Irish National Opera presents: The Tales of Hoffmann
Irish National Opera presents The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach.
Nationwide tour (14 Sept. – 6 Oct): Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire, Navan, Limerick, Cork, Tralee, Kilkenny, Galway, Letterkenny, Sligo. Full details below.
One narrator. Drunk. The story of the women in his life. The complications of his current love and his current rival. And an evil shadow that follows him everywhere.
Offenbach was dubbed “the Mozart of the Champs-Élysées” by Rossini. His lyrical, effervescent final opera, left unfinished at his death, with its plot of strange, outrageous loves, an ever-present evil genius, not to mention the famous Barcarolle (borrowed from an earlier work) and an aria for a wind-up mechanical doll, is a treasure-trove for an imaginative director.
“I warn others solemnly that Offenbach’s music is wicked. It is abandoned stuff: every accent in it is a snap of the fingers in the face of moral responsibility: every ripple and sparkle on its surface twits me for my teetotalism, and mocks at the early rising of which I fully intend to make a habit some day.” — George Bernard Shaw, 1889
“Claudia Boyle… is captivating in the truest sense of the word, with her metallic, shining, controlled soprano, which she never pushes beyond being lyrical.” - OPERNWELT
“You really feel like you are dying by the end of the act. You feel this ecstasy while singing. You are dying, exhausted and excited.”
- ANNA NETREBKO SOPRANO (ON SINGING THE ROLE OF ANTONIA)
Sung in French with English surtitles
Cast
Hoffmann Julian Hubbard
Olympia / Antonia / Giulietta / Stella Claudia Boyle
Nicklausse Gemma Ní Bhriain
Lindorf / Coppélius / Miracle / Dappertutto John Molloy
Andrès / Cochenille / Franz / Pitichinaccio Andrew Gavin
Crespel Brendan Collins
The Voice Carolyn Holt
Spalanzani Fearghal Curtis
Schlemihl Kevin Neville
Nathanaël Peter O’Reilly
Hermann Cormac Lawlor
Luther Robert McAllister
Conductor Andrew Synnott
Director Tom Creed
Set & Costume Designer Katie Davenport
Lighting Designer Sinéad McKenna
Irish National Opera Chorus & Ensemble
Nationwide tour
Friday 14 Sept 2018, 7:30pm
O’Reilly Theatre, Belvedere College, Dublin City
Saturday 15 Sept 2018, 7:30pm
O’Reilly Theatre, Belvedere College, Dublin City
Tuesday 18 Sept 2018, 7:30pm
Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire
Thursday 20 Sept 2018, 8pm
Solstice Arts Centre, Navan
Saturday 22 Sept 2018, 8pm
Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick
Tuesday 25 Sept 2018, 8pm
Everyman Theatre, Cork
Thursday 27 Sept 2018, 8pm
Siamsa Tíre, Tralee
Saturday 29 Sept 2018, 8pm
Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny
Tuesday 2 Oct 2018, 8pm
Town Hall Theatre, Galway
Thursday 4 Oct 2018, 8pm
An Grianán, Letterkenny
Saturday 6 Oct 2018, 8pm
Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo