Music

Dick O’Riordan: INO’s first youth opera talks to the animals

The world premiere of Horse Ape Bird, the INO’s first ever youth opera, will be performed this week at Solstice Arts Centre in Navan and St Patrick’s College in Maynooth

Horse Ape Bird, the INO’s first ever youth opera, incorporates three separate stories about scientists adopting animals and treating them like humans

It’s hard to keep up with the Irish National Opera these days. As well as touring the country with its wonderful opera Maria Stuarda (see below), it’s preparing a new production of Puccini’s Tosca for next month – that “shabby little shocker” (as the American critic Joseph Kerman dubbed it) we all love so well. It has also recently announced a year-long eclectic schedule of 60 events, both at home and abroad.

So why is ...