OPERA, MUSIC, THEATRE & THE ARTS | SCOTLAND
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Scottish Opera have a sure-fire hit on their hands with their revival of a production of Mozart’s Magic Flute that was last seen in 2012. Here’s the short version – the set looks glorious, the singing is magnificent, there’s every theatrical trick in the book and the whole thing is laugh-out-loud funny. Much has been…
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Scottish Opera Theatre Royal – 12 March 2019 Reviewer: Kelvin Holdsworth *** – three stars As soon as the curtain goes up on Scottish Opera’s new production of Katya Kabanova is it obvious that director Stephen Lawless has a big vision to share. The stage is dominated by rusty iron girders forming a bridge over…
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SCOTTISH Opera’s latest trip to Puccini’s bohemian garret has a lot going for it. It is colourful, busy, and vibrant though at times just a little perplexing. The music is gorgeous of course but it sometimes seemed as though the singing was quite a long way down director Renaud Doucet’s list of things to pay…
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Do we make history or does it make us? Scottish Opera’s co-production of Nixon in China is a timely and intelligent piece that asks questions about things that many in the audience will remember yet provides no easy answers. This is not a simple morality tale, nor a love story, nor a tragedy. It is…
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If the fascists came to power, how far would you go to stand up to them? Would you save a prisoner on the run? Would you betray a friend? Would you be prepared to die for love? Scottish Opera’s endlessly revived production of Tosca asks all these questions and more. Thirty nine years ago, almost…
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It is a joy that Scottish Opera have once again commissioned a significant new work and included it in their main stage programme and it is unsurprising that they have turned once again to librettist Louise Welsh and composer Stuart MacRae. Their last collaboration The Devil Inside was a brilliant hit in 2016. This production…
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Scottish Opera has chosen to begin its season of main stage operas this year with a revival – the production of Director Matthew Richardson’s Rigoletto which was first seen in 2011. If anything the passage of time makes both the opera itself and this particular production all the more relevant. This is a piece that…
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Paisley Opera House (aka a tent on Seedhill Playing Fields in Paisley) Scottish Opera’s summer show in Paisley is a completely immersive bundle of fun that manages to be innovative and hugely entertaining. It isn’t difficult to see where the idea of putting this show on in a big tent comes from. Pagliacci (The Clowns)…
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Scottish opera reach the end of their rather thin main stage season with a well sung Eugene Onegin which brings with it a lot of surprises. The action begins, not with the overture but with silence. An older woman – Tatyana herself in old age, we are to discover, stumbles into the wreck of an…
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Scottish Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos is an odd combination of bawdy romp and serious opera – as the composer intended. Strauss could not have hoped for better singers than Scottish Opera have assembled for this co-production with Opera Holland Park. However, seriously flawed orchestral playing marred an otherwise interesting production. Ariadne auf Naxos is a…