Opera Scotland

European Opera Days 2012

Posted 28 Apr 2012

Each year, on the weekend nearest Europe Day (9 May) opera houses across Europe are asked to promote opera.  European Opera Days this year are May 12, 13 and 14 and the theme is Passion.

Scottish Opera are performing Tosca on 12 May in Glasgow's Theatre Royal and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera are giving a concert in St Andrew's In The Square on May 13. 

There is also a free online streaming of a remarkable movie, On Such a Night, available on Glyndebourne's website for ten days from 10 May - we'll post the link on our home page when it is live.  Directed by Anthony Asquith, this quintessentially English film tells the tale of an American tourist, who on arriving at Victoria station in London with the intention of visiting the picturesque South Downs, inadvertently follows a group of well-dressed opera goers to Glyndebourne.  There he watches his first opera - Le Nozze di Figaro (Marriage of Figaro).   A number of original and rare excerpts of live performances are included in the film, which dates from 1956.  The film has been digitally restored and re-released on DVD.

Annual European Opera Days  have been promoted for some years, and the concept is a joint promotion of Opera Europa, the European organisation for professional opera companies and festivals, and RESEO, the European Network for Opera and Dance Education, in partnership with la Réunion des Operas de France, the UK's National Opera Co-ordinating Committee and Opera XXI in Spain.