Scottish Opera, along with other major UK opera companies and the V&A Museum, will be collaborating with BBC Arts Digital on #OperaPassion Day on Thursday 19 October. Each organisation will contribute to an unprecedented day of live streaming and digital content giving never-before-seen access to the UK opera world. The day aims to show the immense breadth of work that goes into every production and to engage new audiences and inspire the next generation of opera lovers.
As part of its contribution, Scottish Opera will be at the opening night of Sir David McVicar’s acclaimed production of La traviata in Glasgow – also the opening night of the Company’s 2017/18 season – and taking a look at the work the backstage crew do to get such a stunning, detailed and impressive production onto the stage.
Also as part of Scottish Opera’s #OperaPassion live offering, the four singers and pianist on tour with Scottish Opera’s popular Opera Highlights show will perform from Bowmore on Islay. They will be singing live and giving viewers an insight into life on the road.
Scottish Opera will also be sharing collaborations with a few unexpected partners including Steven Camley, The Herald’s political cartoonist, who is creating four new cartoons based on popular opera plots. Three operatic poems, commissioned from celebrated Scottish authors Liz Lochhead, Alexander McCall Smith and Janice Galloway, will be read aloud by their authors. Throughout the day there will be opportunities to watch a 30 minute Pop-up Opera performance, explore the making of an opera for 6-18 month olds, and find out more about how the artform can help those living with dementia through Scottish Opera’s innovative Memory Spinners project.
As well as Scottish Opera, other companies working with BBC Digital Arts to present the day, which is supported by the British Council, are The Royal Opera House, English National Opera, English Touring Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Welsh National Opera, Northern Ireland Opera, the V&A, BBC Radio 3, Tomorrow’s World and Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry. This autumn the BBC will also embark upon a wider season of opera programming featuring new films, documentaries, performances and special projects across BBC Two, BBC Four, Radio 3 and BBC Arts Digital.
The season is part of a collaboration with the V&A Museum’s blockbuster exhibition: Opera: Passion, Power and Politics which opens on 30 September.