Der Rosenkavalier

A ravishing recreation of Richard Strauss’s nostalgic immersion in eighteenth-century Vienna - Der Rosenkavalier – with the greatest-ever trio for female voices. Lavish large scale production at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Irish National Opera

The first performance of Der Rosenkavalier in Dublin for forty years. Featuring an outstanding trio of Irish female artists – Paula Murrihy, Celine Byrne and Claudia Boyle. A sumptuous co-production with Garsington Opera and Santa Fe Opera

Love and lust. Culture and crudity. Disguise and deceit. Masters and servants. Opulence to die for. Raging hormones fueling the aristocratic intrigues. Operatic nostalgia at its finest.

Production directed by Bruno Ravella with set and costume design by Gary McCann, featuring a large cast of Irish and international artists alongside the chorus and orchestra of Irish National Opera. Sung in German.

Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin 05, 07, 09, 11 March 2023

Creative Team:
Director: Bruno Ravella
Set & Costume Designer: Gary McCann
Lighting Designer: Malcolm Rippeth

Cast:
Octavian: Paula Murrihy
Marschallin: Celine Byrne
Sophie: Claudia Boyle
Baron Ochs: Andreas Bauer Kanabas
Faninal: Samuel Dale Johnson
Marianne: Rachel Croash
Valzacchi: Peter van Hulle
Annina: Carolyn Holt
Italian Tenor: César Cortés
Police Commissioner: David Howes
Marschallin’s Major Domo: Michael Bell
Leopold: Vladyslav Volk
Lackey 1: Richard Shaffrey
Lackey 2: David Mulhall
Lackey 3: Ciarán Crangle
Lackey 4: Lewis Dillon
Noble Orphan 1: Jade Phoenix
Noble Orphan 2: Madeline Judge
Noble Orphan 3: Leanne Fitzgerald
Milliner: Niamh St John
Pet Vendor: Fearghal Curtis
Notary: Mark Nathan
Faninal’s Major Domo: William Pearson
Lerchenau’s Servant 1: Fearghal Curtis
Lerchanau’s Servant 2: David Scott
Lerchanau’s Servant 3: Kevin Neville
Landlord: Andrew Masterson
Waiter 1: Fearghal Curtis
Waiter 2: Ben Escorcio
Waiter 3: Rory Dunne
Waiter 4: Matthew Mannion
Boots: Kevin Neville

Irish National Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor: Fergus Sheil

The lively INO Orchestra under Fergus Sheil delivers all the swelling romanticism and range of tone and colour you could ask for, while staying alive to the moments of dissonance that remind us we’re in the 20^th century here, for all Strauss’s nostalgia. There is a stillness to the final trio that, fittingly, lets the voices of the three sopranos shine. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, and it’s one that will live long in the memory – Irish Examiner

Sheil clearly has the measure of Strauss’s complex, virtuosic score and the big scenes, the Marschallin’s Act 1 monologue and duet with Octavian, the Presentation of the Rose, Ochs’s Waltz and the Final Trio and duet, worked their special magic – Operalogue (Hugh Canning)

INO Artistic Director Fergus Sheil has done wonders in assembling a quality ad hoc orchestra featuring every instrument Strauss writes for, though a smaller than stipulated body of strings; they still sound Viennese when the score calls for it – Artsdesk

Thrilling, toying, tugging at heart strings, music performed by the Irish National Opera Orchestra, under conductor Fergus Sheil, almost upstages singing at times. Yet when Byrne, Boyle and Murrihy sing, you understand why Der Rosenkavalier’s use of three women is prized so highly – The Arts Review

: Celine Byrne (Marschallin) and Paula Murrihy (Octavian) in Der Rosenkavalier

: Cesár Cortés (Italian Tenor) and Celine Byrne (Marschallin) in Der Rosenkavalier

: Mark Nathan (Notary) and Andreas Bauer Kanabas (Baron Ochs) in Der Rosenkavalier

: Celine Byrne (Marschallin) and Paula Murrihy (Octavian) in Der Rosenkavalier and Paula Murrihy (Octavian) in Irish National Opera’s Der Rosenkavalier in Bord Gáis Energy Theatre 5 – 11 March 2023. Photo Pat Redmond