Brio SCOTTISHOPERA.ORG.UK
ISSUE 33 / SPRING 2020
A Midsummer Night’s Dream A new take on an old tale
NIXON IN CHINA
THE GONDOLIERS
60 SECONDS WITH...
We look ahead to a docu-opera for our times
Derek Clark looks forward to an injection of sunshine
Introducing Scottish Opera’s new Section Principal Cellist Martin Storey
WELCOME
Welcome to the Spring 2020 issue of Brio. It’s been a very busy Autumn at Scottish Opera, and we’re looking forward to an equally active start to 2020. Before Christmas, we gave Anthony Besch’s classic 1980 staging of Tosca no fewer than its ninth revival, and its placing of Puccini’s intense political thriller amid the crumbling fascist regime of Mussolini at the end of the Second World War felt more relevant than ever. Our garden party-themed Opera Highlights production toured to 17 venues the length and breadth of Scotland, and Amadeus & The Bard, which drew parallels between the lives of Burns and Mozart, entertained public and school audiences right across the nation. We were also delighted to return to East Lothian’s Lammermuir Festival in September, with a sophisticated double bill of Mascagni’s Zanetto and Wolf-Ferrari’s Susanna’s Secret, and to give Mascagni’s exotic Iris its Company debut in December. In this issue of Brio, we look ahead to two major productions that we unveil in the Spring. Director Dominic Hill reveals some of his thinking behind his new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while Composer in Residence Samuel Bordoli talks to us about the new companion work he’s written – Hermia’s Nightmare – which tackles the sections of Shakespeare’s comedy that Britten chose not to set. More immediately, we look ahead to John Adams’ Nixon in China and celebrate the success of John Fulljames’ production at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Opera. And we speak to Music Director Stuart Stratford about his unusual pairing of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Zingari, the Season’s next Opera in Concert programme, coming up in May. We also introduce our Orchestra’s new Principal Cellist, Martin Storey, and speak to our Head of Costume John Liddell and long-time supporter and Friend of Scottish Opera Jack Bogle about their pivotal acting roles in Tosca. I hope to see you at one of our performances over the coming months, and I wish you very exciting and thought-provoking opera-going.
ISSUE 33 / SPRING 2020 CONTENTS 3 Headlines 4–7 Features A Midsummer Night’s Dream Nixon in China The Gondoliers & Utopia, Limited 8 Opera in Concert Cavalleria rusticana & Zingari 9 On the Road Opera Highlights Fox-tot! 10 Behind the Scenes 60 Seconds with… 11 News 12 – 14 What the Media Said... Tosca Iris Zanetto & Susanna’s Secret Amadeus & The Bard Opera Highlights 15 Performance Diary
Alex Reedijk General Director
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IMAGE CREDITS: Julia Broadfoot, Bill Cooper, Tommy Ga-Ken Wan, James Glossop, Mark Hamilton, Sally Jubb, Bartosz Madejski, Eamonn McGoldrick, Alastair Muir, Christina Riley Writers: Emma Ainley-Walker, Caroline Dooley, Catriona Downie, Emily Henderson, David Kettle, Grace Lyon, Helen Macdonald, Hannah Salvi and Nicola Smith Print: J Thomson Colour Printers This magazine is printed on an FSC® certified paper. © Scottish Opera 2020
HEADLINES
Heather Ireson appointed as Associate Artist Scottish mezzo-soprano Heather Ireson has joined Scottish Opera as an Associate Artist for the remainder of the 2019/20 Season. Heather previously performed with the Company in Eugene Onegin in 2018 and the Opera Highlights tour in Spring 2019. As an Associate Artist, Heather benefits from the support and opportunities offered to the Company’s Emerging Artists, and will also perform alongside them in recital. She joins the chorus for the Opera in Concert performances of Cavalleria rusticana, Zingari and Utopia, Limited, as well as joining the cover cast of Nixon in China and singing the role of Vittoria in The Gondoliers.
BREAKING THE WAVES GOES TO ADELAIDE Scottish Opera takes Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s opera Breaking the Waves down under in March, giving the work its Australian premiere as part of the Adelaide Festival. The production is co-produced with Opera Ventures, Houston Grand Opera, Adelaide Festival and Théâtre National de l’Opéra Comique. Based on Lars von Trier’s award-winning but controversial film, Breaking the Waves received its European premiere at last year’s Edinburgh International Festival, where it was greeted with great acclaim by critics and audiences alike. For the Adelaide performances, the central role of Bess McNeill is again sung by US soprano Sydney Mancasola, who won a Herald Angel award for her Edinburgh performance. Scottish Opera Music Director Stuart Stratford conducts The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, and performances take place at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre on 13 and 15 March.
