Opera Scotland

Colin Macleod Campbell Suggest updates

Born Argyll 1890.

Died London 1953.

Scottish composer, conductor and lecturer.

Colin Macleod Campbell had a successful career as conductor, lecturer and composer. His first opera, in one act, Thais and Talmaae was premiered by Carl Rosa in 1921. After opening in Manchester it toured widely, including a performance at Covent Garden, and was regarded as generally successful. Revivals followed in 1928 and 1937, when it was broadcast.

Maid Marian was composed much later, to a libretto by his wife, and was in rehearsal for its planned premiere in 1938, when the Munich crisis put paid to any hopes of performance. Only a 'run-through' took place, in the ballroom of the Park Lane Hotel. The ballet music did briefly have independent success, being broadcast.

Operas produced in Scotland are shown in bold:

01   Thais and Talmaae (Manchester 1921) (C H Bourne)

02   Maid Marian (Dundee 1956) (N Campbell)