Conor Mitchell News

Written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Erica Whyman, Ben & Imo tells the story of the composition of Benjamin Britten’s (Samuel Barnett) Gloriana with musical assistant Imogen Holst (Victoria Yeates) over a period of nine months in the coast town of Aldeburgh. The play is based on Ravenhill’s BBC Radio 3 presentation, Imo and Ben.

Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates will make their Royal Shakespeare Company debuts to play, respectively, Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst in the Company’s forthcoming production of Ben and Imo, written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Erica Whyman.

The 71st Wexford Festival Opera will open on Friday, 21 October, running for 17 consecutive days showcasing over 80 events including three mainstage operas, two pocket operas, a new commission and an Irish premiere, closing on Sunday, 6 November.

The Southbank Centre, its six Resident Orchestras and wider orchestral partners have today announced Classical Music Spring/Summer 2023, an exciting, varied programme of over a hundred events featuring a wealth of established and emerging artists from the UK and internationally. 

Wexford Festival Opera will present a new commission from the WFO Artist-in-Residence 2022 Conor Mitchell. A chamber piece entitled Les Selenites, Mitchell's work explores the bizarre world of 20th century French film pioneer and stage illusionist, Georges Méliès. 

After a sell-out run at Outburst Queer Arts Festival, this award-winning smash-hit opera makes its Dublin premiere.

Over 30 events including immersive orchestral performance, new commissions, live podcasts, art, screenings, talks and poetry showcasing local, national and international queer work in Belfast.

Today WFO Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi announced details of her programme for the 71st Wexford Festival Opera which will run for 17 days from 21 October – 6 November 2022.

After headlining Outburst Queer Art Festival with Abomination: A DUP Opera, Ivor Novello-nominated composer Conor Mitchell returns to the festival with the 64 musicians of the Ulster Orchestra and six queer international filmmakers to present an epic evening smashing together sacred, profane and queer ceremony.

Tickets are on sale for most shows now. Learn more about the full lineup and how to attend here!

Learn more about the opera, how it will be staged, and where it premieres, here!

Conor Mitchell’s darkly comic children’s opera retells a familiar story: ‘who was the Pied Piper? and ‘Why did the rats all dance to his tune?’ This world premiere from the award-winning Belfast Ensemble brings opera home to Northern Ireland. Musically extraordinary, this cautionary tale explores themes of nature, nurture and just desserts!

The Belfast Ensemble, in association with Young at Art, Belfast Children's Festival present The Musician: A Horror Opera for Children, streaming Friday 12th March - Sunday 14th March, 7pm.

Innovation and imagination are always needed in a crisis. Irish National Opera is set to prove the rule with an ambitious run of new work, world premieres and new productions.

The Ivors Academy today [3 November] announce the nominations for The Ivors Composer Awards 2020.

The Traverse Theatre was founded with the hope of carrying the spirit of Edinburgh's Festivals throughout the year- and in 2020 they have been inspired by their past to create a new future as they announce the launch of Traverse 3, their new online venue, and the extension of its Traverse Festival programme throughout the rest of the year.

The 23rd Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards was due to take place tomorrow night at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. 

The Belfast Ensemble is back with an incendiary new opera from acclaimed composer Conor Mitchell to open Belfast's Outburst Queer Arts Festival on 8th November 2019. Abomination, A DUP Opera sets the former DUP MP Iris Robinson's infamous 2008 live BBC Radio Ulster interview (in which she condemns homosexuality as a?oean abominationa??) to live orchestral music. The interview was given just days after a gay man was physically assaulted in Northern Ireland because of his sexuality.

Live At Zedel, Soho's unique live entertainment concept at Crazy Coqs, announces their new 2019 winter/spring season produced in partnership with Fane Productions.

The Abbey Theatre presents Come on Home by Phillip McMahon (Town is Dead, RIOT), directed by Rachel O'Riordan (Artistic Director Sherman Theatre) on the Peacock Stage from 13 July - 4 August.