A FROG CHORUS OF RAUCOUS SATIRE Stephen sondheim the
Scottish panto legend Johnny McKnight directs Scottish Opera Young Company in Sondheim’s The Frogs. Dionysus, Greek god of music and wine, can take no more. The political landscape is torturous, fake news is giving him fatigue and the world has become disengaged. But he believes he can change things – by making a treacherous, terrifying – and poetic – journey to the Underworld. Will Dionysus overcome his fear of syncopated singing frogs to reach his final destination? Can he rescue literary greats Willy Shakespeare and Georgie B-Shaw to save the world as we know it? And will he ever pull off that faux-fur outfit given to him by his stepbrother Herakles? Join us for a night of raucously satirical Sondheim as the hugely talented Scottish Opera Young Company takes you on a zany, laugh-out-loud journey to ancient Greece and beyond. The Frogs: see page 15 for full performance listings. The Frogs is supported by Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust, James Wood Bequest Fund, The W.A. Cargill Fund, The William Syson Charitable Foundation, The Jennie S Gordon Memorial Trust, The Dunclay Charitable Trust and Scottish Opera’s Education Angels. scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 3
FEATURE
Dreams and nightmares Director Dominic Hill and Composer in Residence Samuel Bordoli reveal their plans for our new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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ith its mischievous fairies, bumbling mechanicals and endless romantic intrigues, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most charming, laughter-inducing plays, transformed into an equally magical opera by Britten in 1960. This new Scottish Opera production by Dominic Hill – director of Macbeth and Falstaff for the Company in previous seasons, and currently Artistic Director of Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre – is one of the many highlights of the 2019/20 Season. And the idea of dreaming is central to Dominic’s staging. ‘One of the things about the opera,’ he explains, ‘is that Britten drops you straight into the woods, a kind of magical, dreamy place, which he evokes with his opening music.’
‘Britten drops you straight into the woods, a kind of magical, dreamy place’ But that world, Dominic continues, has its darkness as well as its light. ‘It’s not necessarily a friendly place, but is somewhere where you can let out your feelings and your emotions – a place in which anything can happen.’ Britten’s opera is the second Dream that Dominic has directed in just a few months: his production of the original play raised laughs and provoked plenty of thoughts at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre last summer. How does it feel dealing with two different versions of the work in such quick succession? ‘It’s been strange!’ he admits. ‘When I was directing the play, there were bits 4 / SPRING 2020 scottishopera.org.uk
where I just couldn’t get Britten’s tunes out of my head. I absolutely had to think of them as two separate things.’ His singers mix Scottish Opera stalwarts including Jennifer France (Ice in Anthropocene and Controller in Flight, among other roles) as fairy queen Tytania, and Jamie MacDougall (last seen as the Producer in Ariadne auf Naxos) as mechanical Snout, alongside exciting younger singers including David Shipley as Bottom and Morten Grove Frandsen as Oberon. Behind the baton is Scottish Opera’s Music Director Stuart Stratford. But despite Britten’s faithful setting of Shakespeare’s text in (almost) its entirety, there’s a large chunk missing, namely the play’s opening, in which Hermia is threatened with execution if she refuses to marry the man her father Egeus intends for her. Scottish Opera’s Composer in Residence Samuel Bordoli is currently composing a brand new work, Hermia’s Nightmare, to reinstate that opening. ‘We thought it would be a really good idea to have a new work that set the scene, but to perform it in the theatre foyer, so that as people go into the opera they have an idea of what’s already happened,’ Samuel explains. Is he attempting to marry his own music with Britten’s score in any way? ‘Generally I try not to consciously reference other composers, because
it can be a dangerous game to play,’ Samuel explains. ‘But it’s probably inevitable that stuff will creep in.’ He also points to the quantity of text in that portion of Shakespeare’s original. ‘If we set it as it was, we’d probably need about an hour, whereas we have about 15 minutes. So I’ve been working with Dominic on cutting it right down. Having both Shakespeare and Britten peering over each shoulder has been a pretty frightening thing, I have to say!’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream: see page 15 for full performance listings. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is supported by The Alexander Gibson Circle
PATRONS
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF THE ALEXANDER GIBSON CIRCLE A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the 20th production supported by Scottish Opera’s Alexander Gibson Circle. Since 2000, the ever-growing support of our Patrons ensures that we’re able to stage a brand new, world-class production every Season. Over the past two decades, these have included many Company highlights...
Sir David McVicar’s Madama Butterfly in 2000 was the first production to be supported by the Circle.
