An amateur group needs to have great confidence in its abilities before taking on such a demanding work as Norma. This cast paired the leading soprano from the previous year's Aïda with the tenor who had sung the inordinately difficult lead in Sicilian Vespers.
Norma had recently returned to the repertoire at Covent Garden, with Maria Callas and Ebe Stignani as Norma and Adalgisa (with young Joan Sutherland as Clotilde). Its most recent performance in Scotland was in 1909, when the Cavaliere Castellano's Italian company gave a single performance in Glasgow.
The popular work this year was The Bartered Bride, shared by two new conductors, both borrowed from Sadler's Wells - Leo Quayle and young Alexander Gibson. The talent scouts had also recruited a new Chorus Master in Bryden Thomson.
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