Opera Scotland

Macbeth 2005Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Macbeth

Dominic Hill came to Scotland to work with the Dundee Rep Ensemble under Hamish Glen, eventually becoming co-director (with James Brining). During several successful seasons he developed an excellent reputation as a director of classics. At this point, when Scottish Opera asked him to direct his first opera, he had just moved to become director of the Traverse in Edinburgh.

Following The Death of Klinghoffer, paid for largely by the Edinburgh Festival, the mainstage operation of the company was now dark for a year to pay off the accumulated deficit.

This Macbeth and the concurrent concert group, both touring the rural areas, therefore assumed more than their usual importance, simply in showing that the company survived.  During previous financial shortfalls faced by Scottish Opera, touring had always come second.  Management previously had considered their core business was producing main stage opera in Glasgow and Edinburgh, so this period provided a notable exception.