Irish National Opera
National Opera, 69 Dame Street
Dublin
Ireland
Irish National Opera is Ireland’s newest, and most enterprising opera company, known for its innovative productions and commitment to both classic and contemporary works. It champions Irish creativity in its casting, its choice of creative teams and in its commitment to the presentation of new operas. The company performs large-scale productions of works from the great operatic canon as well as touring smaller productions to venues of all sizes throughout Ireland. To date INO has performed in 29 venues in Ireland as well as presenting work in London and Amsterdam.
In 2020, INO responded creatively to the challenges posed by a global pandemic. The company produced a multitude of online concerts and events, including the critically acclaimed 20 Shots of Opera, 20 new short operas for film, a project that garnered enthusiastic reviews from the international press. INO has produced a number of longer opera films including Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse and Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, a co-production with the Royal Opera House. Their productions have been broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm and streamed via RTÉ Player and OperaVision.
INO works to promote the future of opera as an art form through their professional development and outreach programmes. The INO Studio, provides a platform for emerging opera artists in several disciplines (singers, conductors, composers, directors, répétiteurs) while their outreach programme works to reach and engage new audiences.
In 2021, they won the FEDORA Digital Prize with their VR Community Opera Project, Out of the Ordinary. In 2022, INO's co-production of Vivaldi's Bajazet with the Royal Opera House, in partnership with the Irish Baroque Orchestra, received the Outstanding Achievement in Opera Award at the Olivier Awards; and in 2023, composer Brian Irvine was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Best Stage Work for the one-act opera, Least Like The Other, Searching for Rosemary Kennedy, commissioned by INO. The opera premiered at the Galway International Arts Festival in 2019 and was later performed at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre, receiving critical acclaim.
Irish National Opera is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
