireann Symphony (now the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) moved into the pit, a role it maintained up until 2005. The 1962 ''L'amico Fritz'' brought the talented young Irish singers Veronica Dunne and Bernadette Greevy to international notice, while other distinguished names from the 1960s included Mirella Freni in Bellini's ''I puritani.'' Massenet's ''Don Quichotte'' was another standout in 1965 with the veteran bass Miroslav Cangalovic as Cervantes' old knight. Albert Rosen, a young conductor from Prague, began a long association with the company in 1965, and he went on to conduct eighteen Wexford productions. He was later appointed Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and was Conductor Laureate at the time of his death in 1997. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wexford Festival Opera」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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