OPERA, MUSIC, THEATRE & THE ARTS | SCOTLAND
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A LINE of stationery figures sit gazing from the stage as you go into the theatre. Taking your seat you become aware that there’s something peculiar going on. The orchestra are all in place but every member is stock still. There’s no tuning, no chatting, no gossiping. All is still until the director, Ivan Fishcher…
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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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This review was first published by Opera Britannia [Rating:2] It was a tale of two divas. And it was the best of times and it was the worst of times. The Mariinsky Opera‘s Les Troyens was a bold attempt to bring an epic work to the Edinburgh Festival which never quite achieved what it should have done. Though…
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Star Date: 12 August 2013 There are many areas of human endeavour where we must applaud glorious failure. Better, surely, that risks are taken than that we make do forever with the urbane and the familiar. The trouble is, when it comes to space travel, risks that don’t come off tend to result in crashes…
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This production of Charpentier’s biblical epic is a showcase for some exquisite vocal work which is delivered despite an incoherent dramatic interpretation which does nothing to aid a modern appreciation of the work at hand. From the moment the curtain rises, the interpretation of this piece that we are going to be subjected to is…
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Janáček’s s strange opera The Makropulos Case is a curious mix of psychological horror and puzzling fantasy. Who is the central character Emilia Marty and what gives her so much knowledge of the affairs of others? Opera North’s new production is a stirring attempt to showcase and make sense of a difficult plot which has…