Irish National Opera has announced that a new opera by Donnacha Dennehy will premiere at the Dublin Theatre Festival this autumn. The First Child is the third opera in a trilogy by Dennehy and playwright Enda Walsh, following The Last Hotel (2015) and The Second Violinist (2017), and will take place in Dublin at O’Reilly Theatre, Belvedere College, over five nights from 2 to 9 October. 

The opera, which is being presented in conjunction with Landmark Productions, will feature five singers – soprano Sarah Shine, mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan, tenor Dean Power, baritone Emmett O’Hanlon, and countertenor Eric Jurenas – as well as actress Joan Sheehy and dancer Caia Hynes. Crash Ensemble will also perform in the production, along with a small children’s choir. INO describes the opera as ‘a terrifying story of lost innocence’ featuring ‘a baby on a beach – and the sea’.

Signum Records
It was also announced this week that Irish National Opera has commenced a new partnership with record label Signum Records. The first release of the partnership will be the first recording of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, available from 5 November, followed by a recording of Puccini’s La bohème featuring sopranos Celine Byrne and Anna Devin in March 2022.

Diego Fasciati, Executive Director of Irish National Opera, said

We are a young company and producing high-quality albums that feature our talented singers, musicians and orchestras is a key step in our development and growth. We have ambitious plans. Our first album is the world premiere recording of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, which will be released in November 2021… We have several other recording projects in the pipeline and we look forward to bringing them all to fruition in collaboration with Signum.

For further information on The First Child, and for tickets, visit: www.irishnationalopera.ie/whats-on/current-upcoming-productions/the-first-child