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Tag Archives: 2017

Wexford Opera Festival features three little known operas every year.

A night at the opera

The Wexford Opera Festival is a bit of an unusual proposition but it works and has done for years. Take three obscure operas, some of which haven’t seen the light of day since their début performance, and stage them again over the course of a few weeks. Of course, some operas are obscure for a reason and maybe they should be left mouldering but for every duffer there are several gems. This year was promising, with all three operas sung in Italian. It’s a general rule of mine not to go near German language opera. I find it dark and depressing. Surprisingly, opera in English is often woefully bad. There’s the advantage of being able to fully understand what’s going on without resorting to subtitles but there’s just something wrong about English language opera. You’re generally safer sticking with Italian or at a pinch, French. We travelled down in the aftermath of Ophelia and just before storm Brian made itself …

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Michael Flatley Opens Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann

  The crowds came out in force again this year as Michael Flatley opened Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Ennis for 2017. Ahead of playing a tune on flute, accompanied by his friend Ger Fahy, Michael Flatley told of his love for music and dance and commended the organisers for putting on another wonderful festival this year. He paid tribute to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann for all the work they do and for bringing music into his life. “Labhras Ó Murchú who was dear friends with my father, God rest his soul, brought music to Chicago when I was a young man and I can never say thank you enough. Thank you to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann because they brought that little ray of sunshine into our lives, they are the ones who got me started playing music. I’m sure most of you here would have benefitted in some way from that wonderful organisation,” he said.  Reflecting on his family, who encouraged …

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Michael Flatley opens Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann this weekend

Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley will officially launch Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the largest Irish Traditional Music Festival in the world, in Ennis tomorrow, Sunday August 6 at 2.30pm in the Abbey Street Car Park in Ennis town centre. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is delighted that the man who revolutionised Irish dance, and who previously took to the stage at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Ennis in 1977 as a competitor, will now return to the Clare county town 40 years later to declare the Fleadh open to a new generation of competitors. For many, the Fleadh is the culmination of months of hard work and practice as they compete against fellow musicians, singers and dancers to achieve the recognition of being an All-Ireland champion. For others it is a unique and welcoming festival of the best of traditional arts that offers a wide range of activities to be enjoyed by all. Shannon Airport has come on board once again as the …

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Irish Car of the Year 2017

It’s getting towards the end of the year again and in the motor industry, that means it’s time again for the Irish Car of the Year and Irish Van of the Year awards. This is the 40th year of the awards, which are again supported by long time sponsor, Continental Tyres. The overall winning car and the category winners will be announced at a black-tie ceremony at the Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry, on October 27. This year, 33 of Ireland’s leading motoring writers will get together to vote for what they believe to be the best on the market. For the first time, the field of contenders has been expanded to encompass facelifted cars too, so any car introduced in the last year is in with a shout. Voting jurors, who have spent the last twelve months familiarising themselves with everything on the market, will vote in a number of categories. Each juror has 25 points to allocate in each category, …

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Clare to face Limerick in both codes

Clare will take on Limerick in the first round of both the Munster senior hurling and football championships in 2017 and dates for these meetings will be decided in the coming weeks. The hurling clash will be a semi-final game which means that the winners will be through to the Provincial final and the All-Ireland quarter final. With new managements in charge in both counties, the clash means that Paul Kinnerk who has been a key figure in the success Clare have enjoyed at both under 21 and senior levels in recent years will find himself plotting the downfall of the players he helped steer to Provincial and All-Ireland glory in the saffron and blue as he is the coach to Limerick for 2017. Ironically the football draw is the same as last year with Clare facing Limerick in the opening round for the right to face Kerry in the semi-final. Clare will have home advantage for their clash with …

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