Opera
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New Scottish Opera production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman
18 Mar 2013
Opera relocated to Wagner's origianllocation of Scotland’s North East
If he hadn’t had such a keen eye for nifty marketing, Richard Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman could have put Scotland as firmly on the geographic opera map as Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Both operas date from 1839, a time when Gothic…
Programme for the Edinburgh International Festival 2013 puts artists and technology centre-stage
12 Mar 2013
Tod Machover, the Wooster Group and Oper Frankfurt among the EIF programme highlights
A crowd sourced orchestral work by boundary breaker Tod Machover is just one of the many highlights of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival programme. Set over three weeks this August, the EIF’s line-up includes an homage to Allen Ginsberg with…
Profile: Scottish Opera - Scotland’s national opera company
7 Nov 2012
Facts and statistics on Scottish Opera as it celebrates its 50th anniversary
Founded in 1962 by Sir Alexander Gibson, Scotland’s national opera company celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2012/13. Not without its dramas off-stage as well as on-stage over the years, Scottish Opera is one of five national performing companies that…
Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde: Act I - Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 30 Sep
17 Oct 2012
The SSO bring intense depth and exquisite insight to Wagner’s tremendous score
Kicking off their 2012/13 season with an all-star concert performance of the first act of one of the world’s most celebrated operas, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra once again proved themselves to be amongst the UK’s leading orchestras. Featuring…
Theatre, dance and opera highlights in Scotland for autumn & winter 2012
31 Aug 2012
2012 and 2013 programmes from Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera and National Theatre of Scotland
The National Theatre of Scotland is nowhere and everywhere. Envisioned as an institution with no bricks and mortar headquarters, the NTS has used its resources to support playwrights and performers and to work with a wide range of collaborators to bring…
Zoe Strachan on The Lady from the Sea - interview
22 Aug 2012
The playwright is collaborating with Craig Armstrong on the production for Scottish Opera
Five years ago, Scottish Opera embarked on a brave new venture called Five:15. The plan was to put together contemporary Scottish writers and composers and commission them to come up with five new 15 minute long operas. Altogether, 15 short operas were…
Glasgow's Theatre Royal to get £11.5m refit
8 Aug 2012
The building, owned by Scottish Opera, is to be opened up as 'a social hub'
Glasgow’s Theatre Royal will receive a £11.5m refit in a bid to transform the historic theatre space into a world-class venue. The redevelopment of the 19th century building includes plans for a new entrance, foyer and roof garden, as well as new bars…
Opera North bring The Makropulos Case to 2012 Edinburgh International Festival
11 Jul 2012
Janáček opera features soprano Ylva Kihlberg and Tom Cairns
As Opera North prepare to bring us a new version of The Makropulos Case, Kate Molleson recalls the history of a tale whose central character is either a nihilistic vixen or feminist icon
Twenty top shows at the 2012 Edinburgh Festivals
11 Jul 2012
Highlights from the Fringe, Book and International Festivals
Having scanned the 23.6m shows, exhibitions and events across the festival in late July, August and early September, we pluck out the ones that simply cannot be missed
Scottish Opera celebrates 50th anniversary
25 May 2012
Five facts about the company
Over its 50 years of existence, Scottish Opera has staged 223 new productions. Their furthest flung performance took place in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1970 – a four-night run of The Turn of the Screw directed by Anthony Besch. Among the famous faces who…
Scottish Opera revive Besch's celebrated Tosca adaptation
25 Apr 2012
The new production stars Susannah Glanville and José Ferrero
Described as a ‘shabby little shocker’ by one of America’s leading musicologists, Puccini’s Tosca has been a success with audiences the world over since its premiere in Rome in 1900. From the countless productions of it, one which has had particularly…
Edinburgh International Festival 2012 programme launched
14 Mar 2012
Highlights include Mariinsky Ballet, TEAM and Camille O'Sullivan
The Edinburgh International Festival has unveiled its extensive 2012 programme. With nearly 200 different performances to choose from, we’ve selected some dance, opera, classical music and theatre highlights you won't want to miss. NVA's Speed of…
Hansel and Gretel
27 Jan 2012
