Photo Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

The Royal Irish Academy of Music has just announced its Events Programme. This programme runs up until May of next year and includes events such as two new operas and a wide variety of concerts around the country. Check out the highlights below…

• Two operas in Dublin including the world première of Vampirella a contemporary chamber opera by Irish composer Siobhán Cleary and librettist Katy Hayes, inspired by a short story by Angela Carter
• The Academy also presents Purcell’s delightful The Fairy Queen. By Henry Purcell opera, written in 1692, this is a recreation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• At the Writers Choice concert at No 6 Kildare Street, audiences will have the opportunity to hear musical works which have inspired a selection of 10 Irish writers
• The Golden Age and Celtic Tiger Dublin concert will examine music in the Irish capital in the Eighteenth and Twenty-First centuries, exploring themes of opulence, poverty and globalisation
• On the opera front, the Academy will make its first mark on the international stage in January with a performance of Monteverdi’s Tirsi e Clori and Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno at the historic and highly prestigious Liszt Academy in Budapest, following an acclaimed presentation of these rarely performed gems at Project Arts Centre in April 2016.
• The 2016/20177 International Masterclass Series will offer opportunities to learn from musical masters including Chinese guitar sensation Xuefei Yang, Ireland’s own pianist John O’Conor, the charismatic violinist Daniel Rowland (who has worked with Elvis Costello among others) and many more – all free and for RIAM performers and observers alike