Irish National Opera unveils Carmen, Turandot, and new Colm Tóibín adaptation for 2026-27

Irish National Opera (INO) has unveiled its programme for the 2026–27 season.

The lineup includes large-scale productions of Carmen, Turandot and Eugene Onegin, alongside an international tour of Les Boréades.

Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s Turandot will be shown at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, featuring creative teams by directors Paul Curran (Carmen) and David McVicar (Turandot), as well as Irish vocal talent like Niamh O’Sullivan (Carmen), sopranos Sinéad Campbell Wallace (title role in Turandot), and Celine Byrne (Liù in Turandot).

Turandot also features the rarely-performed first version of the ending completed by Puccini’s associate Franco Alfano.

“I’m particularly looking forward to Korean tenor Young Woo Kim’s ‘Nessun Dorma’,” said INO’s Artistic Director Fergus Sheil. “Young Woo comes to us from major success with the role in Sydney. He studied with Veronica Dunne in Dublin about ten years ago where I first met him, and his career has turbo-charged to great heights since then.”

The 2026-27 season sees the world premiere of Testament, by British/American composer Tarik O’Regan and Irish author Colm Tóibín. Adapted from Tóibín’s novella The Testament of Mary, the opera will be brought to the Galway International Arts Festival in July and the Dublin theatre festival in October next year.

In May 2027, the Gaiety Theatre, Cork Opera House, and National Opera House Wexford will host the INO’s first Tchaikovsky opera Eugene Onegin, featuring soprano Jennifer Davis as the role of Tatyana, who falls helplessly in love with the title character Eugene Onegin sung by American baritone Sean Michael Plumb.

Elsewhere, a chamber version of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, featuring soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh and tenor Egor Zhuravskii, visits ten smaller venues throughout the country.

Next February will see the INO’s fourth collaboration with the Linbury Theatre, as Rameau’s Les Boréades tours Ireland before an 8-performance residency in London, the first Rameau opera ever staged at London’s Royal Opera House.

“I’m particularly proud of the range and breadth of our opera productions,” said Sheil. “We have monumentally large productions as well as chamber stagings. Our repertoire is both tragic and comic, serious and joyful, historic and contemporary. Each experience is a voyage of discovery for artists and audiences. By the end of 2026, with nine years on the clock, Irish National Opera will have presented fully staged opera in every county throughout the country."

As the 2026–27 season approaches, Irish National Opera's current run will draw to a close with a production of Bellini's Norma, with shows taking place in Dublin, Wexford, and Cork, from May 24 - June 6.

• For more information on the events taking place across during INO's 2026-27 season, visit irishnationalopera.ie.