← All events
music · Friday 16 October 2026 · 3:00 PM 
The Rose of Castile by Michael William Balfe at Wexford Festival Opera
At National Opera House · High Street, Wexford, Co. Wexford, Y35 FEP3
At National Opera House · High Street, Wexford, Co. Wexford, Y35 FEP3
The Rose of Castile by the Dublin-born composer Michael William Balfe is one of two pocket operas in Wexford Festival Opera’s 75th anniversary programme, with seven performances at the National Opera House between 16 and 31 October. The plot follows Elvira, Queen of Leon, who disguises herself as a peasant to avoid a forced marriage to Don Sebastian. The muleteer she falls in with turns out to be the King of Castile, travelling in disguise himself. Balfe’s librettist adapted the story from an earlier work by Adolphe Adam, and this Wexford production is sung in English.
Pocket operas at Wexford are shorter, pared-back stagings scheduled in the mornings and afternoons around the mainstage productions, which makes them a practical way to see festival work without committing to a full evening. Balfe is the most performed Irish opera composer of the nineteenth century, best known for The Bohemian Girl, and The Rose of Castile sits in the same vein of tuneful, English-language melodrama. All seven performances were showing as sold out at the time of writing, so returns and box office cancellations are the route in.
The opera house is on High Street in the middle of Wexford town, a short climb from the quays. Approach on the N11 from Dublin and Gorey or the N25 from Rosslare Europort and New Ross. Wexford O’Hanrahan station on the Dublin Connolly to Rosslare Europort line is roughly ten minutes on foot. Morning performances are easier for parking than evening ones, with paid spaces on the quay front and in the town car parks.
Heading to National Opera House in Wexford? Wexford has plenty more to see. Read the Wexford area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.