Opera Scotland

Egisto 1982Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Egisto

One of the most obviously successful fruits of John Cox's years with Scottish Opera was his ability to import existing stagings from elsewhere. Egisto was completely unknown in Britain, but Cox had mounted a successful production in Santa Fe which turned out to be an absolute winner, even if Raymond Leppard's realisation-style was by now controversially lush. The designs and lighting of Allen Charles Klein made it simply one of the most beautiful stagings of any opera to have been seen recently, and an extra performance was tagged on at the end of the season with BBC cameras on hand to record it. The tape has never been made available in any commercial format, though some kind soul has set it up on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.

In May, the production was taken on a European tour, with a total of nine performances divided between Schwetzingen (3), Frankfurt (1), and most interestingly Venice (5 performances at La Fenice). On this tour, it seems that a counter-tenor singing baroque was still reckoned an outlandish prospect, so a baritone was substituted. How times have changed.