Jerome Hynes

Jerome Hynes, Chief Executive of Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland, was born in Ballymote, County Sligo, on 30 September 1959. His family moved to Galway in 1965, and he later studied there for a teaching diploma. His first job was as administrator of Galway's Druid Theatre Company, from 1975.

He joined Wexford Festival Opera in 1987, and became the driving force behind the company's development. He was appointed Deputy Chairman to the Arts Council in 2003, and was a board member of Dublin's National Concert Hall and the West Cork Chamber Music Festival.

Jerome Hynes died suddenly on Sunday 18 September 2005, aged forty-five, whilst making an announcement on the stage of Wexford's Theatre Royal during a reception. Hynes' death came just a few weeks before the opening of the 2005 Festival on Thursday 20 October.

'Jerome was unique', stated Wexford's Chairman, Paul Hennessy. 'His commitment to Wexford Festival was absolute and total. He provided the organisation with exemplary leadership during the past eighteen years, and his contribution to Opera and the Arts in Ireland has been enormous.'

'We have lost a friend, a colleague, and a champion and we will miss him deeply, but our thoughts and prayers are foremost with his wife Alma, and his sons Conor, Feargal and Robbie and his family at this difficult time.'