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What's On!

September

'Follies' at The Grand Opera House, Belfast

June to August

Summer Events 2025

July

Cocktails and Cabaret in the Grand Opera House Studio

July 23 and 30

Summer Recitals at First Church Belfast

August

BBC Radio 3 Recitals and the Competition Finale

August

From Old To New: Ulster Scots Song

November

Morning Melodies - 'A Rose By Any Other Name'

Past Productions

Explore our past productions, from 2010 to 2024

Discover Opera

Discover

Discover Opera

Find out all about our recent production of 'Eugene Onégin' at the Grand Opera House, Belfast

Eugene Onégin

NI Opera Studio

The Juniper Tree

'The Juniper Tree' is based on a famous Grimm's fairytale, in which a jealous stepmother murders…

Main Stage

Tosca

Northern Ireland Opera returns in 2023 with Puccini’s ‘Tosca’, after our critically acclaimed and sold-out production…

New Work

Nobody/Somebody

'Nobody/Somebody' is an exciting and powerful new opera created by composer Neil Martin and playwright Fionnuala…

Musical

Into The Woods

BEST PRODUCTION, THE IRISH TIMES IRISH THEATRE AWARDS 2022 In a whirlwind quest to make their…

WHAT'S ON

WHAT'S ON

What's On

Check out our calendar guide to what's coming up in the next few months.

Summer Events 2025

Main Stage

Follies

Northern Ireland Opera’s next major production at the Grand Opera House is ‘Follies’, winner of 7…

June 2025

Meow Meow: Feline Intimate

Northern Ireland Opera welcomes international singing sensation Meow Meow back to Belfast, fresh from her triumph…

August 2025

The 15th Glenarm Festival of Voice

The Glenarm Festival of Voice will take place from 22-24 August 2025. Now in its fifteenth…

Special Event

Cocktails and Cabaret

Introducing a unique event this summer in The Studio at the Grand Opera House... Enjoy a…

WHAT WE DO

What We Do

WHAT WE DO

We are Northern Ireland's award-winning national opera company, an arts charity dedicated to the highest standards of opera performance, development of young talent and community outreach and education. Find out more about our productions since our foundation in 2010 via the link.

What We Do

Artist Development

Chorus Development Programme Our Chorus Development Programme launched in 2022, following open auditions to select local…

Past Productions

Outreach

Northern Ireland Opera bring innovative new productions of the highest artistic quality to the stage, reflecting…

The Glenarm Festival of Voice

The festival features public recitals and events, including three concerts in partnership with and broadcast by…

News

22nd July 2025

Four finalists selected for Northern Ireland Opera’s 15th Glenarm Festival of Voice, 22-24 August 2025

Four opera singers from across the island of Ireland will be taking part in an exciting live opera competition in front of a live audience and jury panel in Glenarm this summer…

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Four finalists selected for Northern Ireland Opera’s 15th Glenarm Festival of Voice, 22-24 August 2025
11th June 2025

Introducing five brilliant young talents from Northern Ireland who are joining our cast for ‘Follies’

Brigid Shine, Anna Violet, Reece McGowan, Chris Kane and Petra Wells will be performing as the 1941 versions of Sally, Phyllis, Buddy, Ben and Heidi in Northern Ireland Opera’s thrilling new production…

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Introducing five brilliant young talents from Northern Ireland who are joining our cast for ‘Follies’
5th June 2025

Opera Star Lesley Garrett CBE Debuts With Northern Ireland Opera in a New Production of ‘Follies’

Lesley Garrett CBE, one of the world’s most celebrated classical singers and acclaimed British soprano is announced today as the newest cast member to join Northern Ireland Opera’s historic revival of Stephen…

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Opera Star Lesley Garrett CBE Debuts With Northern Ireland Opera in a New Production of ‘Follies’
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SUPPORT US

