Opera Scotland

L'Heure espagnole in Scotland

(In prep)

L'Heure espagnole received its first Scottish performance at the King's Theatre, Glasgow on 29 May 1963.  This was during Scottish Opera's second season, which consisted of a week in Glasgow, followed by, for the first time, a week in Edinburgh.  The production was a collaboration with the New Opera Company, based in London - an organisation that produced unusual modern operas at Sadler's Wells Theatre.  The manager was Peter Hemmings, who was in the process of transferring his...

Posted 12 Aug 2025 | Comments

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La bohème in Scotland

La Bohème was first performed in Scotland (under the title The Bohemians) on 30 April 1897 at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow. As the title suggests, the performance was given in English, a policy set for his touring company in 1873 by its founder Carl Rosa.

Just eight days previously in Manchester, Carl Rosa Opera had given the first British performance attended by Puccini himself, as well as his publisher, Tito Ricordi. The Glasgow soloists were identical. The conductor was Claude Jaquinot, and...

Posted 30 Jul 2025 | Comments

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La clemenza di Tito in Scotland

La clemenza di Tito received its first performance in Scotland on 8 April 1938 at the Athenaeum Theatre, Glasgow.  The performers were the Barony Musical Association, under the musical direction of Dr Erik Chisholm.  He was the leading musical figure in Scotland during the 1930s, before moving to continue his career in South Africa.  With Glasgow Grand he conducted UK premieres of Mozart's Idomeneo and Berlioz's The Trojans and Beatrice and Benedick.  The Barony Association was established...

Posted 18 Jul 2025 | Comments

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Trial by Jury in Scotland

Trial by Jury received its first performance in Scotland at Glasgow's Gaiety Theatre on 9 August 1876. 

The performers were Emily Soldene's English and Comic Opera Company.  Soldene had enjoyed a successful career in the music halls before switching her attention to operetta. However the star of the show was acknowledged to be Fred Sullivan, the elder brother of the composer, who created the part of the Learned Judge and after his early death was held to be a formative influence on the...

Posted 18 Mar 2025 | Comments

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Welcome to Scotland's History

The Opera Scotland team have started to piece together Scotland's operatic history, something now largely forgotten. We have been working with the contents of libraries and archives as well as through on-line searches. We have been identifying singers, performances, touring companies and Scottish premieres.

We shall continue to build up what we believe will become a comprehensive picture, fleshing out the bare details and bringing to life an almost forgotten aspect of Scotland's cultural life. We are sure there is much more to discover.

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