Opera Scotland

Pelléas and Mélisande 1979Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Pelléas et Mélisande

The final run of Colin Graham's atmospheric staging brought it to the Theatre Royal for the only time, and saw some new performers. Perhaps most notable was the American baritone Alan Titus. At the outset of his career he sang Nerone with New York City Opera and created the very different part of the Celebrant in Bernstein's Mass, for the opening of Washington's Kennedy Center. He had worked with Scottish Opera on the previous year's tour to Aix, but had not been seen in Scotland. After this excursion into the lyrical French repertoire his voice darkened and gained power. He became a notable dramatic baritone, with a repertoire that included Don Pizarro and Wotan.

Lilian Sukis, a Vienna-based Lithuanian, had been a notable Tatyana at the recent Edinburgh Festival (with further performances to come), and Pierre Thau was an ideal exponent of Arkel. For the first time with this favourite opera, Alexander Gibson relinquished the baton, but Roderick Brydon was also an excellent exponent of French repertoire.