Support

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More Details

Connect With Us

At lunchtime tomorrow (Wednesday 23rd July) come to our first free Summer Recital in partnership with @firstchurch1783 and @riamdublin in First Church Belfast on Rosemary Street. Soprano @zoe_jackson6 , winner of last year's 14th Glenarm Festival of Voice will be performing a concert on a theme of 'Love and Loss with pianist @bryanevansinsta. Doors open at 1pm, free seating, all welcome! Come and enjoy a beautiful lunchtime musical experience right in the heart of Belfast. @artscouncilni @cameronmenziesdirector #summer #summerconcert #lunchtimeconcert #freeconcert #whatsonthisweek #belfastevents #whatsoninbelfast #lunchtimeplans #musicatlunch
Meet our four finalists and Peter Rankin Piano Intern for this year's 15th Glenarm Festival of Voice! Sopranos Éadaoin Hassett, Aimee Kearney and Clare Quinn and tenor Jacq Herbots will be joined by Peter Rankin Piano Intern Orlaith Sharkey for an intensive weekend of coaching in the beautiful coastal village of Glenarm before competing in front of a live audience in the Competition Finale on Sunday 24th August from 6.30pm. Find out all about these finalists via the linktree in the bio and book your tickets for this and all events at the festival soon. Don't forget, if you want to attend the BBC Radio 3 Recitals you need to apply via BBC Shows and Tours by 28th July. Full details on all events via the linktree in our bio. #opera #operasingers #irishsingers #operacompetition #IrishArtSong #emergingartists #August #operafestival #singingfestival
Meet some more of our #Follies cast! Have you booked your tickets yet @gohbelfast ? Come on a journey back with us to a crumbling Broadway theatre 1971...and then further back still to the bright lights, sequins, feathers and sparkles of these showgirls in 1941 when Weismann's Follies first met... Experience one of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's most celebrated and legendary musicals... Top row L-R Colette Lennon Dougal (Dee Dee West/Ensemble/Cover), Orla Mullan (Sandra Crane/Ensemble/Cover), ensemble Sophie Fleet, Chloe Hopcroft, Johanna Johnston, Anna Tennyson, Mark D'Arcy, Nic Cain, Ciarán McCormack, Fionan O'Carroll and Sean O'Neill. Find out more about all these artists and the rest of the cast via the linktree in the bio - and book your tickets soon. The show is 13-20 September with matinee and evening performances. #Follies #Sondheim #musicals #whatsoninseptember #musicaltheatre #belfastevents #belfastshows @artscouncilni @cameronmenziesdirector
Meet the Whitmans! @christina.nelson.1088 and @dickycrox will perform the roles of Emily and Theodore Whitman in #Follies @gohbelfast this September, roles which include a performance of the brilliant showstopper 'Rain on the Roof' which many of you will know from 'Paddington 2' by Hugh Grant and fellow inmates... Christina Nelson is a highly acclaimed actress, director and writer from Belfast, NI. She trained at Rupert Stanley College and has over 35 years of experience in the industry. Christina has just finished a tour of the festivals with her own show “The Fanaticals “ with 5 star reviews. This year she worked on a world premiere of a new musical in Los Angles “The Musicians of Bremen “ which is making its Irish debut in the Belfast Festival next month. Christina played Mrs Hooley in a sold-out show in New York, Irish Arts Centre with Good Vibrations. She is now writing and directing a series of children's shows that will be toured throughout NI over the Festive season , When she is not treading the boards or writing Christina and her team, Tiny Nelson Productions are creating bespoke walkabout characters and performances for events. Richard Croxford’s career has included acting, writing and directing for numerous theatre companies locally, nationally, internationally and London's West End. Favourite recent stage roles include Senator George Mitchell in Agreement (Lyric Theatre), General Harrison Howell in Kiss Me Kate, Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd, Tiger Brown in Threepenny Opera for NI Opera. Recent TV includes Mayor Firth in Murder Most Puzzling and Ben McCafferty in Fun Boys as well as Bloodlands, Mrs. Wilson and feature films The Quarry and the blockbuster Dungeons And Dragons as Lord Neverember. Richard is also a busy voice over artist doing documentaries for BBCNI and commercials on U105. @artscouncilni #Follies #TheWhitmans #RainOnTheRoof #Sondheim #SeptemberMusicals #WhatsOn #BelfastTheatre #BelfastEvents @ourbelfastmusic
