Latest news with #TheCuringLine
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Monaghan composer wins one of opera's biggest prizes
Michael Gallen, Irish composer, discusses winning the Fedora Prize for The Curing Line, the opera he composed and co-directed.
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Irish Composer Michael Gallen wins world's top new opera prize
Irish composer Michael Gallen has been awarded the 2025 FEDORA Opera Prize, the world's largest award for new opera, for his work The Curing Line. Presented at a ceremony at the Vienna State Opera on Saturday April 26th, the prize of €100,000 is the world's largest award for opera. Awarded bi-annually for the best new opera in Europe, the winner is selected by an international jury of leading opera producers including the directors of the Paris Opera, Dutch National Opera, Danish National Theatre and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and presented in partnership with Opera Europa, which represents over 170 opera houses and festivals across 43 countries. The Curing Line, co-directed by Gallen and American choreographer Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, explores themes of healing, cultural loss, and environmental collapse. Drawing on ethnographic research into Ireland's folk healing traditions, the opera tells the story of a woman who inherits a life-saving ancestral power but loses her ability to use it. The work aims to question the separation between humans and the natural world, and what is lost in that divide. New Irish opera "The Curing Line" was awarded the prestigious FEDORA Opera Prize at a special ceremony in Vienna at the weekend. Congratulations to Michael Gallen and everyone at the Straymaker company for their brilliant achievement @dfatirl @FEDORA_Platform — Embassy of Ireland, Vienna (@IrlEmbVienna) April 28, 2025 Jury Chair Birgitta Svendén praised the opera as a "deeply immersive and multisensory" experience that "resonates with the audience of tomorrow." Fedora President Stéphane Argyropoulos added that the project "redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation." Speaking at the ceremony, Michael Gallen said that "...for our independent, artist-led work to be selected as the winner of the award gives us a huge rush of affirmation that will carry us forward not just with this project but with all of our future plans and ambitions" Originally from Monaghan and now based in County Mayo, Gallen has earned acclaim for blending contemporary classical music with multidisciplinary performance. His 2021 opera Elsewhere was also nominated for the FEDORA Prize. The Curing Line, featuring a bilingual libretto by Gallen and poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin, is slated to premiere at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in August 2026 before embarking on an international tour.
Irish Independent
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Irish composer Michael Gallen's ‘The Curing Line' wins Fedora Prize –world's largest award for new opera
The new opera, created by Straymaker – Mr Gallen's own company based in Monaghan – has won the prize of €100,000. The Fedora Opera Prize 2025 was presented at a ceremony at the Vienna State Opera on Saturday, April 26. The prize is awarded every two years for the best new opera in Europe, with the winner selected by an international jury of leading opera producers. Composer and director Michael Gallen (39), who is originally from Co Monaghan and now lives in south Co Mayo, told the Irish Independent he was 'shocked' to win the prestigious prize. 'From one point of view, it really felt like it was already a bit of a coup for us to be nominated for the award. Straymaker is a small artist-led independent company,' he said. "And normally, the fellow nominees and projects that have won the Fedora before have been supported by major European opera houses. So we really felt that it was already a win for us to be nominated, but I'm just thrilled that we've been selected for the prize. 'Aside from the significant financial contribution towards the opera, it puts our work on the radar of some of the major gatekeepers of European opera. The judging panel is made up of the heads of the Paris Opera and the Dutch National Opera, some of the largest opera institutions in the world. "So, it's really incredible to think that our work is now on that radar and that we have the opportunity to share it with a much wider and more diverse audience,' he added. The Curing Line is co-directed by Mr Gallen and American filmmaker Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, and is produced by Irish producer Maura O'Keefe. The Fedora president, Stéphane Argyropoulos, who presented the award to Mr Gallen, Mr Fitzgerald and Ms O'Keeffe, said the project 'redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation'. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, the Fedora opera prize jury chair, Birgitta Svendén, said the 'theme for The Curing Line is more relevant than ever". "This project is deeply immersive and multisensorial, which gives the possibility to expand the boundaries of opera. "The narrative, the musical language and the staging will resonate to the audience of tomorrow,' she added. Minister for Arts Patrick O'Donovan added: "We are all very proud that Straymaker, a small company led by Michael Gallen, has been awarded this honour. I want to sincerely congratulate all involved.' The Curing Line, which is drawn from ethnographic research into Ireland's indigenous traditions of 'making cures', explores themes of healing, loss of culture and environmental collapse through the story of a woman who inherits a life-saving ancestral healing power but loses her capacity to use it. The premiere is planned for August 2026 at Kilkenny Arts Festival before touring in Ireland and internationally. The work of Michael Gallen is performed across the main stages and festivals of Europe in both contemporary classical and popular music settings. His opera Elsewhere, which premiered at the Abbey Theatre in 2021, was also nominated for the Fedora Prize that year.
