Recital Performances
Recitals 2022 – Ireland’s Summer Opera Festival
The BVOF Day Time Recitals series brings a variety of beautiful music to the festival. The 2022 Recitals programme will feature these performances in the magical surrounds of Lismore Castle, Salterbridge House, St Carthage’s Cathedral, Villierstown Church and Tourin House. Our open air lunchtime recitals are also extended free of charge to local communities, in the towns of Lismore, Youghal, Dungarvan and Fermoy.
BVOF Open Air Lunchtime Recitals
This year, we continue our pop-up programme of free lunchtime festival recitals. This is the perfect opportunity to enjoy some highlights of the classical and operatic repertoire in a less formal way.
We present these recitals as an opportunity to enjoy a flavour of the festival with some beautiful music, to outdoor settings around the Blackwater Valley. To celebrate our 2022 festival, we are also extending the free BVOF Open Air Lunchtime Recitals into Lismore, Youghal, Dungarvan and Fermoy.
Attendance is free of charge however pre-booking is essential and required in advance.
The BVOF Open Air Lunchtime Recitals are kindly supported by both Cork County Council and Waterford City and County Council.
DATES & TIMES:
LISMORE: Millennium Park – Wednesday 1st June at 1pm
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DUNGARVAN: Walton Park – Friday 3rd June at 12 noon
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YOUGHAL: Green Park – Saturday 4th June at 12 noon
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FERMOY: Town Park – Monday 6th June at 12 noon
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BVOF Chorus Recital 2022: Stepping Out from the Chorus - Thursday 2nd June
See the BVOF Chorus step onto centre stage as we present some of Ireland’s most talented emerging voices to the festival audience this summer.
Members of the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Chorus will perform arias, duets, and ensembles from some of the world’s best-loved operas, accompanied on piano by Mairéad Hurley.
This is the perfect opportunity to engage with the opera world in an informal setting and to hear the enchanting, individual voices of each and every one of the talented BVOF chorus.
Concessions available for senior citizens, students and community groups via the Box Office.
DATE & TIME: Thursday 2nd June at 1.00pm
VENUE: Villierstown Church, Villierstown
ARTISTS: Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Chorus
TICKET PRICES: €10. Unallocated seating (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)
BVOF Bursary Recital 2022: With Ellen Mawhinney and John Porter - Friday 3rd June
In 2020, we established the new Blackwater Valley Festival Opera Bursary Award. This annual €10,000 award was founded with the support of a private donor. Bursary winners are selected by our Artistic Director, Dieter Kaegi, and encouraged to use funding to further their musical education and performing ability.
We are delighted to welcome 2022 BVOF Bursary winners, soprano Ellen Mawhinney and tenor John Porter to perform at this year’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival.
The BVOF Bursary Award supports exceptionally talented artists and is a vital part of our commitment to nurture and develop the careers of the best emerging Irish performers.
DATE & TIME: Friday 3rd June at 1.30pm
VENUE: Tourin House, Cappoquin
ARTISTS: Ellen Mawhinney and John Porter
TICKET PRICES: €20. Unallocated seating (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)
Irish Songmakers Recital: Niall Kinsella with Kelli-Ann Masterson and Andrew Gavin - Friday 3rd June
The French Connection: Frend and Irish Songs will see Niall Kinsella, Andrew Gavin and Kelli-Ann Masterson perform a recital programme that explores the parallels between Irish Art Song and French mélodie. The programme will include songs to Irish texts by French composers such as Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), Henri Duparc (1848-1943) and Émile Paladilhe (1844-1926). There will also be songs by composers of Irish ancestry who were working and living in France: Joseph O’Kelly (1828-1885) who came from a family of noted musicians, and Irish-American composer Swan Hennessy (1866-1929) who settled in Paris in 1903. Whereas Berlioz, Duparc and Paladilhe chose French translations of Irish poet Thomas Moore for their musical settings, O’Kelly and Hennessy set texts of many of the great French poets such as Hugo, Leconte de Lisle, Verlaine, Baudelaire. Many of these songs have lain undiscovered for decades and have only recently been rediscovered by musicologist Axel Klein.
