Tackling Wagner in Ireland

Recorded March 11th, 2025. A lecture by Fergus Sheil (Founding Artistic Director of Irish National Opera) for the Music Composition Centre Talks. Fergus is the founding artistic director of Irish National Opera. He has conducted a wide-ranging repertoire of over 50 different operas in performance, recordings and on film. Highlights include Strauss’ Salome, Der Rosenkavalier and Elektra, Rossini’s William Tell and La Cenerentola, Brian Irvine and Netia Jones’s Least Like The Other, Verdi’s Aida, La traviata and Rigoletto as well as Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Before founding Irish National Opera in 2018, Fergus was Artistic Director of Wide Open Opera, which he founded in 2012 and Opera Theatre Company. He has produced opera in over 30 venues throughout Ireland as well as bringing productions to the UK (Edinburgh International Festival, Royal Opera House and The Barbican), USA, Holland, Luxembourg and Italy. As conductor, Fergus has worked with major orchestras and opera companies in Ireland as well as fulfilling engagements in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, UK, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Malta and Estonia. Fergus Sheil studied music at Trinity College, graduating in 1992. While at TCD he founded the Trinity Orchestra. He currently delivers a module in career development at TCD’s Music Department and in 2023 he was awarded an honorary Doctor in Letters from TCD. Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub