TER20160420DSC07283

  • Scottish Opera announce their new season
  • Growing Dads
  • Sir Tom likes a good curry!
  • Hustings in Blackhall
  • Mimi’s is up for an award

Scottish Opera has a rich and diverse season coming up. Stuart Stratford is announcing seven fully staged productions and four operas in concert in his first season since he took up his position as Music Director.

He said:  “I am delighted as Music Director to present opera to audiences all over Scotland. I have been very involved in the casting of the programme, and there are some incredible talents – from Scotland as well as around the world – taking to the stage. The Sunday Series programme promises to introduce audiences to lesser known works by composers including Debussy and Rossini, and we believe our performance of Puccini’s Le Villi will be a Scottish premiere. I’m excited also to have the opportunity to travel Scotland conducting The Elixir of Love, taking the company’s passion for music to all corners of the country.”

Young opera lovers and families have plenty to look forward to with the world premiere of The Little White Town of Never Weary, an interactive musical adventure for children aged five to eight, inspired by the Jessie M. King book of the same name. It makes an extensive schools tour as well as public performances in Kirkcudbright and Glenrothes. There is also the chance to catch performances of Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley and Der Jasager, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas by Scottish Opera Connect, Scotland’s only youth opera company.

There is an opportunity for young composers and librettists to write for the Connect Company in Opera Sparks 2018, a new competition for people aged 26 and under to create a 15-minute opera to be performed during the Scottish Government’s Year of Young People 2018.

Audiences can get even more involved with the Company’s productions through the Pop-Up Opera Roadshow, Primary Schools Tour and the Community Choir, which is open to adults of all ages who wish to enjoy singing in a multitude of musical genres. The Memory Spinners group, for people with dementia and their carers, continues to meet weekly in Glasgow, and is also being introduced in Edinburgh. Pre-show talks, where audiences can find out more about the opera they are seeing, will once again be on offer as well as Opera Unwrapped, free one-hour tasters delving further in to the shows and how they are created.

Full details of the programme will be available here later today.

12987042_1017614408311782_7871187809547977495_n

Dads Rock are always very innovative and we find they have now started a gardening project! You are invited along on Friday 29 March from 2.00pm if you are a dad under 25 and have kids.

Read more here.

The Raj restaurant_GD.09-1

Tommy Miah has opened a new restaurant and he invited his chum Sir Tom Farmer along to perform the ceremony. Sir Tom first met the Bangladeshi chef when he had a restaurant in Leith, but now he has branched out to Blackhall.

Read more here.

Craigleith Blackhall Community Council are holding a hustings on Thursday evening at 19.30 at Blackhall St Columba’s Church on Columba Road EH4 3QU.

They will have candidates from every party to speak.

More details here. 

Mimi’s Bakehouse has told us that their Daim Slice has made it to the shortlist in the Scottish Baker of the Year 2016 competition.

Over 15,000 customers from across Scotland have voted for their favourite bakery products across six categories and on 31st March, almost 100 bakers delivered 650 of the most popular products in the land for scrutiny by a panel of 50 expert and independent judges.

With a sea of scones, loaves, savoury items, morning rolls, individual cakes and biscuits, the judges had a hard task tasting, smelling and squishing each and every item to shortlist the best products in the land.

Each of the categories has been divided into three regions, covering Highlands, Islands & Grampian, Central Belt & Grampian and Borders and Lowlands.  Within each category, the judges will award regional Gold, Silver and Bronze awards and all our shortlisted bakers will be invited to a prestigious ceremony in May where they will find out what colour their regional award will be.

All of the regional winners will also be judged on a national level meaning that they could be recognised as having made the best bakery product in Scotland!

qrcode.26455216If you are reading this article in print and would like to visit The Edinburgh Reporter website then simply scan the QR code here with a smartphone or tablet.

Sign up here for a daily email from The Edinburgh Reporter

[mc4wp_form id=”169103″]
Website | + posts

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.