Fanciulla del West 2010Scottish Opera
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Following the sell-out success of 2008’s I Puritani in the spring, Francesco Corti conducted a one-off, concert performance of Puccini’s highly dramatic and brilliantly orchestrated La fanciulla del West, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. This was its first performance in Scotland since the end of the Sadler's Wells touring days.
It also introduced to Scottish audiences a pair of principals, in Susan Bullock and Carl Tanner, who were entirely unknown, as well as giving a number of small character parts to more familiar local singers. Whether the gentlemen of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus were completely successful in characterising the miners may be debatable. However the Orchestra of Scottish Opera produced glorious music, even if some audience members in the lower parts of the hall found that sound a touch overwhelming at times.
Performance Cast
- Minnie Innkeeper
- Dick Johnson a bandit, real name Ramirrez
- Jack Rance sheriff
- Nick bartender at the 'Polka' saloon
- Ashby Wells Fargo agent
- Jake Wallace a travelling minstrel
- Sonora a miner
- Bello a miner
- Happy a miner
- Joe a miner
- Larkens a miner
- Trin a miner
- Harry a miner
- Sid a miner
- José Castro highwayman
- Pony Express rider
- Billy Jackrabbit Red Indian
- Wowkle Minnie's Indian woman servant