An Opera for Carlow

This is the second in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. Community youth choir, Aspiro, will be one of the community groups taking part in the opera. Now we find out what the choir members and its director, Mary Amond O'Brien, think about this unique project.

This is the third in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. Today we are hearing from Regina Hanley, a professional opera singer who has been brought in by conductor Fergus Sheil as a vocal coach. We meet Regina at a singing workshop where she lends her singing expertise to the choir. She also tells us about her hopes for the opera.

This is the fourth in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. Today we hear about the singing auditions. We hear from the creative team about how they found the day and get the reactions of those who came along to audition.

This is the fifth in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. Rehearsals are underway since early Autumn finding the local voices which will shine next May. Project coordinator Fergus Sheil takes us behind the voice coaching sessions and explains what he is trying to achieve.

This is the sixth in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. This month we have been spending time with Brian Irvine, the composer of the music for the opera, to find out how the music composition is shaping up and to discover just what the opera will be about.

This is the seventh in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. In May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera which is called 'Shelter Me From The Rain' will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. This month we're following the hunt for the soloist voices who will perform Brian's work. After months of out-reach work and voice workshops about fifty local people auditioned for a solo spot and we went along for the final nerve-wracking competition to hear some of those seeking a challenge.

This is the eighth in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera which is called 'Shelter Me From The Rain' will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. The creative team led by conductor Fergus Sheil have been working hard to get the music and the libretto finished and today for the first time we hear the music from the final scene of the opera and find out what the local participants make of it.

This is the ninth in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera which is called 'Shelter Me From The Rain' will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. The creative team have now selected the solo roles for the opera, we heard the auditions a couple of months ago and today we go back to the successful ones as they begin solo rehearsals. We get to know the people involved and what it means for them to be given the chance to perform on stage.

This is the tenth and final episode in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next month the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Irelands newest and most impressive new theatres the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera is now called Shelter Me from the Rain and is about the universal themes of love and weather. The opera has been led by conductor Fergus Sheil composed by Brian Irvine with words from John Mclduff and the voices of about a hundred people from around the county and beyond. There is now just a couple of weeks to go before the performances and today Belfast based composer Brian Irvine is down in Carlow for the final rehearsals with the Aspiro choir. We hear from Brian and Aspiros artistic director Mary Amond O Brien about the final run down to the first performance on May 5th. Athena Media will record the final perf

You have heard the shaping of this new opera every month through auditions and rehearsals. The opera is now called Shelter Me from the Rain and is all about the universal themes of love and weather. The opera is being led by conductor Fergus Sheil and has been composed by Brian Irvine, with words by John McIlduff and the voices of about a hundred people. The opening performance is tomorrow evening in the George Bernard Shaw theatre in Carlow and today we get to hear a preview of the opening song Shelter me from the Rain as the participants and the creative team describe how the project has gone. Athena Media will record the final performance of the opera and a full one hour documentary narrating the story of the project and the music will be broadcast during the summer on RTE Lyric fm. Presenter Paul Herriott will narrate the documentary. The documentary is due to air on Friday 1st July at 7pm on RTE Lyric fm. It will also be available as a podcast.

3 years in the planning one year in production An Opera for Carlow is the story of an extraordinary and unique community music and arts project led by conductor Fergus Sheil. Sheil and his creative team composer Brian Irvine and director and writer John McIlduff set up to create an opera from scratch working with the people of Carlow. On May 5th in the GB Shaw Theatre in Visual that opera Shelter me from the Rain was premiered and this documentary produced by Athena Media is the story of the journey to that night and how the birth of that opera changed the lives of everyone involved.

An Opera for Carlow is a radio documentary series following a one-year community arts project in Carlow. Every month a new feature produced by Athena Media for RTE Lyric FM will update on the progress of the opera as conductor Fergus Sheil, composer Brian Irvine and librettist/director John McIlduff begin to write the opera and start rehearsing for its live performance in May 2011. The Athena Media team will also record the live performance. In this first feature we hear from conductor Fergus Sheil about what inspired the idea. Cynthia Deane, CEO of Carlow VEC, talks about the benefits of the project to the people of Carlow while composer Brian Irvine talks about why they were inspired by the idea of an opera in Carlow.