Thomas Joseph Walsh (20 November 1911 – 8 November 1988) was an Irish doctor, writer, and founder and director of the Wexford Opera Festival.Boydell, B.: "Walsh, T(homas) J(oseph)", in New Grove Dictionary of Opera (London and New York: Macmillan, 1997).
Life Walsh was born in Wexford, Ireland, and graduated in medicine from University College Dublin in 1944. During his years in Dublin he took singing lessons from Adelio Viani at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 1972, he completed a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, the thesis becoming the basis for his 1973 book on Opera in Dublin.Barra Boydell: "Walsh, Thomas J.", in The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, ed. Harry White & Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p. 1042–3.
He became chairman and artistic director of the Wexford Festival in 1951Wexford Festival Opera. 62nd Festival 23 October – 3 November 2013, p. 5. and established its international recognition over 15 years while still working as an anaesthetist at Wexford County Hospital.Karina Daly (2004). Tom Walsh's Opera. A History of the Wexford Festival, 1951–2004 (Dublin: Four Courts Press). . Known locally as "Doctor Tom" he "inspired great affection, admiration, and, given his great learning, even a measure of awe".Obituary in Opera magazine, January 1989, p. 38.
Writings Walsh wrote several books relating to opera, covering 18th century Dublin, opera in Monte Carlo and the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris:
Opera in Old Dublin, 1819–1838 (Wexford: The Free Press, 1952) Opera in Dublin, 1705–1797: the Social Scene (Dublin: Allen Figgis, 1973) Monte Carlo Opera, 1879–1909 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1975). Second Empire Opera: The Théâtre Lyrique Paris 1851–1870 (London: John Calder & New York: Riverrun Press, 1981). Opera in Dublin, 1798–1820: Frederick Jones and the Crow Street Theatre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
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