Opera Scotland

Adventures of Pinocchio 2010Opera North

Read more about the opera Adventures of Pinocchio

This co-production between Opera North and Chemnitz Opera of Jonathan Dove’s opera was both a critical and a popular success, thoroughly deserving its national tour.

In terms of staging and cast requirements it must count as, by today's standards, a 'grand opera', rivalling War and Peace in the number of named roles. Apart from Britten and Tippett, the only British composer to be permitted a composition on this scale is probably Iain Hamilton, with Anna Karenina at the Coliseum. Hamilton's earlier Royal Hunt of the Sun was created without any form of commission or promise of performance, and was only put on after the success of The Catiline Conspiracy with Scottish Opera. Certainly no opera on this scale aimed at children had been produced for many years.

If there is a reservation, it must surely be over the length of the piece - two hours and fifty minutes, with only one interval, probably stretches the concentration of a lot of children.

Jonathan Summers was prominent at the centre of the performance, with excellent contributions from both Pinocchios. Other experienced performers making an impression included Mary Plazas, Rebecca Bottone, Graeme Broadbent, Stephen Richardson and Mark Wilde, with plenty of small roles to exploit the talents of the chorus. An enormous gamble by the company which paid off handsomely.