Opera Scotland

The Woman without a Shadow

Posted 28 Aug 2011

Opera-lovers have been eagerly awaiting performances of Richard Strauss's opera, Die Frau ohne Schatten, which has never before been performed in Scotland. The critic Rupert Christiansen - and others  - claim this is Strauss's greatest opera. The creation of worlds of fantasy and magic on a grand scale is something that opera can convey in a particularly powerful manner.  Yet the theme at the core of this plot is simple. The daughter of the ruler of the spirit world cannot conceive a child - she is a woman without a shadow. If she does not fall pregnant, her father threatens to turn her husband to stone. Given in an epic production by the Mariinsky Opera from St Petersburg, the opera is an operatic fantasy that contrasts the beauty of the spirit world and the more mundane reality of the human world. See more pictures of the production here (scroll down) and then click through the link at the top of the page to learn more about the opera. And tickets are still available at the time of writing - telephone 0131 473 2000! Or click through to the Hub Box Office here to order tickets.

The performances are supported by Harold Mitchell, AC

The Mariinsky are also supported by BP