Fergus Sheil (Artistic Director)

Fergus Sheil is Artistic Director of Opera Theatre Company and Wide Open Opera. He has produced many opera, choral and orchestral events, large and small, throughout Ireland and internationally.
Fergus worked for Opera Theatre Company as conductor for The Lighthouse (1998 & 2001), La cenerentola (2003) and The Marriage of Figaro (2010) before becoming Artistic Director of the company in 2013. Since then he has also conducted The Elixir of Love (2014), Rigoletto (2015) and Don Giovanni (2016) in addition to his artistic oversight of all of the company’s productions.
With Wide Open Opera Fergus has conducted Tristan und Isolde (2012), Raymond Deane’s The Alma Fetish (2013), Nixon in China (2014), Brian Irvine’s Things We Throw Away and The Barber of Seville (2016) as well as working on co-productions of major new works such as Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest (with NI Opera) and Donnacha Dennehy’s The Last Hotel (with Landmark Productions).
Fergus has previously worked for Opera Ireland, Wexford Festival Opera, NI Opera, Lyric Opera Productions, Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera. For Carlow Local Authorities, he produced the opera Shelter Me From the Rain by Brian Irvine (music) and John McIlduff (text) in 2011, the first local authority commissioned opera in Ireland.
Fergus has taken the RTÉ NSO on tour in Ireland with major repertoire such as Beethoven Symphony No 9 (Choral), Mahler Symphony No 2 (Resurrection). He has also involved the orchestra in community and youth initiatives such as Rain Falling Up (2012) and Bluebottle (2014) by Brian Irvine (music), John McIlduff (text) and Matthew Robins (visuals). Fergus has also conducted the Ulster Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and many others. As well as performances at home, Fergus has conducted in USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, UK, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Portugal.