Scottish Opera

Hansel and Gretel

RSNO and Scottish Opera in new translation of opera

27 Jan 2012

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 - How David Shrigley's opera took shape

Nicholas Bone on collaborating with David Shrigley and David Fennessy

21 Oct 2011

Last Monday morning I found myself standing in a rehearsal room welcoming a company that included an opera singer, four actors, a puppeteer, a composer, a visual artist and a pianist, to the first day of rehearsals for a project that began with a…

Scottish Opera take new work on tour

Triple bill of satire and Greek mythology

24 Aug 2011

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.

Philip Pullman's Clockwork adapted by Visible Fictions and Scottish Opera

Fairytale novel set for stage adaptation and Scottish tour

24 Mar 2011

When Visible Fictions’ and Scottish Opera’s re-working of Clockwork opens this month, it will be the fifth stage adaptation of the book in seven years. Philip Pullman’s fairytale novel, known for its complex story within a story, clearly lights a flame…

Scottish Opera: Orlando - Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Wed 16 Feb

Tim Mead, Sally Silver and Claire Booth star in Harry Fehr's WWII adaptation of Handel's opera

3 Mar 2011

In setting Handel’s Orlando in a 1940s London hospital, young director Harry Fehr has been completely ingenious. Taken from Orlando Furioso, the Italian Renaissance epic which inspired three Handel operas, the tale is of Orlando, the great soldier of…

Citizens Theatre and Scottish Opera present double bill of family opera

Opera for children explores tricks and tools to delay going to bed

16 Feb 2011

Bedtime: bliss for adults, torture for kids – making it the ideal subject for a family opera. Written by Jehane Markham, with music by Orlando Gough, On the Rim of the World follows a family as they wind down at the end of the day, climb into bed and…

Scottish Opera and the RSAMD stage production of The Cunning Little Vixen

Janácek’s opera filled with perpetual themes of life, death and love

14 Jan 2011

Building on collaborative achievements of the past few years, Scottish Opera and the RSAMD now turn to Janácek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen. Set in a forest, its characters are both animal and human. Inspired by a comic strip from a newspaper, it’s…

Infant Opera BabyO is 30 minutes of melody, rhythm and harmony

Scottish Opera’s latest project is aimed at babies aged just 6-18 months

3 Nov 2010

INFANT OPERA BABYO You’re never too young to enjoy a six-part harmony. That’s the theory behind Scottish Opera’s latest project, BabyO. Performed by three operatic singers, a bass, soprano and mezzo soprano, the show is aimed at babies aged just…

Philip Glass' opera In the Penal Colony tours UK

Disturbing chamber opera adaptation of Kafka

2 Nov 2010

In its second year of celebrating the best in contemporary music and dance as the seasons change, the Traverse Theatre welcomes a return joint visit from Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera to open the 2010 Autumn Festival. With a new production of…

Professional costume designer's one-hour witch costume

29 Oct 2010

Not everyone has access to a warehouse full of theatrical costumes. So, to give some good advice to those of us battling with bin bags and plastic bottles to make our outfits we’ve enlisted Denis Boyar from the Russian Cultural Centre at Glasgow’s…

Scottish Opera: The Marriage of Figaro

Sir Thomas Allen moves from performing to directing

26 Oct 2010

Poacher turned gamekeeper isn’t overly common in the world of opera, but one internationally famous singer who has successfully moved from performing to directing is Sir Thomas Allen. Bringing the same team who produced a hugely enjoyable Barber of…

Club Noir and Scottish Opera collaborate on A Night At The Opera

Burlesque night prepare for unlikely pairing

5 Aug 2010

Henry Northmore talks to the burlesque night as they prepare for one of this festival’s most unlikely collaborations

Five:15 in twenty:10

14 May 2010

The state of the economy is never far from the headlines these days, but as an opera subject it is somewhat unexpected. Not so in Scottish Opera’s latest batch of five short new operas. For the third year of the company’s bold commissioning strand…

La Bohème

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Sat 27 Feb 2010

15 Apr 2010

Two completely contrasting operas are on offer from Scottish Opera in the company’s spring foray to Edinburgh this year. Not that Edinburgh audiences are unfamiliar with Stewart Laing’s production of Puccini’s La bohème. First seen back in 2004, Laing’s…

RSAMD – War and Peace

15 Jan 2010

In what must be their most ambitious opera project ever, the RSAMD present the premiere of the original version of Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace. Based on Tolstoy’s epic novel of the same name, the version of the opera which will be seen in Glasgow…

2010 preview: Great expectations

7 Jan 2010

Favourite things are ending, exciting things are beginning and old things are coming back. 2010 is already shaping up to be a thrilling year and here are the 30 good reasons why we can’t wait

The Hot 100 2009

18 Dec 2009

Compiled by List staff through a painstaking process of review and debate, the Hot 100 is the comprehensive list of Scottish creative talent, covering both individuals and organisations who’ve made a standout contribution to culture in 2009. This year’s…

Scottish Opera –The Elixir of Love,

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Sat 24 Oct

4 Nov 2009

Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love is a feel-good opera with a lighthearted tale of true love triumphing against the silliness of the odds that come its way. With its predictable ‘all’s well that ends well’ outcome, Scottish Opera’s revival of Giles…

Scottish Opera: Italian Girl in Algiers

She takes a trip to Scotland too this autumn

2 Oct 2009

Sun-kissed blondes in bikinis aren’t the usual types found on the world’s operatic stage. Especially bouncing up and down on a spacehopper. Scottish Opera’s new co-production with New Zealand Opera of Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers is a bit…

Classical hitlist

3 Sep 2009

RSNO: Hollywood Classics Bringing a busy summer season to its close, the RSNO and their conductor David Danzmayr present a popular mix of music from the movies. Lawrence of Arabia, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars are all there in radiant…

News in Brief

9 Jul 2009

Scottish opera, in collaboration with the RSAMD, is piloting a new programme to help graduate singers launch their careers. The Emerging Artists programme will offer graduates a wide range of opportunities over the year to help them at the start of…

Scottish Opera: Cosi Fan Tutti

11 Jun 2009

OPERA For their keenly anticipated summer week in Edinburgh, Scottish Opera bring a choice of two operas – Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Jules Massenet’s Manon. Neither will disappoint. Both have been deservedly well received by public and press from…

Auntie Janet Saves The Planet

11 Jun 2009

Despite perceptions, young audiences can often be the toughest to entertain. But they’re also one of the most open, as writer Mark Robertson is gleefully aware. ‘It’s very liberating,’ he says. ‘Because there’s stuff you can do that you just wouldn’t…

Scottish Opera: Manon

14 May 2009

All singing, all dancing might be a phrase originally applied to musicals, but it’s a description that well fits Scottish Opera’s new production of Manon. A chorus of 40, orchestra of 60-plus, fully choreographed ballet scenes and at least eight…

Storm Thorgerson

30 Apr 2009

Born in 1944, Storm Thorgerson’s childhood would not have been thought unusual were it not that he went to school with Roger Waters and Syd Barrett. ‘Roger and I had two connections, one of which was through our mothers, who happened to be pals, and…