Dominic Hill’s production of Macbeth in 2005 was also the director’s first opera staging. It visited 19 smaller Scottish venues in 2005, and 15 more in 2014.
Join the Alexander Gibson Circle
The colourful, opulent Manon in 2009 – its first staging by Scottish Opera – was directed by Renaud Doucet and designed by André Barbe.
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We simply could not continue to plan our future opera Seasons, and especially our new productions, with such confidence and ambition without this committed support, and we’re very grateful and proud of the investment and trust our Patrons have placed in Scottish Opera. Thank you. If you would like to become a Patron of our Alexander Gibson Circle, please complete the form opposite. For more details, contact Grace Lyon, Patrons Manager, on 0141 242 0594 or email grace.lyon@scottishopera.org.uk
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If you would like to give by Direct Debit, please contact Grace Lyon, Patrons Manager on 0141 242 0594. Please complete and return to: FREEPOST SCOTTISH OPERA Or give online at scottishopera.org.uk/supportus scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 5
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John Fulljames’ surreal and innovative production of Janáček’s The Adventures of Mr Brouček might be remembered for the bold performance of Donald Maxwell – who appeared in just a jockstrap at one point!
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FEATURE
An opera for our times We look ahead to docu-opera Nixon in China coming up this Spring
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here’s growing anticipation around John Adams’ Nixon in China coming up this Spring. Perhaps fuelled by the current political climate, parallels between Nixon’s much-publicised 1972 visit to China (the first time an American president had journeyed to the Communist state) and the present day are being drawn. We’re interested to hear what you think, too. Adams’ work, a collaboration with poet and librettist Alice Goodman and theatre director Peter Sellars, is widely hailed as pioneering a new kind of ‘docu-opera’. You’ll hear a huge range of sounds, from pre-recorded electronics
‘This tale of the staging of global politics at the birth of the live media age feels more potent than ever.’ to live passages echoing Wagner and Johann Strauss, alongside jazz references and big band sounds evoking the 1930s of Nixon’s youth. Featuring fascinating archive footage from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and
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The Richard Nixon Foundation, the opera, which was premiered in 1987, is as much about the private moments as the public during the historic trip. It explores the experience of the wives as well as husbands, and explores memory in contrast to reality. This new staging is a co-production with The Royal Danish Theatre, and it opened in Copenhagen in 2019. Director John Fulljames said: ‘Nixon in China is a classic opera; Nixon is a hero of Verdian complexity and Madame Mao’s vocal fireworks rank alongside those of the Queen of the Night. This is a spellbinding score, which established Adams as one of the great 20th-century opera composers and put American opera on a world stage. Although the events of President Richard Nixon’s visit have passed into history, this tale of the staging of global politics at the birth of the live media age feels more potent than ever. With a cast led by Eric Greene as President Nixon and Julia Sporsén as Pat Nixon, we have a great team to stage this myth about the ultimate powerlessness of the most powerful people in the world.’ Nixon in China: see page 15 for full performance listings. Nixon in China is a new co-production with The Royal Danish Theatre and Teatro Real Madrid.
‘Opera from the top shelf… fun, gripping and a delight for the senses… intensely present’ Berlingske, 2019
‘The audience can enjoy Adams’ inspiration from late Romantic composers such as Wagner and Strauss, and American dance music with jazz saxophones’ Politiken, 2019
FEATURE
AN INJECTION OF SUNSHINE Head of Music Derek Clark looks ahead to the coming performances of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and Utopia, Limited
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he Scottish Opera workshops are abuzz with activity as the Company starts the process of realising Director Stuart Maunder and Designer Dick Bird’s spectacular vision for The Gondoliers. This new co-production with D’Oyly Carte Opera and State Opera South Australia will visit Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh and London from May to July 2020, with additional concert performances of Utopia, Limited in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. We are also delighted to take a semi-staged, concert performance of The Gondoliers to Perth Festival. Described by the Director as ‘an injection of pure sunshine’, The Gondoliers brings together a talented allsinging, all-dancing cast, over 50 exquisite hand-made costumes, huge sets painted in the style of Canaletto, and an array of clever and complicated props. Our latest Play a Supporting Role Campaign has just launched to help bring the production to life. By choosing a prop, costume, character or piece of music to support, you can be part of the team making it happen. Head of Music Derek Clark, who conducts both The Gondoliers and Utopia, Limited, tells us how he’s approaching the works.