Irish Times
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Fedora Prize 2025: Irish composer Michael Gallen wins €100,000 award for new opera
The Curing Line, by the Irish composer Michael Gallen , has won the €100,000 Fedora Prize, the world's largest award for new opera. The biannual prize, which was presented at Vienna State Opera on Saturday, was awarded by a jury that included the directors of the Paris Opera, Dutch National Opera, Danish National Theatre and Aix-en-Provence Festival. Fedora is a European circle of philanthropists who support opera and ballet. In presenting the award to Gallen, to the American choreographer Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern – who also directed the work with Gallen – and to the producer Maura O'Keeffe , the president of Fedora, Stéphane Argyropoulos, said that The Curing Line 'redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation'. The opera, which draws on research into the Irish tradition of 'making cures', tells the story of a woman who loses the capacity to use her life-saving ancestral healing power. It asks whether, in regarding the human and the environment as separate, we are failing to acknowledge that fundamental parts of ourselves and our culture are becoming extinct. READ MORE The Swedish mezzo-soprano Birgitta Svendén, who chaired the jury, said, 'Here and now, the world is experiencing a turbulent and rather chaotic time. The theme for The Curing Line is more relevant than ever. What can we do as individuals, as communities, what can we learn from history and inherited traditions, how can we acknowledge the change we have to go through without losing hope for the future generations? 'The Curing Line will address many of the questions that we as human beings are faced with and do not have the answers for. This project is deeply immersive and multisensorial, which gives the possibility to expand the boundaries of opera. The narrative, the musical language and the staging will resonate to the audience of tomorrow.' Gallen, whose opera Elsewhere was nominated for the Fedora Prize in 2021, said at the ceremony that 'for our independent, artist-led work to be selected as the winner of the award gives us a huge rush of affirmation that will carry us forward not just with this project but with all of our future plans and ambitions'. [ Elsewhere review: Agitprop opera combines the serious and the comic Opens in new window ] Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan said, 'We are all very proud that Straymaker , a small company from the west of Ireland led by Michael Gallen, has been awarded this honour. I want to sincerely congratulate all involved.' The director of the Arts Council , Maureen Kennelly, also congratulated Gallen and his collaborators. 'In recent years we have been honoured to support his work in many ways, and we are delighted that this award will bring an even wider audience to his ground-breaking work. Opera in Ireland is going through a very exciting period as exemplified by Michael's visionary work.' Gallen, who was born in Monaghan and now lives in Co Mayo with his wife and son, wrote the libretto for The Curing Line, which is in Irish and English, with the poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin . The opera is produced by Straymaker in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival , the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris, Miroirs Étendus, Once Off Productions and Copenhagen Opera Festival. Its development has been supported by the Arts Council and Creative Monaghan, and the premiere is planned for Kilkenny Arts Festival in August 2026. Gallen's other recent commissions include new work for Radio France, the National Orchestra of Brittany, the Irish National Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra. A new album of his songs, Sudden Wells, is due for release in 2026.
