Opera Scotland

Zauberflöte 2006Edinburgh International Festival

Read more about the opera Magic Flute

The 2006 Edinburgh International Festival was the last under the distinguished direction of Brian McMaster, though his skills in achieving a fascinating balance of music, theatre, dance and opera were undiminished. Undoubtedly the hottest tickets were for Claudio Abbado's final operatic performances in Edinburgh, in Die Zauberflöte. The Opéra de Lyon made a welcome return with Peter Stein's production of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa and a double-bill of two Weill pieces, The Lindbergh Flight and The Seven Deadly Sins. The Festival mounted the world premiere of Stuart MacRae's first opera, The Assassin Tree, in a co-production with Covent Garden. In addition, three operas appeared in concert - Elektra to open and Mastersingers to close. Between those came a revelatory performance of Rossini's Lady of the Lake.

Only two performances were available for this result of a collaboration between several Italian houses. It was inevitable that tickets were like gold dust - deservedly so, with the veteran conductor, always a firm favourite in Edinburgh, now appearing less frequently than in the past. His direction of the musical side of the performance was peerless. Even if the production was not especially memorable, it was generally straightforward and gimmick-free - the sum was probably greater that its parts. Scotland had, after all, not seen a good production of the Flute for many years.