Opera Scotland

Rigoletto 1964Sadler's Wells Opera

Read more about the opera Rigoletto

The spring 1964 Sadler's Wells tour opening on 6 April only included the two central belt cities. The performance schedule for Glasgow was as follows: Mon Così; Tue Peter Grimes; Wed Rigoletto; Thu Così; Fri Samson and Delilah; Sat mat & eve La Vie Perisienne. In Edinburgh the following week the order changed, except for Monday and Saturday, but the content remained the same.

This was the last tour of the old Rigoletto staging, first performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre on 21 September 1955. The next visit, in 1968, would offer a new production by the promising young director Michael Geliot, who rehearsed this revival.

With Peter Glossop's international career taking off, Gwyn Griffiths now took on the leading Verdi roles. Marion Studholme was more familiar in lighter roles such as Blonde, Susanna and Adele in Die Fledermaus. But Gilda must have suited her voice quite well. Australian Donald Smith and New Zealander Noel Mangin were also regular performers over the next few years. Gerwyn Morgan's appearances in Scotland would be intermittent, but Ann Robson was a familiar visitor.

Cast details for Edinburgh are taken from programmes in the NLS and Edinburgh City Library. The Glasgow cast is confirmed by a programme in the OperaScotland collection.