Ballet and Opera Ireland is the artistic division of International Leisure and Arts. Our company have staged over ninety percent of all the international Ballet productions to visit Ireland over the last twenty years, and have recently embraced opera - our most recent presentation being TOSCA from The Mikhailovsky Opera of St Petersburg starring Ireland's star soprano Celine Byrne and accompanied by The RTE National Symphony Orchestra – a show that was greeted with much acclaim and standing ovations from the audiences and attended by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins and his charming wife Sabena.
We produced our first ballet in Ireland at 'The Point Theatre' in 1995 - The Nutcracker' by The Russian State Ballet. It was a great success and 'Christmas Ballet at The Point' established itself as an essential part of the Seasons' activities over the next ten years or so, featuring various international ballet companies. In March 2010 we produced the opening run for The Bord Gais Energy Theatre in the presence of Mary McAleese, then President of Ireland. Again the company was The Russian State Ballet and guest-starred Galina Stepanenko, Prima Ballerina of The Bolshoi Ballet partnering Alexander Volchkov, The Male Principal of The Bolshoi. Since the opening we have staged several successful Ballets and Operas at The Theatre.