Using different opera styles, new formats and collaborations, and creating a wider variety of events and experiences, the Company’s new season is designed to allow people to find their own way to discover and enjoy opera.
General Director Alex Reedijk said, ‘We’ve had some great successes this past season with both the repertoire we’ve offered audiences and the way in which we’ve done it. Strategies such as teaming up with the Scottish Sun for a reader offer and performing free mini operas have allowed us to reach out to people who may not ever have considered opera. We’re also utilising different venues, locations, scales and partnerships to reach out. We’re trying to open up the world of opera, in all its forms, to everyone in Scotland.’
The season begins with a return to the Edinburgh International Festival with a concert performance of Puccini’s rarely performed La Fanciulla del West, conducted by Music Director Francesco Corti and featuring Susan Bullock in the title role.
A new production of Carmen opens at the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow in September before touring to 22 venues across Scotland with both chamber orchestra and piano-accompanied performances. This new translation of Bizet’s biggest hit is directed by Ashley Dean in a production set in Franco’s Spain.
Next up is the ever-popular The Marriage of Figaro, from the same creative team behind 2007’s critically acclaimed Il barbiere di Siviglia: director Sir Thomas Allen and designer Simon Higlett. Francesco Corti conducts and Thomas Oliemans returns after his charismatic performance as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
This carefully curated season also presents two operas that have not been performed by Scottish Opera for a quarter of a century: Handel’s passionate and character-driven Orlando, directed by Harry Fehr; and Strauss’s entertaining Intermezzo, conducted by Music Director Francesco Corti. Intermezzo marks the return of Scottish Opera to German repertoire for the first time since 2006.Verdi’s Rigoletto has all the elements of the composer’s genius. Opening in Spring 2011, the production will see the return of conductor Tobias Ringborg (2009’s Cosi fan tutte) and tenor Edgaras Montvidas (Nemorino in 2009’s The Elixir of Love), as well as the debut of English baritone Eddie Wade in the role of Rigoletto.
A new family double bill follows the success of recent seasons of specially-commissioned productions for young people such as Baby O, Aunty Janet Saves the Planet, and The Undersea World of Bubble McBea. Produced in partnership with the Citizens’ Theatre, features the world premiere of Dr Ferret’s Bad Medicine Roadshow and the Scottish premiere of On The Rim of the World, which was commissioned and created in partnership with the UK’s other major opera companies.
In an innovative and fun collaboration, Scottish Opera teams up with Club Noir, the world’s biggest burlesque club to present a glamorous evening of burlesque, cabaret, and opera at the HMV Picturehouse as part of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Company’s partnership with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama goes from strength to strength with a revival of David Pountney’s acclaimed Scottish Opera production of Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen.
Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera, in collaboration with the Traverse Theatre, present the Scottish premiere of Philip Glass’ In the Penal Colony, a contemporary opera based on the short story by Franz Kafka.
Scottish Opera’s Emerging Artists programme enters its second year with singers Michel de Souza, Rebecca Afonwy-Jones and Marie Claire Breen joining the Company. All three studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, with all three performing in the critically acclaimed collaboration War and Peace earlier this year. Nadine Livingston continues for a second season as an Emerging Artist and can be seen as Susannah in The Marriage of Figaro and Gilda in Rigoletto.
Five:15 Operas Made in Scotland takes a break to develop a number of longer length operas for the 2011/12 season to coincide with the Company’s 50th anniversary.