What are you most looking forward to about conducting these operas? I’ve loved The Gondoliers ever since l saw a D’Oyly Carte production with my parents when l was about ten. It’s a piece l’ve known for more than 50 years, and I’m excited that l finally have the chance to conduct it! l think ours is only the third or fourth professional performance of Utopia, Limited since the original. There is a lot of wonderful music, and l’m particularly looking forward to persuading our tenor William Morgan to deliberately crack a top C as the lovelorn Captain Fitzbattleaxe!
and it has such a joyous energy about it. We have a great cast for both, and l’m going to be doing everything l can to make the scores come alive from the first bar. We hope audiences will leave with huge smiles on their faces. Choose your favourite character, prop, costume or piece of music to support, or simply donate to support the production more broadly. For more details contact Grace Lyon on 0141 242 0594 or supportus@ scottishopera.org.uk, or visit scottishopera.org.uk
Why is it important that Scottish Opera presents repertoire like this? In some ways it’s a pity that many people’s introduction to G&S is through amateur performances. Some of those are very good, but it’s important that from time to time we do these pieces, giving them the same attention we give to The Marriage of Figaro or Tosca. It’s often much trickier than people realise, though it needs to sound as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Why should people buy tickets? Both shows will be great entertainment! The Gondoliers is going to look fantastic, scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 7
OPERA IN CONCERT
Where it all began Music Director Stuart Stratford brings his informal Mascagni series to a close with the composer’s best-loved work – alongside a true operatic rarity
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he operas of Pietro Mascagni are, as we’re well aware by now, a particular passion of Scottish Opera’s Music Director Stuart Stratford. And in May, he devotes half of this Season’s next Opera in Concert programme to the most famous of them all – in a highly unusual pairing. ‘In our three-year exploration of Mascagni,’ Stuart says, ‘we’ve performed L’amico Fritz, Silvano, Zanetto and Iris. And now we’re going back to where it all started – Cavalleria rusticana.’
‘There was no precedent for it in many ways, and its melodic invention is simply brilliant’ For many opera-goers, Mascagni begins and ends with Cavalleria rusticana, and Stuart’s enterprising explorations have brought several of the composer’s rarely heard – and extremely diverse – works to a wider audience, in performances that have been roundly acclaimed. But for him, it’s only fitting that the informal series ends with the composer’s best-loved work. What is it that makes Cavalleria rusticana so popular? ‘I think it’s just the fluency of the work,’ Stuart explains. ‘There was no precedent for it in many ways, and its melodic invention is simply brilliant – he was trying to solve the issue of marrying an Italian aria style with more complex Wagnerian harmonies, all in the context of its gritty subject matter, which speaks very directly to audiences.’ Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci is the traditional pairing for Mascagni’s tragic one-acter, but Stuart has chosen another work entirely for the May performance. And not only, of course, because of Scottish Opera’s spectacular 8 / SPRING 2020 scottishopera.org.uk
promenade staging of Pagliacci in ‘Paisley Opera House’ in 2018. ‘I know that Zingari hasn’t been performed very often anywhere,’ Stuart explains, ‘even though it was extremely popular after its premiere, which was actually in London in 1912. I thought it would be the ideal piece alongside a very well-known, much-loved opera – to give audience members something that they know, and something that they almost definitely don’t.’ There are parallels, too, between the tragic love triangle among Cavalleria rusticana’s Sicilian peasants, and an equally tragic trio of gypsies in Leoncavallo’s fiery creation. ‘There are lovely similarities between them,’ Stuart explains, ‘but of course huge differences as well.’ He conducts the performances, with a cast that includes familiar faces Justina Gringyte (Tigrana in Edgar and the title role in Carmen), Julia Sporsén (the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos) and Peter Auty (Lensky in Eugene Onegin and Bill in Flight, among several other roles). Opera in Concert: see page 15 for full performance listings. The Opera in Concert series is supported by Scottish Opera Endowment Trust & Friends of Scottish Opera.
ON THE ROAD
WHAT THE AUDIENCE SAID...
OPERA ON THE ROAD Over 2,000 people experienced Opera Highlights last Autumn, as the show toured to 17 of Scotland’s smaller and more remote venues. Audiences enjoyed a couple of hours of sunshine amid the Autumn weather outside as the show transported them to a Summer garden party, with the programme, devised by Head of Music Derek Clark, entirely themed around flowers, plants and gardens. It’s crucial for us to hear what audiences think of the production, so travelling with the tour – and entirely in keeping with the production’s botanical theme – was a feedback tree, enabling audience members to leave their comments, and, of course, growing as the tour progressed. There are 17 further opportunities to join the party this February and March. Emerging Artist Repetiteur
Michael Papadopoulos takes over as Music Director/Pianist, and he’s joined by a new cast: soprano Zoe Drummond, mezzo-soprano Jade Moffat, tenor Andrew Irwin, and baritone Arthur Bruce, The Robertson Trust Scottish Opera Emerging Artist 2019/20. Opera Highlights tours from 4 February to 14 March, travelling to Bathgate, Birnam, Markinch, Campbeltown, Bowmore, Arrochar, Bunessan, Arisaig, Beauly, Cumnock, Castle Douglas, Callander, Lerwick, Peebles, Fochabers, Alford and Rutherglen. Tickets are on sale now. Opera Highlights: see page 15 for full performance listings. Opera Highlights is supported by The Friends of Scottish Opera, JTH Charitable Trust and The Scottish Opera Endowment Trust.
