Applegreen supports Wexford Festival Opera’s Pocket Opera Programme in three-year partnership 

Building community through accessible and inclusive live performance

Wexford Festival Opera has announced a new corporate partnership with Applegreen a collaboration that will see the Irish roadside hospitality company become the Official Sponsor of the Festival’s popular Pocket Opera Programme.

The partnership aligns closely with Applegreen’s commitment to community wellbeing and positive social impact by creating opportunities for more people to experience the benefits of live performance.

This year Wexford Festival Opera celebrates its 75th Anniversary with a programme of world-class performances that will burst out onto the stage and into the streets of Wexford from 15 – 31 October.

One of the Festival’s most beloved and inclusive initiatives, Pocket Operas are hour-long productions of crowd-pleasing titles, with tickets priced at €30 and performances scheduled between 11:00am and 3:00pm, offering an affordable and welcoming introduction to opera for audiences of all ages. This year’s Pocket Operas are Michael William Balfe’s The Rose of Castile — a remounting of Wexford Festival Opera’s first-ever production in 1951 — and Charles Villiers Stanford’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Applegreen’s support will help Wexford Festival Opera grow new audiences, champion emerging talent, and make world-class opera more accessible to all. Live music has a proven positive impact on mental health, helping to reduce stress, build connection and foster a sense of belonging. Working alongside Applegreen and other community partners, the Festival will invite young people and community groups to attend Pocket Opera performances, supporting a strengthened community, inclusion and positive social impact for people across the region.

Applegreen Executive Chairman, Bob Etchingham said:

“Applegreen is delighted to become an Official Sponsor of Wexford Opera Festival’s Pocket Opera Programme. This is a really appropriate partnership for us, as Pocket Opera brings opera out into the wider community, while Applegreen is at the heart of communities across Ireland. It also compliments some of Applegreen’s existing partnerships, as our charitable activities are currently focussed on positive mental health and wellbeing and supporting young people with their mental health. Music can play such a positive role in people’s lives and Pocket Opera brings music into the wider public domain.”

Suzanne Nance, Executive Director of Wexford Festival Opera said: 

“We are delighted to welcome Applegreen as Official Sponsor of our Pocket Operas during Wexford Festival Opera’s milestone 75th anniversary year. Building community and making this extraordinary art form accessible to everyone is at the heart of the Festival, and our Pocket Operas offer a wonderful way to introduce new audiences to the joy of opera. We are thrilled to have a partner in Applegreen who shares our belief in the power of live performance to bring people together, and we are enormously grateful for their support as we celebrate 75 years and look to the future.” 

Applegreen is one of Ireland’s leading retail brands. It opened its first site in Dublin in 1992 and now operates more than 435 locations and more than 700 branded food outlets across its businesses in Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Applegreen operates almost 200 locations in Ireland, including motorway service areas, and forecourts, while in the UK, Applegreen’s Welcome Break business operates 62 sites – including 36 motorway service areas – and 31 hotels. It has 181 sites in the United States. It also has its own EV charging subsidiary Applegreen Fast Charge, which operates in Ireland, the United States and the UK.

Applegreen currently employs about 16,900 people and it has further plans for growth in all of its major markets as part of a €1 billion expansion programme. Applegreen’s expansion plans are focused on acquiring and developing new sites in the markets in which it already operates, as well as upgrading and rebranding its existing locations.

The 75th Wexford Festival Opera runs from 15 – 31 October 2026. Tickets are now on sale wexfordopera.com