Opera Scotland

A weekend of new opera in unusual places!

Posted 16 Sep 2012

Sound, North East Scotland's Festival of New Music offers us a programme of new operas that push boundaries, challenge and excite over four days (1-4 November).  Performances will take place in a stables, a pub, an urban flat, a lighthouse, a cafe, around a desk and on a bus.  An operatic bus tour will allow audiences to experience at least four different operas in one day, in different locations in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. This programme includes a newly commissioned opera for the bus by composer Stephen Deazley.  Three of the operas - with music by John Harris, Pippa Murphy and Gareth Williams - have been commissioned by Sound for the Festival.  They are short and site-specific, and the composers had a remit to try to stretch the musical concept of opera as far as they could on a limited budget.  The festival includes a symposium day, led by Alex Reedijk, Scottish Opera's General Director, involving debates and workshops on composing for opera and discussions exploring how opera is evolving. 

The weekend will close with a performance of a community opera written by composer Duncan Chapman.  It will bring together individuals and community groups who will create, rehearse and performa an opera in one day.  Watch our listings for further details!