Bloomsday Festival 2024

15 June 2024 at 6:30pm

“Smareglia (who lives beside me) is held by many to be the most original of the living Italian musicians.” James Joyce, 1911

The James Joyce Centre was pleased to host James Joyce and Antonio Smargelia, a special Bloomsday Festival concert event that illustrates the connection between James Joyce, Antonio Smareglia, Trieste, and Pula, on June 15th at 7pm. The concert features performances of music excerpts from operas by Smareglia, the Italian-Croatian composer who was a friend and neighbour of Joyce while they both lived in Trieste.

Maltese pianist Charlene Farrugia-Božac and Croatian soprano Sofija Cingula will bring to life some of the music from operas that Joyce would have heard and admired at the time, from Smareglia’s student work Caccia lontana and Nozze Istriane (which Joyce heard in Trieste in 1908) to fragments from Oceana, Smareglia’s most novel work of music theatre known as teatro di poesia.

The event will include presentations by Croatian scholar Dr. Vito Paoletić (University of Pula) about Joyce’s time in Pula, as well as the city’s links to and celebrations of Bloomsday. Introduction about the musician Antonio Smareglia and his connection to James Joyce will be given by Dr. Juliana Licinic van Walstijn (Queen’s University Belfast), President of the Association Smaregliana.

The concert will be followed by a wine reception provided generously by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Dublin.

The concert is presented by Association Smaregliana in cooperation with the University of Pula and the James Joyce Centre and sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Dublin.

The Bloomsday Festival is organised by the James Joyce Centre in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Fáilte Ireland, and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.