For more than 60 years, hundreds of thousands of people have made a pilgrimage to Wexford Festival Opera in search of buried operatic treasure. In 2013 many more opera lovers will travel to the charming seaside town of Wexford to attend this Gathering event. Since 1951 Wexford has hosted what has become known as one of the world’s most remarkable festivals. Wexford Festival Opera prides itself in giving new life to unjustly neglected operas, introducing artists and audiences to the forgotten masterpieces. It achieves this through high quality productions which annually delight critics and audiences alike. The festival will include three major productions and a packed programme of morning events, lunchtime concerts, afternoon short works and recitals, and late night revues. As if this wasn’t enough, a vibrant fringe festival will offer everything from art exhibitions to singing and swinging pubs. Throughout all this, there is the remarkable camaraderie engendered by the warmth and intimacy of Wexford Town itself. There’s something in the air that quickens everyone’s pulse at the Wexford Festival Opera, a common community heartbeat of expansive good feeling and heightened sensibility that brings people back to Wexford again and again.