Opera Scotland

Traviata 1996Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Traviata

Scottish Opera's season for 1995-96 contained some new productions that were highly memorable, though most were not seen again and none survived for long. After the Edinburgh Festival, where the new staging of The Jacobin opened, there was a very strongly cast small-scale, piano-accompanied tour of La bohème. The main subscription season contained The Jacobin and new stagings of Don Giovanni, La belle Hélène and Hansel and Gretel. A revival of La traviata was followed by new productions of Alceste and Turandot.

Nuria Espert's generally excellent Traviata production had entered the company's repertoire in 1989, with regular revivals following. This was an excellent example, supervised by Peter Watson, with Claire Rutter appearing as Violetta for the first time. This was a role she instantly encompassed with dramatic subtlety and vocal ease, through a marathon run of eighteen performances. Jonathan Summers had not worked with the company for a while, and René Massis was a newcomer. Richard Armstrong was, as always, an excellent Verdian.