Opera Scotland

Fledermaus 2014Edinburgh Studio Opera

Read more about the opera Fledermaus

Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus, one of the greatest pieces of its kind, does not seem to have been seen here much lately. It is a difficult work to bring off, requiring a light touch and a sense of style - as all the great Viennese operettas do. Edinburgh Studio Opera are an ambitious group, with recent stagings of Cunning Little Vixen, Clemenza di Tito and Rake's Progress to their credit. Fledermaus is a challenging project for a team of students to tackle. 

The most important element holding the evening together was conductor William Conway. His Edinburgh University Chamber Orchestra, forty strong, is a good band, and produced stylish, energetic playing right from the start of the overture. Conway did well to keep the volume under control, so as not to drown the soloists. Of those singers, the leading sopranos, playing Rosalinde, Adele and Orlofsky, all showed well-schooled voices and sang confidently and with a good sense of phrasing. The men's voices were generally lighter, but still effective.

The production by Thomas Henderson was extremely simple - the stage at St Andrew's & St George's is open, with little scope for a designer. Basic window frames were used effectively. The costumes were modern, if without much sense of unity. The uncredited translation didn't seem particularly contemporary. Orlofsky and Eisenstein were deprived of their titles, and Adele's sister (Ida in the original) was renamed Sally - minor matters in the sum of things.

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