Carmen 1966Glasgow Grand Opera Society
Read more about the opera Carmen
Glasgow Grand, alternating Carmen with Macbeth, were clearly still in a highly thriving condition at this stage, in spite of the non-availability of the Scottish National Orchestra to maintain musical standards. The band of freelance musicians in the pit numbered a respectable 38, with some familiar names among them. The chorus, the Society's backbone, was a resoundingly healthy 42 women and 23 men - quite enough to blast the roof off either as gipsies or Scottish exiles.
Design standards extended to Ralph Koltai being credited for a ramp used in both operas. Since Scottish Opera are thanked among the acknowledgments, this is likely to mean that the Society was able to use part of Koltai's set for the 1965 production of Boris Godunov, though it may have been from the 1963 Otello. Both those excellent productions made effective use of such a ramp.
To us now it does perhaps seem odd that amateur groups should still use the rather elderly translation by Henry Hersee that had been the standard model since the first English language performance. Several more natural sounding versions have appeared since.