Audience members were invited to leave a message on the feedback tree after the performance. Here is what they said...
‘We enjoyed our evening tremendously. It was ingenious how you created a storyline and interwove pieces through it. We really felt “invited in” to the production!’ Audience member, Oban
‘I’m 15 and I really enjoyed myself! I came last year and I continue to grow more and more in love with opera. Fantastic job!’ Audience member, Stornoway
FOX-TOT! EMERGES FROM HIBERNATION... Fox-tot! was seen by over 2,100 toddlers and their adults earlier this year, at both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Royal & Derngate in Northampton, who co-commissioned the work. This Spring five further venues host this magical show: Greenock’s Beacon Arts Centre; Perth Theatre, Aberdeen’s Cowdray Hall; Dundee’s Bonar Hall; and Eden Court in Inverness. If you know a young opera lover aged 12 to 24 months, don’t miss your chance to bring them along! Tickets go on sale soon – keep an eye on the website for details.
‘It’s the first time my son has been to a show of any kind and he was absolutely captivated. Seeing the performance with him is a memory I’ll treasure forever.’ Audience review, Facebook Fox-tot!: see page 15 for full performance listings. Fox-tot! is supported by Forteviot Charitable Trust, Thomson Charitable Trust, Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust, Scottish Opera’s Education Angels and Scottish Opera’s New Commissions Circle. scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 9
BEHIND THE SCENES
EDUCATION IN CHINA
60 SECONDS WITH... MARTIN STOREY INSTRUMENT: CELLO, THE ORCHESTRA OF SCOTTISH OPERA Martin Storey is The Orchestra of Scottish Opera’s new Section Principal Cellist. Born in Norwich, Martin attended London’s Royal Academy of Music before continuing his studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston as a Fulbright Scholar. After performing chamber music, recording albums, making many radio broadcasts and delivering masterclasses in the UK, North and South America, South Korea, Taiwan and the Czech Republic, Martin moved to Glasgow in 2010 where he was Principal Cellist with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for eight years. We caught up with Martin on tour with Tosca. You’ve had a glittering career in orchestral and chamber music. Why the switch to opera? I’ve always enjoyed going to opera performances – the drama, extravagance, emotion of it all. I’ve played quite a few operas before and love the way the music is part of a bigger story. I’ve been lucky to have worked quite a lot in chamber music, solo playing, teaching and orchestral playing, so opera is another whole world of new repertoire for me to explore.
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How is playing with an opera orchestra different from a symphony orchestra (apart from not being on stage!)? I find I have to listen even harder in an opera orchestra than in other groups. Listening, especially to the singers, can be different every night. I enjoy that spontaneity. I also like the fact that we get to perform a piece several times and really get to know it well, unlike symphony orchestras where there is often new repertoire every week. What’s your favourite music for cello, and what opera would you most like to play? I love playing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Bach’s cello suites, Mozart’s string quintets – the list is very long! I’ve played a couple of Wagner operas and would like to do more. I’m also a big fan of Britten, so I’m looking forward to A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Spring 2020. Can you tell us about the cello that you play? My cello was made by HC Silvestre in France in 1886. It’s unusual because it has a dark, matt, ‘cracked’ varnish, so it’s not the most beautiful-looking cello. But I love the sound it can make. It is perfect for an opera pit!
In 2018, Scottish Opera became the first opera company in the world to be granted Confucius Specialist Hub status by the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools and the Hanban Council. The Company is continuing its education work in both China and Scotland through its primary school tour and its specially commissioned operas for children based on Chinese history. Last October, Scottish Opera was delighted to be joined by a group of students and teachers from the Fangcaodi International School, Beijing, for a week of cultural exchange. Jordanhill School in Glasgow hosted the group and joined them in a performance of Warriors! The Emperor’s Incredible Army, which tells the story of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, and the terracotta warriors of Xian. Warriors! has been performed in primary schools right across Scotland, and also in nine schools in Beijing. The production tours Scotland again in Spring and Summer 2020 to over 100 schools. Also in October, the Company’s Education team made another visit to China to share its second opera based on Chinese history, The Dragon of the Western Sea. Three Scottish Opera singers and around 200 students from the Kunming Fangcaodi International School presented the first performance ever given in China of this opera, which tells the story of Kunming’s most famous citizen, Admiral Zheng He.
