Opera Scotland

Mefistofele 1951Glasgow Grand Opera Society

Read more about the opera Mefistofele

Glasgow Grand at this time had a large chorus, a definite requirement for this interesting rarity, not performed in Scotland since before the First World War.

Ian Wallace and Richard Lewis had illustrious professional careers, particularly at Glyndebourne under the direction of Carl Ebert.

Here Ebert's son Peter, often his assistant, but at this point working with the BBC in Glasgow, had a chance to direct something large in scale.  He also directed the other rarity performed that week, Hamish MacCunn's Jeanie Deans.  A decade later his relationship with Scotland, where he had gone to school (at Gordonstoun) would be confirmed when he joined Scottish Opera as a stage director, eventually leading the management of the company in succession to Peter Hemmings.