Opera Scotland

Rare chance to see Snow Maiden

Posted 4 Mar 2017

At OperaScotland we generally try to chronicle the activities of Scottish companies wherever they perform. We also record performances in Scotland by visiting companies - a recent example being the visit of Opera North to Edinburgh with excellent stagings of Billy Budd and a Puccini double-bill.

We have not so far featured performances outside Scotland by non-Scottish companies. However, as it is within our remit to encourage opera-going in all its forms, it seems logical that we should include Newcastle-upon-Tyne as a performance venue.

The current tour of Opera North is highlighting three contrasting operas derived from folk or 'fairy' tales. While two of these, Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) and La cenerentola (Rossini) can be classed as popular favourites, the third is a great rarity and well worth seeing at Newcastle's Theatre Royal on Friday 3 March. The production can be caught at The Lowry on Friday 10th, Belfast on Friday 17th and finally Nottingham on 24th March.

The Snow Maiden by Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the first of his operas to be produced in Britain, when Sadler's Wells Opera staged it in 1933. Snow Maiden then became something of a popular favourite and was revived regularly for twenty years.

Sadly the Wells never brought it to Scotland, and the only production north of the border to date has been an amateur one by Glasgow Grand in 1957.