Music everywhere

The fun of being here in Wexford during the Opera Festival is the shared spirit and the way that everyone seems to be “in on it”.

So, coming across a crowd standing in the High Street yesterday morning, we knew exactly what was about to happen.

We looked up at the windows above the menswear shop and sure enough, there was Eiméar Harper, about to perform today’s “pop up opera”.

As the music began, the street fell silent. We listened to the most lovely aria, thinking how challenging it must be to sing through that tricky half-open window!

The crowd was enormous and clearly enjoying her performance, regardless of their age!

As one aria finished, there was activity in the other window as her colleague Matthew Mannion joined in the fun.

They concluded their pop up with a duet, before taking a bow - as best they could through the window 😀

Our local friends from yesterday were not around today due to appointments, but we still enjoyed the company of another local lady, who shared her wedding photos with us as we chatted to her. Wonderful!

Our friends Volker and Sabine have arrived as well, so we have plenty to catch up on whilst we await the start of the recital, beautifully sung by the Irish tenor Gavan Ring. in the lovely surroundings of St Ignatius Church.

From there, we went straight over the road to the Opera House, where we had tickets to see a pocket opera, an hour long, daytime performance on stage. They are usually played for fun and there was a good audience there this afternoon.

With no tickets for an evening performace today, the four of us strolled back to the hotel for a little refreshment 😂 For some reason, an hour or two later, we’d decided that we’d book tickets for the opera which, so far, none of us had felt tempted to see till now: The Gambler.

Hmmm. Prokofiev? Opera? This might be a brave decision 🤔

Perhaps we should blame it on the Guinness?