According to the Irish Times, the building will retain its current fa‹ade, but will expand to about 2.5 times its current size. The 24-million-euro project will include the construction of a 750-seat auditorium with a motorized orchestra pit as well as a second 180-seat theater. Construction will begin in late 2005 or early 2006, and may force the festival to scale down or relocate temporarily.

The festival also said, on the closing night of its 2004 season, that CDs of the three operatic rarities it staged this year‹Saverio Mercadante's La vestale, Josef Bohuslav Foerster's Eva, and Walter Braunfels' Prinzessin Brambilla‹will be released on the Naxos Marco Polo label in September 2005.

The 2005 season runs from October 20 through November 6, and will feature Donizetti's Maria di Rohan, Faur_'s P_n_lope, and Carlisle Floyd's Susannah.