Don Pasquale 1969Scottish Opera for All
Read more about the opera Don Pasquale
At this period the Arts Council funded three companies of Opera For All. Each group took three operas at a time, with piano accompaniment, playing in repertoire. A singer might play a long role one evening and a short one the next. Here for instance, there were two tenors in the company - one sings Ernesto in Don Pasquale then takes Gaston in La traviata while the Notary in Don Pasquale sings Alfredo.
The tour in the early part of the year, continuing from the autumn of 1968, consisted of the final performances of Madam Butterfly and Don Giovanni, along with this new Don Pasquale. The itinerary included widespread travel, going as far south as Devon before turning north again: Jan & Feb tbc; 3 Mar (Tavistock); 8 Mar (Bryanston); 21 Mar (Oswaldwistle).
In the Autumn of 1969, the London Opera Centre group played Così fan tutte, The Italian Girl in Algiers and Rigoletto. Meanwhile, Welsh National Opera's group toured with Die Fledermaus, Madam Butterfly and Fra Diavolo. The three operas given by Scottish Opera were Don Pasquale, Martha and Traviata.
Usually the groups played one night stands, but just occasionally they stayed for a week, as here, at the attractive little Perth theatre. This cast is from that Perth programme. David Frame spent several seasons with Scottish Opera on the music staff, and conducted several mainstage productions, including The Merry Widow and Die Fledermaus. He later moved to Scottish Ballet, conducting all their classic productions, including Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake.
Norman White performed a huge number of roles with the main company, including Don Pasquale. At the same time he spent several years as manager of the Friends of Scottish Opera. After retiring from singing he used his enormous collection of early operatic recordings to provide material for the Nimbus Prima Voce series of CD reissues.
Peter Lyon spent several seasons singing Gilbert and Sullivan parts with the D'Oyly Carte company. Alexander Morrison toured the world singing Scottish songs. He also spent a number of years in the Scottish Opera Chorus, where his voice gained in power, to the point where he was able to sing Manrico, among other parts.
Autumn performances collated so far: 22 & 25 Oct (Perth); 28 Oct (Linlithgow); 5 Nov (Dollar); 12 Nov (Callander); 15 Nov (Lerwick); 20 Nov (Thurso); 24 Nov (Fortrose); 29 Nov (Crieff).
Additional tour dates and venues to be confirmed.
