Opera Scotland

Scottish Opera to hit Dundee

Posted 13 Oct 2021

On Sunday 12 December, we have a chance to celebrate the festive season with Scottish Opera in Dundee’s Caird Hall. Conducted by the Company’s Music Director, Stuart Stratford, The Puccini Collection features favourite arias, ensembles and orchestral interludes from Giacomo Puccini’s timeless operas.

In recent years our national company has done a valiant job of tending the operatic flame across Scotland and notably sidestepping the trap of performing only in Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Yet most of these toured and pop-up offerings have been small scale. Here before Christmas we have a rare opportunity for those north of the central belt to relish a very much larger offering without having to travel south. This is a concert also which is not going to be repeated anywhere else. So this is very much an opportunity not to be missed. And dare we hope that it draws some audience members from Glasgow or Edinburgh?

Featuring excerpts from well-known and well-loved works including Tosca ‘(‘Vissi d’arte’), Turandot (‘Nessun Dorma’) and La bohème, as well as rarer gems from La Fanciulla del West, Manon Lescaut, and Edgar, there is plenty for newcomers and aficionados alike.

Soloists Roland Wood (Falstaff 2021), Sinéad Campbell-Wallace (pictured as Tosca 2019), David Junghoon Kim (making his Company debut), and Scottish Opera Emerging Artist 2021/22 Catriona Hewitson (Così fan tutte 2021) will be accompanied on stage by the Orchestra of Scottish Opera.

Scottish Opera Music Director, Stuart Stratford said: ‘There is a reason why Puccini is one of the greatest opera composers - sumptuous harmony supporting memorable melodic lines, all steeped in the character and situation of the most moving stories. The Puccini Collection contains some of the most breathtaking spans of operatic writing in the repertoire, not to be missed.

‘Audiences have the chance to see some wonderful performers too: Roland Wood is established as Britain’s finest dramatic baritone, and we are lucky to have a close working relationship with him. Sinéad Campbell-Wallace was sensational in our 2019 production of Tosca, and is fast becoming one of the UK’s most desirable sopranos. It is the first time that David Junghoon Kim has worked for Scottish Opera and we are thrilled to have him. And finally, Catriona Hewitson, our Emerging Artist soprano delighted audiences during lockdown with her Adina from L'elisir d'amore, which is still available to watch on our website.’

 Tickets are on sale from 12 October at Dundee Box Office, priced £27 / £21 with £10 for Under 26s. Available at  https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/shows/the-puccini-collection/