THE AMERICAN opera which received its European Premier at last year’s Wexford Opera Festival was honoured at the Irish Times Theatre Awards at the weekend when it picked up two awards.
‘Silent Night’ by Kevin Puts was an opera set against the backdrop of World War I and proved to be both the people and judges’ favourite at the awards as the Wexford production won the Best Opera Production award and the An Post Irish Stamps Audience Choice Prize.
This brings the total of wins to ten for Wexford Festival since the awards were founded in 1997. This year was the first time the audiences were given a say in what they thought was the Best Irish Theatre Production.
Artistic Director of Wexford Festival Opera, David Agler accepted the award on behalf of conductor, Michael Christie and director, Tomer Zvulun.
Speaking to Ireland’s opera and theatre community, Mr. Agler said: “I wish to thank the Irish Times for their dedicated support for the arts and, in particular, for opera. Opera is merely theatre on an epic scale and Wexford is extremely grateful to have this recognised by opera’s inclusion in these prestigious awards.”
He added: “’Silent Night’ was a very special opera, not only artistically, but because of its subject matter and its significance in our collective history. It is clear from this award that our audiences were truly moved by the production and I wish to thank all of those who came to ‘Silent Night’ and who voted for it. It proved challenging to realize such a large and complicated opera and this would simply have not been possible without the generous support from the Arts Council.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning opera received its European premiere at last year’s Festival in Wexford in recognition of the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War. ‘Silent Night’ is based on the 2005 film ‘Joyeux Noël’, about the spontaneous 1914 Christmas truce between enemy combatants in the First World War. At its core is the powerful message that war is not sustainable when you come to know your enemy as a person.
Meanwhile, the organisation has its sights set on the forthcoming Festival as priority booking for Friends of Wexford Festival Opera opens this coming Saturday at 9.30 a.m.
