Trilogy festival difficulties resolved

THE difficulties between the organisers of next week’s multi-million euro Trilogy fashion, music and tennis festival and the charity set to benefit from the event, The Chernobyl Children’s Project, have been settled.

The event, which centres around the visit of the world’s top tennis players to Dublin, ran into difficulty in recent weeks with the collapse of the music event, leading to fears the charity would suffer financially.

However the managing director of Trilogy organisers Propriety Management, Sean Collins, said all is well with less than a week to go before the event begins.

He said: “The whole concept of The Trilogy was to bring the biggest stars in tennis, fashion and music to Dublin.

“We have done this with the tennis and fashion elements. When it became clear to us that the very top pop music act would not be available to come to Dublin at this time we decided, very reluctantly, to combine the fashion and music into one spectacular event.”

The Chernobyl’s Children’s Project has been told of this development, Mr Collins said. If there is any profit it will be shared with the charity in accordance with the formula agreed between it and the organisers.

“They are happy with the new arrangement,” Mr Collins said.

The Irish group Anuna, currently appearing in New York, are being flown to Dublin to present a Celtic Suite at the fashion show.

Lindsay Davenport, who is also taking part in the international fashion show which begins The Trilogy, will be the first to arrive on Monday.

Monica Seles, Eva Mojoli and Barbara Schett arrive on Tuesday. Anna Kournikova will be in Dublin early on Wednesday morning with the Williams sisters and Jennifer Capriati arriving the following day.

Six of the 10 tennis players playing in the Trilogy event will be participating in the Trilogy Fashion Show.

In addition to Kournikova and Barabara Schett, they include Jelena Dokic, Daniella Hantuchova, Iva Majoli, and Lindsay Davenport.

Schett is certainly excited by the prospect: “It’s the first time to be on the catwalk and I’m very excited. It’s going to be fun!”

Venus Williams is also keen on her first visit to Ireland.

She said: “I’ve never been to Ireland before and I’ve never been involved with an event like this before incorporating fashion, music and tennis.

“It’s gonna be very different and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Lindsay Davenport agreed: “It’s going to be a tremendous event incorporating fashion and music, and tennis.”

The international fashion extravaganza launches The Trilogy at the RDS on Wednesday, December 4. Doors open at 7pm and the fashion show starts at 8.30pm.

This will be followed by the Europe v USA tennis event on December 5-7. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster on www.ticketmaster.ie and on 1890 925 100. Prices range from €50 to €100.