News

1 September 2010

It was a tale of two festivals for Scottish Opera in Edinburgh this year, as the Company took on the Fringe and the EIF.

Club Noir: A Night at the Opera teamed the Company with the world’s biggest burlesque club for The Fringe. It was glamour, glitz and garters galore for a night of over-the-top live performance featuring six hours of risqué acts including cabaret, ballet and go-go dancers alongside top-class singers Nicky Spence and Nadine Livingston.

Our twitter account went mad with praise after the event 'A triumph. + new converts to both opera and burlesque...' and  'you guys were incredible tonight, what voices!! Highlight of the fringe…'

 The Usher Hall got a taste of some wild west hospitality on Monday 23rd of August thanks to Scottish Opera’s one-off concert performance of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, conducted by Francesco Corti.

Set in the mid-19th century during the California gold-rush, the fast-moving tale of love, jealousy, gambling and banditry was a hit:

'….ultimately gripping…Corti has an affinity with Puccini…'

Rowena Smith, The Guardian

Our Minnie, soprano Susan Bullock, has also been singled out for particular praise:

'The sheer intensity of her performance invested the poker-playing heroine with a searing passion…'

Kenneth Walton, The Scotsman

12 August 2010

The event for six to eighteen month old babies, will give six performances at the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival at the Riverside Studios in London this Saturday and Sunday.

BabyO is a fun way to give babies, their first live music experience and creates an interactive environment for both babies and carers in a secret garden filled with ducks, busy bees, wellie boots, water and umbrellas.

The events this weekend follow a series of sell out performances across Scotland last spring - with 72 performances quickly selling out, a fantastic response from both babies and carers and high demand for another tour.

This ground breaking new production is a sensory experience of touch, texture, sight, sound and song, featuring simple movement and music that captures the imagination of both babies and adults alike.

The music and soundscape, composed by Rachel Drury, will be brought to life by singers Gloria Ellis, Alan McKenzie and Arlene Rolph.

Click here for more information and to book tickets.
 

Check out BabyO pics and video here.
 

10 July 2010

Our St Andrew’s in the Square concert series has become a highlight of Glasgow’s musical calendar.

The magnificently restored Georgian church provides a relaxed and atmospheric setting for The Orchestra of Scottish Opera to leave the pit and take centre stage.

This season’s concerts have been curated by Scottish Opera Music Director, Francesco Corti, who conducts two of the concerts in the series. We also welcome exciting young Spanish conductor Sergio Alapont, making his UK début.

Our September concert sees Baritone Thomas Oliemans and Mezzo-soprano Leah Marian-Jones singing a selection of beautiful arias from Mozart's much-loved opera The Marriage of Figaro. (Both singers are also appearing in our production of The Marriage of Figaro in autumn 2010)

The third concert in the series also offers a wonderful opportunity to hear Principal Oboist Joseph Houghton in Richard Strauss’s fantastic Oboe Concerto in D.Major.

Tickets £11.50 / £8.50 concessions

See St Andrew’s page for booking details
 

8 June 2010

Cameron Presentations' sponsorship of Scottish Opera has been shortlisted for a 2010 Arts & Business Scotland Award in the New or Returning Sponsor category.

During Scottish Opera’s 2009/10 Season, Cameron Presentations provided in-kind sponsorship in the form of high specification projection equipment. This helped Scottish Opera fulfil its creative ambitions for two ground-breaking productions, The Italian Girl in Algiers and The Adventures of Mr Brouček.

The winner of this year's Arts and Business Scotland Awards will be announced at a ceremony on the 22 September at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Last year, Scottish Opera and principal sponsor relationship with sponsor and consulting partner, Accenture won the Cultural Branding Award at the 2009 Arts and Business Scotland Awards.

The sponsorship gave Cameron Presentations the opportunity to showcase its equipment in an innovative way to existing and prospective clients, employees and Scottish Opera’s audience, which added a new dimension to the company's marketing and PR strategy. This was the first time Cameron Presentations had sponsored an arts company.

24 May 2010

Children from both Spanish and Italian Sing up Saturday classes gave a brilliant performance to family and friends at two special shows on Saturday.

The children, aged between 3 and 10 years old took to the stage to perform the Spanish and Italian they had learned through music, song, and dance.

