This is the second in our series following a community arts project in Carlow which is an opera being crafted by conductor Fergus Sheil and written by the Belfast composer Brian Irvine in collaboration with the people of Carlow. Next May the opera will be staged in Carlow in one of Ireland's newest and most impressive new theatres - the George Bernard Shaw Theatre at Visual. The opera will feature the stories and voices of Carlow town and county. Community youth choir, Aspiro, will be one of the community groups taking part in the opera. Now we find out what the choir members and its director, Mary Amond O'Brien, think about this unique project.

An Opera for Carlow is a radio documentary series following a one-year community arts project in Carlow. Every month a new feature produced by Athena Media for RTE Lyric FM will update on the progress of the opera as conductor Fergus Sheil, composer Brian Irvine and librettist/director John McIlduff begin to write the opera and start rehearsing for its live performance in May 2011. The Athena Media team will also record the live performance. In this first feature we hear from conductor Fergus Sheil about what inspired the idea. Cynthia Deane, CEO of Carlow VEC, talks about the benefits of the project to the people of Carlow while composer Brian Irvine talks about why they were inspired by the idea of an opera in Carlow.