It's just over a month until the 15th Glenarm Festival of Voice returns for our much-loved annual celebration of singing and vocal music in the stunning coastal village of Glenarm. From 10am tomorrow you can enter the free ticket draw to be in the audience in Glenarm's historic St Patrick's Church for the @bbcradio3 recitals on Friday 22 August at 8-pm (@carolyn_dobbin_mezzo), Saturday 23 August at 8pm (baritone @james_atkinson94) and Sunday 24 August at 1.30pm (Santiago Sanchez @tenorsanchez) all accompanied by pianist @simon_lepper and hosted by broadcaster Sean Rafferty. The draw is open until 28 July - enter via BBC Shows and Tours @bbcshows. Tickets are also already on sale for our afternoon concert on Saturday 23 August from 3-4pm in The Coach House in @glenarmcastle with @carolyn_dobbin_mezzo and pianist @tristanrusscher on a theme of Ulster Scots Song and also the main event, the Competition Finale on Sunday 24 August in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Glenarm from 6.30 to 8.30pm - finalists will be announced shortly! We have a brilliant free morning of drama and art activities for 9-11 year old children in the @glenarmcastle Coach House on Saturday 23rd August from 10 to midday run by two fantastic art and drama facilitators - free to attend, book a space or just drop in! Find out more and get your tickets via the linktree in the bio. With thanks to @artscouncilni @meaboroughcouncil @glenarmcastle and our donors and friends whose support and funding makes this annual festival possible. #summer #summerfestival #classicalmusic #operafestival #summeropera #freeconcerts #recitals #bbcradio3 #glenarm #northantrimcoast #northernireland #classicalmusicfestival #operaperformance #liverecording #childrensactivities #whatson
Coming up in the next week... First we'll be at Botanic Gardens on Saturday 19th July from 12 to 1pm, with a free pop-up concert featuring @petrawells_soprano and vocalists @annaviolett.2 @_chriskane with pianist Ryan Greer - enjoy a beautiful hour of music in the bandstand area of the park. Then on Wednesday 23rd July we'll be performing the first free lunchtime Summer Recital of this year @firstchurch1783 from 1.15 to 2pm with soprano @zoe_jackson6 and pianist @bryanevansinsta performing songs on a theme of love and loss. Zoe was the 2024 winner of the Glenarm Festival of Voice - (tickets for this year's festival are available now via the linktree in the bio!) Both events are free and all are welcome. Come along and support some of our brightest young talents performing right in the heart of Belfast and enjoy some beautiful music! #summerconcert #summerevents #julyconcert #julyrecital #summerrecital #youngsingers #operasingers #operarecital #summmermusic #summerinthecity #summerlunchtime #lunchtimeplans #belfast #thisweek #whatsonthisweek @artscouncilni @ourbelfastmusic
This July and August the Summer Recital series is back at First Church Belfast for their 31st year. We're very much looking forward to being part of this programme of free Wednesday lunchtime concerts. Each recital runs from 1.15 to 2pm (doors open at 1pm) and all are free to attend - it's a really lovely way to spend a summer lunchtime! If you haven't been to First Church Belfast before, you'll find it on Rosemary Street right in Belfast's city centre - all are welcome. The first Northern Ireland Opera recital takes place on 23 July with soprano Zoë Jackson- Soprano, winner of Deborah Voigt Opera Prize at the 14th Glenarm Festival of Voice performing a recital on a theme of Songs of Love and Loss with pianist Bryan Evans. We return on 30 July with baritone Seamus Brady Baritone, song prize winner at the 14th Glenarm Festival of Voice, in a recital accompanied by pianist Tristan Russcher. First Church Belfast's Summer Recital Series then continues throughout August at the same time each week in association with RIAM. 6 August 1.15pm: Joanne Quigley (violin) and David Quigley (piano) 13 August 1.15pm: Showcase: Competition Winners Of The Royal Irish Academy 20 August 1.15pm: Justine Gormley (piano) 27 August 1.15pm: The Inaugural Young Musicians’ Prom Find out more about all the Summer Recitals here - via the linktree in our bio. Arts Council of Northern Ireland #summerconcerts #summerrecitals #freeconcerts #belfastevents #freebelfastevents #summermusic @ourbelfastmusic #classicalconcert #operasingers #opera #arias #recital #summerrecitals
Announcing the next three fantastic cast members for #Follies at the Grand Opera House, Belfast this September! Pippa Winslow @pippawinslow will be our Stella Deems, Marty Maguire @martymaguire_jm our Dimitri Weismann and Darren Franklin @darrenfranklin645 our Roscoe. We are delighted to welcome these wonderful artists to the cast and can't wait to get started with rehearsals in Belfast in few weeks time - find out all about them via the event page on our website. Set in 1971, the girls of Weismann’s ‘Follies’ are returning with their partners to the decaying theatre on Broadway which holds so many memories for them for one last time before it is demolished. Time may have moved on, but inside the theatre old connections stir, rivalries flare and ghosts of the past are woken. By the time they all leave the theatre for one last time, their world’s will have shifted and nothing will be the same again. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Goldman, this legendary work features unforgettable songs including ‘Broadway Baby’, ‘I’m Still Here’, ‘Could I Leave You’, and ‘Losing My Mind’. Find out more about the show and the cast via the event link in the bio and book your tickets soon at Grand Opera House, Belfast. @artscouncilni @cameronmenziesdirector @fourthwallpr @ourbelfastmusic #Sondheim #Follies #StellaDeems #Weismann #DimitriWeismann #Roscoe #musical #musictheatre #musicals #broadwaymusicals #newyork #theseventies #showgirls #showtunes #whatsoninseptember
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