“Vampirella”, a new Irish chamber opera by composer Siobhán Cleary with libretto by Katy Hayes, directed by Conor Hanratty and conducted by Andrew Synott. The opera is inspired by a short story by Angela Carter and is presented by the Royal Irish Academy of Music in collaboration with The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin. 

Set in 1914, Angela Carter’s story tells of Hero, an English soldier on a cycling holiday in the Carpathian Mountains, who seeks shelter in a lonely castle where he meets and disarms the beautiful vampire Countess. Hero’s virgin innocence saves him from being eaten alive by the beautiful blood-sucking woman, but it will not save him from the butchery of the First World War. As the lovely lady vampire meets her match in the person of a virgin boy, so Carter’s baroque prose meets its match in Siobhán Cleary’s dramatic musical composition, with playful lyricism underpinning the drama, humour and ornate language, and Carter’s inspiring original material honed into a libretto by Katy Hayes.  

The Royal Irish Academy of Music’s opera productions have grown from strength to strength in recent years with previous productions starring such distinguished alumni as Tara Erraught, Celine Byrne, Claudia Boyle, Rachel Kelly, Anna Devin, Sharon Carty, Gavan Ring and Dean Power, all of whom are enjoying stellar careers on the international stage. 

Tickets €20/€15. For further details on this and other RIAM events: www.riam.ie | Tel:  01 632 5300 | Twitter: @RIAMAcademyDub