A History of Opera Ireland
Opera Ireland finds its origins in the former Dublin Grand Opera Society founded in 1941 by the energetic Col. Bill O‘Kelly and a group of opera enthusiasts.
{DGOS 50th Anniversary Stamp (1991), designed by Karl Uhlemann, featuring a scene from La Traviata}
From its earliest days, the Dublin Grand Opera Society performed in the Gaiety Theatre, supported by an orchestra drawn from members of Radio Eireann and the Army School of Music. Thus began an association with both the Theatre and RTE that continues to the present day.
In subsequent years, and at the invitation of the Dublin Grand Opera Society, Dublin hosted several European Opera companies thereby increasing public awareness of, and interest in opera. In the 1960‘s arrangements were made with Italy to present a Spring festival of Italian Opera and such was the confidence in Dublin as an opera venue that the Italian government provided state funding for these performances. Indeed many household names such as Pavarotti, Carreras, Domingo and Te Kanawa have all joined the Company on both the stage and concert platform.
In 1985 the Dublin Grand Opera Society reconstructed itself into a company limited by guarantee and, with assistance from the Arts Council, took on its first permanent staff - an Administrator, Artistic Director and Chorus Master. In 1996 and in line with its increasing profile, the Company modified its name and corporate logo to its present Opera Ireland thus embodying the best of past traditions and establishing itself as the premier national opera company.