The weekly classes are run by a small, handpicked team of singers, language teachers, and drama and arts specialists. Through song, games, art activities, drama, dance and more, they bring to life the music, language, culture and traditions of Spain and Italy, the home of opera.

Check out some of the photos of the performances below.

15 May 2010

Scottish Opera's Wardrobe Department made a set of 25 dresses for The Welsh National Opera premiere of Meistersingers.

The dresses, which were designed by Buki Shiff and made by our Wardrobe Department for the ladies' chorus, were made in six varying styles.

Mandy Bryan, Scottish Opera's Ladies' Cutter, and Sara Löfgren, one of our costume-makers, visited the Millennium Centre in Cardiff to carry out fittings for the dresses.

 
A few familiar faces were at the chorus fittings including Scottish Opera regulars, Frances Morrison, Karen Murray and Shuna Sendall.

 
The team frequently take on outside commissions and have been working on this major project, as well as on our own forthcoming operas, since January.

A selection of the costumes.

8 May 2010

Celebrate pantomime in Scotland with a special concert performance next week.

The event sees The Orchestra of Scottish Opera play live to rarely-seen archive silent film of 1930s and 1940s pantomime in Glasgow.

Hosted by Elaine C Smith, the evening will whisk you back to a golden age for Scottish theatre - a time of  glittering sets, popular stars like George West and Harry Gordon, comedy sketches and rows of dancing girls.

Hear a programme of recently rediscovered pantomime music composed for Glasgow's Royal Princess's Theatre in the 1920s and 1930s and played live publicly for the first time in over 60 years.

Thursday 24 June, 2.30pm &  7pm

Tickets only £3.

Book on 0141 287 5810.

1 May 2010

Our Wardrobe and Wigs Department are working on a project for the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

The project is being opened by the National Trust for Scotland.

John Liddell, Head of Wardrobe said,  'We are making a replica costume and wig, to re-create the appearance of the poet. Our Wigs Supervisor, Laurie Rankin and I visited the museum at Burns Cottage to take measurements for the wig.'

'The collection includes a cast of Burns' skull which was taken when his grave was opened at some point after his death, so the wig will be made exactly to the size of the poet's head.'

'Laurie usually takes measurements and a "wig-wrap" from singers as part of the process of making their wigs ; she had never previously done this for a dead person!'

'A wig-wrap is a mould which is created by covering the head with cling-film, and then adding many strips of sellotape on top of the cling-film to create a semi-rigid mould, which can then be carefully lifted off, and used to make a pattern for the wig base.'

'Then real human hair is knotted, one hair at a time, on to the net base. The finished "scalp" is then cut to the appropriate style, and dressed.'

'We were shown the precious cast of the skull by David Hopes, the Project Curator for the NTS ; Sylvia Krauss and and Mel Houston, the Project Conservators were in attendance to ensure that the skull suffered no damage in the process.'

'After the skull was covered with the film, Laurie was puzzled for a moment because the next stage is normally to mark on it the position of the ears and the hair-line. No ears on a skull!'

'By referring to portraits of Burns, however, she felt confident of recording the information needed.'

'The result was a perfect wig-wrap which will be used to make an accurate replica of the poet's hair.'
 

"Alas poor Yorick"

Click here to see Robert Burns' skull being wrapped

31 April  2010

20 year old Emma Butchart started work with Scottish Opera today as a Costume and Wardrobe Apprentice.

Emma's role which sees her working with both Scottish Opera and the Citizens' Theatre is part of the Creative Apprentice scheme and is supported by the Scottish Arts Council through Creative & Cultural Skills.

Emma is currently balancing the demands of her Apprenticeship with an HND in Theatre Costume Interpretation at Telford College in Edinburgh and will take up the Apprenticeship full-time in June, working on Scottish Opera productions, Carmen and The Marriage of Figaro.

To learn more about Creative Apprenticeships in Scotland click here.

April 2010

Our fantastic new season features The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen and Rigoletto and more. 

It also features inventive family works such as Dr Ferret and On the Rim of the World.

Check out the full programme on this website or via our new brochure. You can keep up to date with all of Scottish Opera's news and reviews via our enewsletter, Facebook and Twitter profiles.

Advance booking for subscriptions will open on Tuesday 1 June.

Public sales open on Monday 28 June.