NEWS
JOIN OUR OPERA BREAKS! Places are still available on some of Scottish Opera’s upcoming opera trips – but book quickly! Verona – 29 July to 2 August 2020 Join us for a trip to the famous Summer Opera Festival at the Roman Arena in Verona for three ‘top ten’ operas: Aida – Turandot – La traviata Flying from Edinburgh, the holiday includes coach transfers, four nights’ bed and breakfast accommodation in a 3-star hotel a few minutes’ walk from the Arena, stalls seats at each performance, two local tours and an excursion to Vicenza, three group meals with wine and the services of a tour escort. Anne Higgins will also accompany the group. Price £2175 (based on two people sharing), single supplement £285 (single room) or £310 (double room). To book or for further information, please call Catherine Hart at John Whibley Holidays with Music on 01663 746578. Buxton International Festival – 6 to 10 July 2020 The performances are: Tue 7 July – Handel’s Acis and Galatea Wed 8 July – Rossini’s La donna del lago Thu 9 July – Hahn’s Ciboulette Price per person: £825 (£700 with shared room).
STUDY DAYS 2020 Would you like to learn more about Nixon in China, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Gondoliers and Utopia, Limited? If so, book for one of Scottish Opera’s Study Days. They take place on Saturdays at Scottish Opera, 39 Elmbank Crescent, Glasgow G2 4PT from 10.30am to 3.30pm. The cost is £25 per person including a soup and sandwich lunch with wine, and with contributions from the cast, music or production teams of each Scottish Opera production. Sat 25 January 2020 John Adams’ Nixon in China introduced by Hugh Macdonald, former CEO of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and codirector of the Lammermuir Festival Sat 7 March 2020 Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, introduced by Dr Michael Downes, Director of Music at St Andrews University Sat 25 April 2020 Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and Utopia, Limited, introduced by Ian Bradley, author of The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan and world-renowned Gilbert & Sullivan writer, speaker and performer.
OBITUARIES Iain McGlashan (1931-2019) Long-time supporter of Scottish Opera Iain McGlashan died in September at the age of 88. Iain was introduced to opera at Fettes College in Edinburgh, where he sang in allmale productions of The Bartered Bride and Der Freischütz. He was a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, before RAF postings and work for Unilever took him to Iraq, Pakistan and Kenya. Back in London, he sang with the BBC Singers and also in the chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. When he eventually returned to Glasgow, the city of his birth, in the 1970s, he sang as an extra in the Chorus of Scottish Opera and became friends with Peter Ebert, by then the company’s General Administrator. Iain also worked in fundraising and was particularly proud to have secured almost £50,000 from Commercial Union to sponsor Rigoletto. His last appearance on stage with the Company was as the non-singing Cardinal, swinging a thurible in the 2012 revival of Anthony Besch’s production of Tosca. Just weeks before his death he attended the dress rehearsal of Breaking the Waves. He was a very generous supporter of the arts in Scotland, and The McGlashan Trust, which he established, will continue his good work and ensure his name is not forgotten. Sir Jonathan Miller (1934-2019) The respected British polymath Sir Jonathan Miller, who died in November, directed two productions for Scottish Opera in the 1980s. His 1983 production of The Magic Flute, which was revived in 1985 and 1988, placed Mozart’s singspiel amid towering library shelves in 18th-century Vienna, and his 1988 production of Candide employed a new version of the score that he co-created with conductor John Mauceri. He directed more than 50 opera productions around the world, including a critically acclaimed series for English National Opera, and he was also a film and television director, broadcaster, comedian, doctor, author and curator. Raymond Leppard (1927-2019) Conductor and Italian Baroque opera pioneer Raymond Leppard died in October at the age of 92. He did much to reawaken interest in early Italian opera, including a groundbreaking production of L’incoronazione di Poppea at Glyndebourne in 1962, followed by performances of Cavalli’s L’Ormindo and La Calisto and Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria shortly afterwards. He first worked with Scottish Opera in 1973, conducting L’incoronazione di Poppea, and subsequent productions included L’Egisto in 1983, L’Orione in 1984, The Marriage of Figaro in 1999 and Orfeo ed Euridice in 2002.
