About Cork Opera House

There has been a theatre on the present site of the Cork Opera House since 1855. The original structure was designed by Sir John Benson and had been constructed as a Fine Arts Hall for the National Exhibition for Ireland in 1852 before being relocated stone by stone to the site of the old Custom Building in Nelson Square. First named the Athenaeum, then the Munster Hall and, finally, the Opera House, it stood for one hundred years until it was destroyed in a fire in 1955.

Following a ten year fund-raising campaign, a modern 1,000 seat Opera House was designed by Scott Tallon Walker and rebuilt on the same site in the renamed Emmet Place. In 1993 the present Board of Directors ran an architectural Concept Competition under the auspices of the R.I.A.I. which awarded the prize to Murray O'Laoire Associates for an entry which the judges described as "a vision of the building which takes the architecture of Cork City into the 21st century".

In the intervening seven years, the company has sought to realise the original vision of the building in spending approximately £6.2m on developing the Half Moon Theatre and addressing the east and north elevations of the building. Major work has also been achieved in the area of health and safety by overhauling the mechanical and electrical systems of the building in line with legislation introduced since its opening in 1965.

Mission Statement:

Cork Opera House seeks to serve its city and surrounding region as a municipal theatre, offering its audiences a world class programme of events across all disciplines in the performing arts.

How big is Cork Opera House?

The Cork Opera House is the only purpose built opera house in the country, it includes:

• 1,000 seat auditorium and an orchestra pit that can hold 70 musicians
• One of the largest stages in Ireland measuring 12 x 10 meters with over 235 lights on the stage and an 60 foot fly tower, which accommodates up to 28 scenes changes in a performance
• The  first  Martin Line Array  with inverted 5.1 surround sound system and first to use digital sound desks in Ireland.
• The Half Moon Theatre, a flexible studio space located to the rear of the main theatre, fosters a more experimental range of interdisciplinary projects, mixing drama with music and comedy

Who Owns Cork Opera House?

Cork Opera House is a non-profit plc with charitable status. Cork City Council is the largest shareholder having acquired the controlling block of shares from the now dissolved Cork Theatre Trust which along with many private shareholders originally rebuilt the Cork Opera House from the ashes of the fire of 1955 which destroyed the original Opera House established on the same site in 1855.

Who Runs Cork Opera House?

It is run by an Executive Director and management team who report to a board of 13 non-executive directors. On average a staff of 32 permanent and 45 temporary are employed at Cork Opera House. Last year Cork Opera House contributed €387k back to the exchequer and paid €166k in royalties and performing rights back to copyrighted artists.

Who supports Cork Opera House?

• Our patrons - last year 187,996 people attended 451 performances of 114 events, involving 34 actors, 76 arts professionals, 29 Promoters, and 48 Visiting Companies.
• Annual revenue grants are received from the Arts Council (€180k) and Cork City Council (€65k). These Revenue grants represent 5% of our turnover and are used to fund artistic productions where commercial risk is high.
• In-house fundraising represents over 6% of annual turnover.
  
• Cork Opera House has received €2.393million in capital grant funding to complete the 2008 / 2009 refurbishment and other essential works: €1.5million from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism and €893k from Cork City Council.
• In the 12 months ended March 2009 we succeeded in raising an additional €158k to contribute towards the cost of refurbishment.

Restoration Levy

Cork Opera House is the premiere performing arts venue in southern Ireland. But our building is now forty-three-years old, and the time has come to carry out urgent restoration and repair work in order to maintain that position. In September 2008 a €1 restoration levy was included in the price of every ticket.

Funds raised by the levy will be used to continue our capital programme of restoration and essential health and safety work. For more Information on Capital Programme click here.

We hope our patrons will understand and support the levy which will help us to provide a safe and comfortable theatre experience for you, and for generations to come.

Thank you.

