Opera Scotland

Fidelio 2005Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Read more about the opera Fidelio

The regular appearances of Sir Charles Mackerras in Scotland during the last years of his life produced a number of memorable events, though staged performances of opera were not among them. However with his wonderful Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Mackerras gave many memorable concert performances. This Fidelio was very well cast on the whole, and in the case of the key female roles the performances were of quite exceptional quality by any standard. Lisa Milne was a familiar figure to Scots audiences, and her Marzelline was the expected delight from start to finish. But Christine Brewer's interpretation of Leonore was simply a phenomenon, with a gloriously effortless performance of the fiendish "Abscheulicher!" scena, with wonderful horn-playing in support. The only relative weakness in the cast was the Florestan - well enough sung, on the whole, but this is a part that demands rather more than that.