To book and for further details, contact Anne Higgins on 0141 242 0599 or email anne.higgins@scottishopera.org.uk scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 11
WHAT THE MEDIA SAID...
TOSCA ‘No one lucky enough to catch this splendid revival will fail to see the care with which the production has been restaged’ Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times
‘An impressive cast headed by Natalya Romaniw. She was an expressive Tosca, petty and coquettish, vulnerable and vengeful by turn and vocally utterly secure’ Rowena Smith, The Guardian
‘Conductor Stuart Stratford’s sumptuously cinematic interpretation of Puccini’s score’ Thom Dibdin, The Stage
‘Anthony Besch’s production is possibly even more powerful today than it has been over the course of its now nine revivals’ Carol Main, The List
The List
Bachtrack
Edinburghfestival.org
The Guardian
The Times
The Stage
12 / SPRING 2020 scottishopera.org.uk
WHAT THE MEDIA SAID...
LIFE ON THE ROAD WITH TOSCA Two of the production’s actors remember their experiences... Of all Scottish Opera’s productions, Anthony Besch’s staging of Tosca has perhaps the most opportunity for walk-on, non-singing roles. The procession scene at the end of Act I requires a huge number of actors, with characters including the King and Queen of Italy, priests, Swiss Guards and even Mussolini himself. Last year, Scottish Opera’s Head of Costume John Liddell played the role of the Cardinal. He was interviewed by Glasgow Live in October, talking about his experience of being on stage.: ‘Of all the years that I’ve been in theatre,’ John explained, ‘I’ve never appeared on stage, not even in a school play. Every time Scottish Opera performs an opera with a bigger cast, we have to recruit extras. When they were casting this production of Tosca, the question of who was going to play the Cardinal arose. I thought: hey, I could do that. I put my name forward and the revival director, Jonathan Cocker, was tickled at the idea. I didn’t have much to do, and it was all over in three minutes. I had to walk across the stage and look suitably pious, and I loved doing it, because it’s so different from my real job. It actually gave me an even greater respect for the singers, if that’s possible: they have got to act real roles while singing some of the most difficult music imaginable.’ Another Tosca guest star is Jack Bogle, long-time supporter and patron of the Alexander Gibson Circle, who played one of the Attendant Priests in the production. He said: ‘I am enthralled by having played a minor part in this Season’s production of Tosca. Being fore and aft the stage gave me a true insight into an art that I dearly love, performed at its best by Scottish Opera.’
IRIS ‘Stuart Stratford shaped Mascagni’s score with insight and love. The orchestra played brilliantly, and the chorus sounded ecstatic’ Simon Thompson, The Times
‘Most credit must go to Kiandra Howarth, whose voice, with its oldfashioned vibrato, was as strong in her mezzo range as at the top’ Keith Bruce, The Herald
ZANETTO & SUSANNA’S SECRET ‘Sinéad CampbellWallace’s powerful but burnished soprano sinuously intertwined with Hanna Hipp’s seductive darker hues’ Rowena Smith, The Guardian
‘Hanna Hipp’s title role performance, hot and impetuous, stole the show’ Ken Walton, The Scotsman
The Times
The Guardian
The Herald
The Scotsman
The Herald
scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 13
WHAT THE MEDIA SAID...
