Featuring two new operas from composer Emma O’Halloran, with librettos by Mark O’Halloran Irish National Opera present Trade and Mary Motorhead. Featuring singers Oisín Ó Dálaigh, John Molloy (Trade) and Naomi Louisa O’Connell (MM) the Irish National Opera Orchestra are conducted by Elaine Kelly.
TRADE In a guesthouse in Dublin’s north inner city, a vulnerable and confused young rent boy sits with a middle-aged client. The older man has blood on his shirt. A lot has happened since the two last met.
Mary Motorhead: Mary Motorhead has been locked in a prison cell after stabbing her husband in the head with a 12-inch carving knife. While he lies in intensive care, Mary reflects on the events that have brought this turbulent rural marriage to such a crisis.
“Rarely, if ever, does every element – score, text, singers, instrumentalists, conductor, director, sets, costumes, lighting, sound design—all come together. This is that rarity.” – Los Angeles Times
“Emma and Mark O’Halloran’s complex opera double bill Trade/Mary Motorhead is remarkable” – Irish Independent
“Tenor Oisín Ó Dálaigh and bass-baritone John Molloy simply astonishing throughout.” – The Arts Review