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The Curing Line, Winner of the FEDORA Opera Prize 2025, Premieres in Kilkenny this August
FEDORA Prizes
Led by Straymaker, created by Michael Gallen and co-directed by Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, The Curing Line is a bold new opera that explores healing, cultural memory, inheritance and environmental change through a story rooted in Ireland’s ancient tradition of “making cures”. Blending opera, traditional music, electronic soundscapes and immersive storytelling, the work offers a distinctive artistic experience that reimagines the possibilities of contemporary opera.
The opera is preparing to meet audiences across Europe:
📍 Performance Dates
6–9 August 2026 – Kilkenny Arts Festival (Kilkenny, Ireland) Buy Tickets
26–27 September 2026 – Opéra national du Rhin – Cité de la Musique et de la Danse (CMD) (Strasbourg, France) Buy Tickets
27–28 November 2026 – Théâtre de la Ville (Paris, France) Buy Tickets
Through its unique fusion of tradition and experimentation, the project invites audiences to reflect on the relationship between heritage, community and the challenges of our time.
We warmly congratulate Straymaker, the artistic team and all the partners as well as supporters involved in bringing this visionary project to the stage, and we look forward to following its journey across Europe.
The FEDORA Prizes Biennale competition is funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission.
With the support of
Peering through the prism of Ireland’s indigenous traditions of “making cures”, The Curing Line considers whether, in thinking of the human and the environment as separate, we are failing to acknowledge that fundamental parts of ourselves and our culture are becoming extinct...
We congratulate “The Curing Line”, led by Straymaker on winning the FEDORA Opera Prize 2025!
Support sustainable innovation in opera and dance