Vagabones - opera by Raymond Deane

07/11/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3pJbhcY9pg&t=40s

Vagabones concerns an actual witch trial that took place in the town of Youghal, County Cork, Ireland, in 1661. Florence Newton has been accused by Mary Lon...

01/02/2024

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17/01/2023

We are delighted to announce the first TU Dublin Conservatoire
Opera Production will take place in the Concert Hall, East Quad, Grangegorman this month!

"Mansfield Park" a chamber opera in two acts by Jonathan Dove with libretto by Alasdair Middleton.

Students and Alumni of the Conservatoire Vocal Department directed by Vivian Coates will be joined by the Conservatoire Chamber Ensemble and conductor David Brophy in this enchanting setting of the Jane Austen novel.

Dates:
Thursday 26th January (Preview)
Friday 27th January (Opening Night)
Saturday 28th January

Times: 7.30pm

Venue: The Concert Hall, East Quad Grangegorman.

Tickets: €25 Full Price and €18 Concession (students and OAPs)
Book your ticket ➡️ eventbrite.ie/e/mansfield-park-opera-tickets-511775413037

23/07/2020

Saturday 25th July 2020 at 19.00 - set your alarms!

05/07/2020

*Vagabones* will be broadcast by RTÉ Lyric FM in its "Opera Night" spot on Saturday 25th July. This will be supplemented by three of Raymond Deane's orchestral works, performed by the RTÉ NSO under Gerhard Markson, with Christine Pryn (violin).

22/09/2019

Enthusiastic review of *Vagabones* by Dick O'Riordan, Sunday Business Post, 22nd September:

Killer kiss from 1661 leads to a fine modern opera
Vagabones

By Raymond Deane

Opera Collective Ireland

Civic Theatre, Tallaght

Ireland has always had a plentiful supply of banshees and poltergeist, but our supply of witches down the years has been meagre to say the least. Kilkenny’s star performer, Dame Alice Kyteler grabs most of the attention for her elimination of three husbands, but was she a genuine witch or just a black widow?

On the other hand, the witch trial on which Raymond Deane has based his contemporary opera Vagabones – a reimagining of Emma Donoghue’s play Trespasses – has genuine provenance in regard to the 1661 trial of Florence Newton, a 65-year-old spinster from the garrison town of Youghal in Cork.

Apparently, this event was so notorious that it was cited during many subsequent English witchcraft trials. Basically, the evidence was that Newton could kill with a kiss. One witness swore she had vomited needles, pins, horse nails and wool after receiving a little peck. One of the “proofs” of her guilt was that she could not recite the Lord’s Prayer properly.

Deane, a diehard avant-gardist and political activist, boiled down the storyline to three successive days of action that captured the harrowing injustice involved. The composer cleverly wove fictionalised storylines – analogous to modern situations – into the narrative depicting duplicity and blatant self-interest until the poor woman’s fate was sealed.

Irish Opera Collective can justifiably claim to have notched up another admirable success. Since its formation half a dozen years ago, it produces a single annual opera under artistic director Colette McGahon. Vagabones marked an unexpected change of genre, but IOC has lived up to its promise of providing a potential launchpad for top young Irish singers on to the great stages of Europe.

The male castings of Rory Musgrave, Rory Dunne and Ross Scanlon were spot on in all regards. Carolyn Holt, a mezzo-soprano of outstanding ability, captured the plight of Newton effectively, while soprano Kelli-Ann Masterson did well in a somewhat incongruous trousers role. But it was the performance of soprano Sarah Power as main accuser Mary Longdon that really gripped attention with the quality of her high-pitched, but never strident, singing: Deane does not spare sopranos. Her subtle acting was also admirable.

In truth, subtitles would have helped throughout, particularly in assisting a fine libretto by Renate Debrun. Music may matter most in conventional opera, but in this relatively new and thriving contemporary style, sharp dialogue also works wonders.

15/09/2019

Positive review of *Vagabones* by Katy Hayes in the Irish Independent!

Raymond Deane's new opera, based on a 1996 play by Emma Donoghue, is a delight: picky, delicate instrumentation; nimble percussion with church bell echoes; and an accordion bringing eve

13/09/2019

The FINAL performance of Vagabones takes place TONIGHT at Theatre Royal Waterford.

Last chance to catch it!

Book👉https://theatreroyal.ie/events/vagabones or
Call Box Office 051 874402.

The Theatre Royal Waterford creates, develops, produces and presents a programme of Irish theatre, music, dance and other live performances for Waterford and the South East of Ireland.

12/09/2019

Just a few more hours until our second last performance of Vagabones.

Tonight we will be at St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal, Cork (Yew Wood Venues). We look forward to seeing you in Youghal where the trial of Florence Newton actually took place in 1661.

Don't miss out on this special performance! Our last stop will be the Theatre Royal Waterford on the 13th September.

See you there!

Booking/info:

Following the outstanding success of The Return of Ulysses at Kilkenny Arts Festival 2018, Opera Collective Ireland presents the World Première of Raymond Deane’s Vagabones. Based on Emma Donoghue’s stage adaptation of her 1996 radio play Trespasses, the opera with a libretto by Renate Debrun i...

10/09/2019

Glowing review of *Vagabones* by Adrian Smith in the Journal of Music.

Raymond Deane's new opera 'Vagabones' received its premiere last week at the Civic Theatre. Adrian Smith reviews.

10/09/2019

Next up: *Vagabones* in Youghal, where the historical events on which the opera is based occurred in 1661. This Thursday, 12th September, St. Mary's Collegiate Church, 20.00

.....the case of a woman condemned as the "Witch of Youghal"

10/09/2019

'The case of a woman who was accused of witchcraft in Co. Cork and prosecuted in a sensational trial in 1661 forms the plot of a new opera by the acclaimed avant-garde composer, Raymond Deane.'

Don't miss the FINAL three performances of Vagabones - opera by Raymond Deane this week at An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk on 10th September, St. Mary's Collegiate Church, Youghal, Co. Cork (Yew Wood Venues) on the 12th September and Theatre Royal Waterford on the 13th September.

More information/booking: http://www.operacollectiveireland.com/production/vagabones/

Production photos © Marshall Light Studio (Frances Marshall)