Szymanowski's fascinating piece of medieval exoticism had only had one previous production in Britain, and that was mounted at Sadler's Wells by the New Opera Company, before being revived the following year by ENO.
In Scotland, the violin concertos and string quartets have featured from time to time in concerts, but little else of Szymanowski's music has been heard here, so to have a performance that was beautifully played and sung was one of the treats of the 2008 Festival. Of 11th century Norman Sicily there was little evidence in the designs, but that is perhaps a locale of sufficient obscurity for its absence to be relatively unimportant. Of the cast, Elzbieta Szmytka was familiar from several recordings of Polish music, including Simon Rattle's recording of this work. Otherwise the only member of the cast who was familiar was Andrzej Dobber in the title role - an excellent Germont for Scottish Opera a few years back.
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