Capital Programme 2008/09

In 2007, Cork Opera House received €2.12million funding to complete essential works: €1.5million from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism and €615,000 from Cork City Council. We are faced with the challenge of raising an additional €400k (in addition to the €400k raised per year in previous years), to contribute towards the capital fund. We hope to achieve this through two means: our Sponsor-A-Seat campaign and the Restoration Levy.

The capital programme will be split into two phases, the first starting in August 2008 and the second in May 2009. Both will last approximately six weeks. The priority this year is to repair leaks and relay felt on the roof; replace electrical, lighting and air-handling systems that haven’t been touched since Cork Opera House was constructed in 1965; and install a fall arrest system to ensure the safety of our technical staff as they work on lights and sets high above the auditorium. This work is expensive, unglamorous, and largely out-of-sight but we hope our patrons will appreciate improved ventilation and lighting upon its completion.

In the spring of 2009, we will move on to the second phase, the auditorium and cosmetic works. The entire auditorium will have new seating installed. We will reorganize sightlines, re-carpet floors and repair the ceiling. Also, the front of house areas will receive fresh paint and new floors and carpets.

We would sincerely like to thank the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism, Cork City Council and our patrons for allowing us the opportunity to restore Cork Opera House, and we hope that you will enjoy the benefits or theirs and your contributions.

Who Produces the Shows?

Cork Opera House provides balanced popular entertainment with an emphasis on education and outreach activities. A high variety of genres of activity such as opera, drama, dance, concerts, musicals and family productions are received. In addition to that Cork Opera House has a long history of producing and co-producing quality productions across all genres. In the past 8 years Cork Opera House has produced and co-produced 33 new productions which have toured to 38 venues in 22 different counties.

Cork Opera House had produced many of its own shows in-house including:

2010 The Good Sisters West Side Story HONK!
2008 Romeo & Juliet Merchant of Venice The Nina In Me Sleeping Beauty Michael Collins	2009 Michael Collins (Tour) Jack and the Beanstalk
2007 Cinderella The Sunbeam Girls The Good Sisters Othello	2006 Frozen Aladdin Lifeboat
2005 Second City Trilogy Hansel and Gretal Oliver Babes in the Wood King Lear	2004 Man of La Mancha The Sound of Music Hamlet The Pied Piper
2003 Jesus Christ Superstar The Merchant of Venice Beauty and the Beast	2002 Romeo & Juliet Jack and the Beanstalk
2001 Wizard of Oz Sleeping Beauty Romeo & Juliet	2000 Cinderella

Cork Opera House has also enjoyed partnerships with many producing partners, co-producing successful productions such as:

2010
The Magic Flute - Opera 2005 (Tour)


2009
Candide - Cork Operatic Society
The Lonesome West - Town Hall Theatre, Galway
The Nutcracker - Cork City Ballet

2008
Juno and the Paycock – The Association of Regional Theatres (NI)
Sleeping Beauty - Cork City Ballet

2007
Ballet Spectacular - Cork City Ballet
Giselle - Cork City Ballet
Father Matthew – Yew Tree Theatre Company
The King & I – GoldenBoy Productions, The Helix, Millennium Forum
Orpheus – Cork Opera Works
Playboy of the Western World – Yew Tree Theatre Company

2006
The Lieutenant of Inishmore – Town Hall Theatre, Galway
Ballet Spectacular - Cork City Ballet
Shakers – Mercury Theatre

2005
Ballet Spectacular - Cork City Ballet
The Nutcracker - Cork City Ballet
24 Songs - Cork Opera Works

2004
Mrs Warren’s Profession – Yew Tree Theatre Company
Ballet Spectacular - Cork City Ballet
Romeo & Juliet – Blood in the Alley Theatre Company
Rashamon – Storytellers Theatre Company

2003
Playboy of the Western World – Yew Tree Theatre Company
Ballet Spectacular - Cork City Ballet
Charlie – Yew Tree Theatre Company
Antigone – Storytellers Theatre Company

2002
Ballet Spectacular - Cork City Ballet
The Nutcracker - Cork City Ballet
Women In Arms – Storytellers Theatre Company
Dancing at Lughnasa – An Grianán Theatre