Irish National Opera to perform at the Watergate in Kilkenny

Irish National Opera is taking to the road again, for an extended tour of one of French composer Jules Massenet's best-loved operas, Werther, a story based on Goethe’s great novel of painful and destructive suppressed love.

The title role is sung by the prize-winning young Italian tenor Paride Cataldo who is making his INO debut. Werther's love interest, Charlotte, the woman who married his best friend, is Cork mezzo-soprano Niamh O'Sullivan. Niamh has won plaudits for her performances in INO’s Olivier Award-winning production of Vivaldi's Bajazet and also in Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh's The First Child.

The new production, which relocates the time and place from late 18th-century Germany to a setting much closer to home, is directed by Sophie Motley (artistic director of The Everyman in Cork), designed by Sarah Bacon and conducted by Philipp Pointner.

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The opera is based on the loosely autobiographal epistolary novel, The Sorrow of Young Werther, that catapulted the 24-year-old Goethe to fame in 1774. The composer visited the house in Wetzlar where Goethe had written the book and where Massenet's publisher gave him a copy of the book. He started reading it in what he described as “one of those immense beer halls which are everywhere in Germany,” and the impact of the book was huge. “Such delirious, ecstatic passion,” he wrote, “brought tears to my eyes.”

Irish National Opera’s artistic director Fergus Sheil says “Although the opera Werther is named after the leading tenor, our experience of this heart-breaking story is told mostly through the leading mezzo soprano, Charlotte. Werther falls madly in love with Charlotte, but she is the one who has choices to make agonizing choices between family, duty and the demands of her heart. Our Werther, Italian tenor Paride Cataldo, has a voice to dream of and he is matched with one of the most exceptional Irish artists Niamh O’Sullivan, who makes her role debut as Charlotte. Massenet’s music is remarkable for its musical richness and emotional depth.”

INO's tour opens in Letterkenny at An Grianán on Saturday 22 April and will be performed in Kilkenny on May 11.

For more information or to book tickets see watergatetheatre.ie