The Opera in the Open season has just been announced, with the first event this Thursday (July 30th) in Merrion Square before finding its regular home at the Civic Offices, Wood Quay every Thursday in August at 1pm. The best part is that it’s all free!

The performances last approximately one hour and this year feature the best of French Opera including Carmen and Pygmalion.  Full details can be found below or on the Dublin City Council web site or their Facebook page.

Launch Merrion Square Park:

30th July, 1pm ORPHÉE ET EURIDICE Christoph Willibald Gluck

Main Programme – Civic Office Amphitheatre:

6th August, 1pm CARMEN Georges Bizet

13th August, 1pm PYGMALION Jean-Philippe Rameau

20th August, 1pm L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE Joseph-Maurice Ravel

27th August, 1pm ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS Jacques Offenbach

Dublin City Council in partnership with the French Embassy in Ireland is pleased to present a season of French Opera in the Open. To celebrate the relocation of the French Embassy’s Cultural Service to Merrion Square, a special one-off performance of Orphée et Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck will be performed in Merrion Square Park at 1pm on Thursday 30th July 2015.

Dublin’s much loved annual opera event will then return to the Amphitheatre, Wood Quay where the programme of French Operas will continue. Lunchtime concerts will take place every Thursday during the month of August from 1 -2pm each day.

“Opera in the Open is one of Dublin’s most popular summertime events. Now in its sixteenth year this season marks a special collaboration with the French Embassy with a wonderful selection of French Opera performances. Come along to our Amphitheatre and enjoy sunny afternoons (hopefully) and beautiful music ” said Ray Yeates, Arts Officer, Dublin City Council.

Take this opportunity to find out more about French Opera and relax on the grass in the leafy surrounds of some of Dublin’s hidden gems. The Amphitheatre is located just off Wood Quay and is easily accessible from Winetavern Street, which runs up to Christ Church Cathedral.

Yet another fantastic selection of some classic French operas awaits you. Each performance features excerpts from the Opera sung in French but narrated in English. Not only do we have an opportunity to appreciate the development of Orpheus and his adventures through the medium of Opera between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but also Offenbach’s parody of Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice (1762) in the form of Orphée Aux Enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld, 1858).