AMADEUS & THE BARD ‘Wit, astute biographical details and a fine array of musical vignettes ... merrily persuade you that parallels between the two lives are spot on’ Mary Brennan, The Herald
‘Charismatic, versatile leadership of Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Arthur Bruce and soprano Stephanie Stanway galvanised the surrounding multi-purpose troupe from Scottish Opera’s Young Company’ Ken Walton, The Scotsman
Scotsgay
The Scotsman
OPERA HIGHLIGHTS ‘It might be genuinely very funny and often surprisingly moving, but this clever production also becomes a fine example of light music being taken seriously’ Keith Bruce, The Herald ‘As ever, a five-star production from Scottish Opera’ Lauren Humphreys, Glasgow Theatre Blog ‘If you think opera isn’t your cup of tea then this is the perfect place to discover that it is’ Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae
The Herald
14 / SPRING 2020 scottishopera.org.uk
The Herald
PERFORMANCE DIARY
SCOTTISH OPERA JAN – MAY 2020 January Thu 16 1.10pm February Tue 4 7.30pm Thu 6 7.30pm Sat 8 7.30pm Tue 11 7.30pm Thu 13 7.30pm Sat 15 7.30pm Tue 18 7.15pm Tue 18 7.30pm Thu 20 7.15pm Thu 20 7.30pm Fri 21 6pm Sat 22 7.15pm Sat 22 7.30pm Tue 25 7.30pm Thu 27 7.15pm Thu 27 7.30pm Fri 28 6pm Sat 29 7.15pm Sat 29 7.30pm March Wed 4 7.30pm Sat 7 7.30pm Tue 10 7.30pm Thu 12 7.30pm Sat 14 7.30pm Fri 20 10 & 11.30am Sat 21 10am Tue 24 11.30am Wed 25 10 & 11.30am Fri 27 10.30am & 12pm Sat 28 10.30am & 12pm Tue 31 10 & 11.30am Tue 31 7.15pm April Wed 1 10 & 11.30am Wed 1 6pm Thu 2 7.15pm Fri 3 10 & 11.30am Sat 4 10 & 11.30am Sat 4 7.15pm Wed 8 7pm Thu 9 7pm Tue 21 7.15pm Wed 22 6pm Thu 23 7.15pm Sat 25 7.15pm May Sat 2 7.30pm
Emerging Artists Recital
University of Glasgow
Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Nixon in China Opera Highlights Nixon in China Opera Highlights Nixon in China UW Nixon in China AD/TT/PST Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Nixon in China Opera Highlights Nixon in China UW Nixon in China AD/TT/PST Opera Highlights
Reconnect Regal Theatre, Bathgate Birnam Arts Markinch Town Hall Victoria Hall, Campbeltown Bowmore Hall, Islay Three Villages Hall, Arrochar Theatre Royal Glasgow Bunessan Community Hall Theatre Royal Glasgow Astley Hall, Arisaig Theatre Royal Glasgow Theatre Royal Glasgow Phipps Institute, Beauly Cumnock Town Hall Festival Theatre Edinburgh The Fullarton, Castle Douglas Festival Theatre Edinburgh Festival Theatre Edinburgh McLaren High School, Callander
Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Opera Highlights Fox-tot! Fox-tot! Fox-tot! Fox-tot! Fox-tot! Fox-tot! Fox-tot! A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mareel, Lerwick Eastgate Theatre, Peebles Fochabers Public Institute Alford Theatre Rutherglen Town Hall Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock Joan Knight Studio, Perth Theatre Joan Knight Studio, Perth Theatre Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen Bonar Hall, Dundee Festival Theatre Edinburgh
HOW TO BOOK University of Glasgow Concert Hall University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ Box Office 0141 330 4092 gla.ac.uk/events/music Opera Highlights/Fox-tot! Please visit scottishopera.org.uk for booking details for each venue Theatre Royal Glasgow 282 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 3QA Box Office 0844 871 7647 atgtickets.com Festival Theatre Edinburgh 13-29 Nicholson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9FT Box Office 0131 529 6000 capitaltheatres.com RSNO New Auditorium, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3NY Box Office 0141 353 8000 glasgowconcerthalls.com Usher Hall, Edinburgh Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2EA Box Office 0131 228 1155 usherhall.co.uk
Fox-tot! A Midsummer Night’s Dream UW A Midsummer Night’s Dream Fox-tot! Fox-tot!
Bonar Hall, Dundee Festival Theatre Edinburgh Festival Theatre Edinburgh Eden Court, Inverness Eden Court, Inverness A Midsummer Night’s Dream AD/TT/PST Festival Theatre Edinburgh The Frogs RSNO New Auditorium, Glasgow The Frogs RSNO New Auditorium, Glasgow A Midsummer Night’s Dream Theatre Royal Glasgow A Midsummer Night’s Dream UW Theatre Royal Glasgow A Midsummer Night’s Dream Theatre Royal Glasgow A Midsummer Night’s Dream AD/TT/PST Theatre Royal Glasgow Cavalleria Rusticana & Zingari
Usher Hall Edinburgh
UW Unwrapped performance AD Audio-described performance TT Touch Tour prior to performance PST Pre-show Talk prior to performance
scottishopera.org.uk SPRING 2020 / 15
Theatre Royal Glasgow 14 – 23 May His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen 28 – 30 May Eden Court, Inverness 3 – 6 Jun Festival Theatre Edinburgh 10 – 13 Jun Hackney Empire, London 15 – 18 Jul
THE GONDOLIERS
scottishopera.org.uk
Gilbert & Sullivan
Don’t miss…
UTOPIA, LIMITED
GLA 21 MAY EDI 12 JUN LON 17 JUL
A new co-production with D’Oyly Carte Opera & State Opera South Australia Supported by Scottish Opera’s ‘Play A Supporting Role’ Appeal Core funded by
Registered in Scotland Number SC037531 Scottish Charity Number SC019787
A semi-staged performance.