Christmas Gala with National Symphony Orchestra Ireland @ National Opera House

’Tis the season to be merry… and to indulge in a festive gala of glorious opera arias and seasonal gems as National Symphony Orchestra Ireland makes what will be a very special return to the National Opera House. Joining it will be one of Wexford’s own, the internationally acclaimed Olivier Award-nominated dramatic soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace, and Wexford Festival Opera’s Principal Guest Conductor, the exciting young Italian conductor Francesco Cilluffo, making his National Symphony Orchestra Ireland debut.

Sinéad Campbell Wallace is one of the most exciting performers on the operatic stage today. Her fast-rising profile has seen her perform leading roles in prestigious opera houses across Europe, the United States and Tokyo, and at home with Irish National Opera and Wexford Festival Opera.

She will bring her ‘heavenly voice’ (Opera Online) to Puccini’s aching ‘Vissi d’Arte (Tosca) – a role for which she has been widely praised - the innocently loving ‘Un bel dì vedremo’ (Madama Butterfly), Catalani’s haunting ‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana’ (La Wally), and Lehár’s sparkling ‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss’ from Giuditta. With these glorious arias, festive vocal favourites including The Wexford Carol, O Holy Night and Silent Night, and orchestral favourites such as Tchaikovsky’s sugar-coated, snow-dusted The Nutcracker and Leroy Anderson’s joyful A Christmas Festival. 

Francesco Cilluffo, Principal Guest Conductor with Wexford Festival Opera since 2020, brings all his ‘instinctive feeling for Italiante lyricism’ (New York Times) to what promises to be a memorable partnership with National Symphony Orchestra and Sinéad Campbell Wallace in a festive, feel-good evening