The case of a woman who was accused of witchcraft in Co Cork and prosecuted at a sensational trial in 1661 forms the plot of a new opera by the acclaimed avant-garde composer, Raymond Deane.

Written for the party goers of the 1639 Venice Carnivale, Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses was said by one scholar to have enough sex, gore and elements of the supernatural to satisfy the most jaded Venetian palate.

Opera Collective Ireland’s staging of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Owen Wingrave’ will strike a chord with more than just music lovers, writes Cathy Desmond

Rachel Croash is a soprano from Dublin, and performs in Opera Collective Ireland’s new production Owen Wingrave.