DATE & TIME: Friday 3rd June at 4pm
ARTISTS: Andrew Gavin and Kelli-Ann Masterson
VENUE: Salterbridge House, Cappoquin, Co Waterford
PRICE FROM: €20 (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)
RDS Collins Memorial Recital 2022: With Phoebe White and Ellen Jansson - Saturday 4th June
The RDS Collins Memorial Recital is a performance award exclusively for past RDS Music Bursary winners.
Created in 2017 thanks to the support of Michael and Loret O’Brien, the RDS Collins Memorial Performance Award is in association with the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival.
The winner of the award is selected by Artistic Director Dieter Kaegi and given an important performance opportunity as part of the festival.
A core part of our mission at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival is to provide a platform for exceptionally talented young musicians, and the RDS Collins Memorial Recital is at the heart of that aim.
This year, we welcome violinist Phoebe White to perform in the RDS Collins Memorial Recital, accompanied by Ellen Jansson on piano.
Local community groups and children under 12 may attend, free of charge as part of our outreach programme – contact the Box Office.
DATE & TIME: Saturday 4th June at 1pm
VENUE: St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore
ARTISTS: Phoebe White and Ellen Jansson
TICKET PRICES: €20 (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)
'Joyce in Music' Recital: With Princess Grace Irish Library, Monaco and RIAM - Saturday 4th June
BVOF is delighted to partner with the Princess Grace Irish Library, Monaco, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music for this unique cultural event, honouring Ireland’s literary history.
Hear selected texts of James Joyce – one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, performed through spoken word and reflected in music through instrumental works and vocal Lieder.
Experience a spectacular fusion of poetry and music, delivered by some of Ireland’s brightest and most outstanding young musicians from the RIAM.
Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco – under the aegis of the Fondation Princesse Grace.
DATE & TIME: Saturday 4th June at 4pm
VENUE: St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore
TICKET PRICES: €20 (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)
Irish Heritage Bursary Recital 2022: With David Corr and Clara Siegle - Sunday 5th June
In 2017, Irish Heritage and BVOF established a collaboration to enhance the benefits of the former’s annual Music Bursary with the inauguration of the Irish Heritage Award. The recipients of this award are the winner and runner-up of the Irish Heritage Bursary auditions.
The 2022 Irish Heritage Music Bursary for Performance was awarded to pianist Clara Siegle, student of the Royal Academy of Music. The 2022 Brackaville Bursary for Vocal Studies was awarded to baritone David Corr, student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
This award is made possible by the generous support of Michael and Gianni Alen-Buckley.
Concessions are available for senior citizens, students and community groups via the Box Office
DATE & TIME: Sunday 5th June at 1pm
VENUE: Salterbridge House, Cappoquin
ARTISTS: David Corr and Clara Siegle
TICKET PRICES: €20 (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)
BVOF Voices of Ukraine: Blakytne Nebo i Pshenychni Polya” (Blue Skies and Wheat Fields) - Sunday 5th June
The finale event at Dromore Yard as part of BVOF 2022, will now feature a trio of outstanding Ukrainian artists: Iryna Krasnovska on piano, Stanislav Kuflyuk (baritone) and Ruslana Koval (soprano). BVOF Artistic Director, Dieter Kaegi, has remarkably managed to arrange at short notice a replacement event for the cancelled BVOF 2022 Bolshoi Theatre recital.
Blackwater Valley Opera Festival condemns the invasion of Ukraine and ongoing war by Putin, and stands together in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and all innocent Russians caught up in this war. We urge you to come and support this exceptionally unique event, in a stunning location along the Blackwater Valley.
All ticket proceeds from this event will be donated to UNICEF’s work supporting children in Ukraine.
DATE & TIME: Sunday 5th June at 4pm
VENUE: Dromore Yard
ARTISTS: Ruslana Koval (soprano) Stanislav Kuflyuk (baritone) and Iryna Krasnovska (piano)
TICKET PRICES: €20 – €40 (Ticket price excludes €3.50 booking fee per order)