RSNO and Scottish Opera in new translation of opera
Irish soprano Ailish Tynan is proving a hit with Scottish audiences. After joining the RSNO for a highly successful Viennese New Year, she’s now back to Glasgow and Edinburgh to work with Scottish Opera, taking the role of Gretel in their brand new…
Pass the Spoon
21 Nov 2011
Shrigley's food-based opera aims for pure entertainment and succeeds
The most David Shrigley has claimed of Pass the Spoon is that it's meant to be entertaining. It’s mock-modesty, but in Shrigley & Co's defence, they've succeeded. The plot, for there is one, is like a mash-up of Ready Steady Cook and Terry & June…
Pass the Spoon: The cast of characters in David Shrigley's opera
28 Oct 2011
The artist on collaborating on the musical extravaganza
Pass the Spoon came about because I was invited to make a project with (composer) David Fennessy and (director) Nick Bone. They wanted to collaborate with someone who would write an opera libretto. I’ve never been to an opera but I was interested…
Writing an opera - Five creative types who have written a opera
21 Oct 2011
Stewart Lee, Damon Albarn, Armando Iannucci, Paul McCartney
Stewart Lee The ‘comedian’s comedian’ took some time out a decade back to dash off Jerry Springer: The Opera, a paean to the trashy US talk show host and his disciples. The show’s eye-wateringly profane libretto, depictions of Biblical figures…
Scottish Opera take new work on tour
24 Aug 2011
Triple bill of satire and Greek mythology
Scottish Opera goers are spoiled for choice in early September as the company puts on no less than three different productions in the space of just over a week with one of them, Orpheus in the Underworld, then heading off on tour all around Scotland.
Turandot
11 Aug 2011
A radical completion of Puccini's unfinished opera
The familiar tune of Nessun Dorma, from Puccini’s unfinished opera Turandot, is played at volume on a Hammond organ, as two men (one representing a hybrid of Puccini and his fictional prince, Kalaf, the other, an androgynous figure, who is, at times…
Ten Plagues
11 Aug 2011
Intense, moving Marc Almond-starring plague musical strikes a chord
A one-man musical based on eyewitness accounts of the London Plague of 1665 starring Marc Almond sounds on paper like the kind of parody you’d find on the website fakefringe.com. Indeed, the 80s pop icon seems nervous as he takes to the stage in black…
Qing Cheng
21 Jul 2011
Epic, millenium-spanning Chinese love story part of the China Fringe Festival
A night at the opera takes on a whole new meaning with Qing Cheng, an elaborate yet moving Chinese musical making its European debut at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall as part of the China Fringe Festival. Top billing in a week of cutting-edge entertainment from…
Opera Die Frau Ohne Schatten set for 2011 Edinburgh International Festival
7 Jul 2011
Russia's Mariinsky Theatre and Jonathan Kent bring Strauss opera to EIF
To say Jonathan Kent's EIF opus is 'a bit' epic is like saying Edinburgh gets 'a bit' busy in August. This summer the Brit director joins forces with Russia's Mariinsky to stage the little-seen Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow). A cast…
Theatre, music and dance highlights from the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival
7 Jul 2011
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Semiramide and King Lear among picks
The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) has been a benchmark for quality and innovation in the performing arts since its inauguration nearly 65 years ago. This year artistic director Jonathan Mills builds his programme around the multi-faceted…
Music highlights from the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival
7 Jul 2011
Melvyn Tan and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra among picks
Melvyn Tan. The Queen's Hall morning concerts can usually be relied on for a few Festival surprises. Hearing perfectly formed piano music by 18th century Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti alongside Sonatas and Interludes by 20th century American John…
Seven Angels opera tackles Paradise Lost
29 Jun 2011
Composer Luke Bedford uses Milton’s epic to explore envorinmental themes
According to Wikipedia, there are over ten thousand individual lines of verse in Milton’s Paradise Lost. That’s a bit much for an opera. So, for his new Seven Angels, leading young British composer Luke Bedford uses Milton’s epic as the starting point…
Edinburgh International Festival 2011 IN festival membership scheme
24 May 2011
EIF and The List deal for half-price tickets, events and freebies
Edinburgh International Festival - in association with The List magazine - are offering members of an innovative and exclusive membership scheme a whole host of half-price tickets, event passes and freebies for the 2011 Festival season. Membership to…
